You feel like you are auditioning all the time without many results and you aren’t exactly sure what your booking ratio is. You know that auditions keep showing up in your email inbox and you send demos out dutifully. However, you’re so busy with auditioning that you aren’t quite sure where each opportunity came from. Then, HALLELUJAH! You book a gig, but you can’t remember what the settings were on your computer when you sent out your audition, nor what time of day you recorded. How can you recreate what they heard in the audition that they liked so much? I have an answer for you. Keep an audition log. A little time spent logging before your auditions can save you a whole lot of time after your auditions. Also, logging provides you with great analytical information!
Here are important reasons to keep an audition log:
To track your booking ratio: The industry standard of 2-3% booking ratio is generous. That means that you’re only booking two or three gigs for every 100 auditions you send out. If you log how many auditions you are actually sending out, it becomes much easier to track whether or not you are achieving industry standard. If you have a better than average booking ratio, great! If you’re below average, then maybe it’s time to look at what you’re sending out. Is your audio where it needs to be? Do you need to work on your performance a little more? Maybe you need to make better choices about what you are actually auditioning for and instead, choose to audition for work in the same niche where you’ve already previously and successfully booked.
To track where the audition opportunities/business is coming from: Being a voice-over actor means we are in business for ourselves. We have to make expenditure decisions based upon our return on investment (ROI). Your audition log will help you know where your opportunities are coming from. Tracking where your auditioning opportunities come from will help you perform a cost/benefit analysis each year. That way, you can decide which agents, pay to play sites, or VO rosters you should continue with in the following year.
To track your settings and time of day the audition was recorded: YES! You booked the job from your audition! Congratulations!! Now the client wants you to recreate exactly what you did in the audition. If you haven’t logged the recording settings, the time of day you recorded it, and the post production done on the audition, you won’t be able to recreate it exactly. Logging your work will make sure that you give the client exactly what they hired you for.
It doesn’t have to be hard or cumbersome to track your auditions. It can be done easily with an Excel spreadsheet. There are also new products coming out all the time to help voice-over actors track their business like Voice-Over View and Upper Level CRM – both of which have been developed by VO actors for VO actors. Whatever you choose to do, be sure to track your auditions and keep an audition log!
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About the Author
Jillian Nielsen is an expressive voice talent with over 14 years of experience in radio and television commercial and promotional voice-overs.
