Igniting VO biz Strategies in a world of constant change isn’t easy.

Working on data maintenance and updating a ten-year old database and merging it with another that’s in dire need of attention is eye-opening.Definitely not as sexy as rocking the microphone by any stretch, but required nevertheless, unless you’re a superstar and have your minions do it all for you.

Looking at the lists brought me back to earlier days of my voiceover business, and reminded me of several clients that have dropped off the radar. For whatever reasons, many are not active.

Can it be, I’m thinking, that it’s really been eight years since I did that long series of narrations for a certain client…and wow, five since working with that big ad agency, and the revelations continue.

What’s changed? My investigatory skills are on high alert andsuspect the Pareto principle at work.

Some contacts have either sold, moved, died, went out of business, jumped ship, or scaled back and retired.  Some started working with other voice talents and moved on.

Funny though. I gained business sales over ten years, but Pareto’s law of 80/20 shows the constant change. For every 80 clients gained, 20 are lost.  Each year. So, I must strategize change to get new clients and/or work hard to keep the ones I have. I figure I must be doing something right so far but the new plan is to revisit my database and mine what’s already there, make some phone calls, and remind my customers that I’m here to help. I’ll also be able to clearly define who does and who does not belong in my lists.

But I won’t change everything I’m doing.  Sure I’ll be aware of trends in voiceover and business technology. For one, I’m hiring a Virtual Assistant to help with the details.

Strategy is a balancing act; it’s about judging between a fate being sealed and its being realized.  Something is telling me I should not be in a hurry to abandon my old-fashioned competitive advantages in the wake of some hot new idea or technology.

Much has changed technologically and in voiceover in ten years. Amazingly so. Competitive advantage is neither transitory nor immortal. So my strategy with the constant change is not an either-or proposition.  It is about both: seeking sustainable competitive advantage in a world full of far-reaching and tumultuous change.