Voice123 SmartCast Turning One!

I had many questions last year about what SmartCast would be and why it was being implemented. I started at Voice123 on July 2nd, 2007 as an employee/talent. I needed to know if it would work for talents, and make Voice123 the best collection of voice over talents on the market. If so, how? Before I knew it, the weekend came... July 7th, 2007, and many long hours and work weeks later, I see now, compared to a year ago, that Voice123 has the best talents in the online marketplace. Furthermore, through all of the changes, the implementation of SmartCast has played a major role in making Voice123 users a stronger voice over community.

Before SmartCast, and what the old Voice123 left behind on July 6th, 2007:

• Over 2000 auditions submitted daily, that only 20% were listened to by the voice seeker.
  
• Less than 20% of the Voice123 community of talents were booking work. Less talents were working, and therefore, not renewing their subscription.
• The Voice123 customer service team required more industry knowledge.
  
• Talent-voice producers had no idea if their auditions were even heard, or if the voice seeker was no longer listening to auditions. This led to the theory that 'it's a waste of time to submit, if 20 people have already submitted for a project.'
  
• This theory is a thing of the past for Voice123, though it still holds true for many other casting services.
  
• Overall... Voice123 left behind the 'unknown' factor.
  

Voice123 SmartCast... One year later:

• Over 60% of premium subscribers booked work during each quarter in the past 12 months.
• Our Voice Seekers receive auditions in 60 minutes or less when a project is posted between the hours of 7AM and 12AM EST.
• Last month, over 75% of the demos were either opened or reviewed by voice seekers.
• Last month, voice seekers showed a satisfaction rating as high as 95% with Voice123 talents they hired, which means they will be back to offer more opportunities in the future via SmartCast or direct invites!
  
• Our customer service team is now part of the industry, required to stay in training for the voice over industry while working for Voice123. These efforts were put in place to better assist our customers on a knowledgeable business level, both with Voice123 SmartCast and the voice over industry.
  
• We also can give you answers to questions on topics other sites dare not touch, like what to do when you are not paid.
  
• Talent-voice producers can now see when or when not to audition, as well as, what happens to audition submissions.
  
• Talent-voice producers have more access to in-depth project details to see if auditioning is worth the time and effort.
  
• Voice seekers get talents suited for their requests.
  
• Voice seeker efforts, including new interface changes to the project form and audition inbox, is forever increasing communication and education between talents & voice seekers.
• Voice seekers that can provide quality jobs and higher budgets are returning to Voice123.
• The knowledge provided to our team has allowed us to give free Thursday trainings on Voice123 that achieve effective results for an online voice over career. Just ask anyone who has attended.
  

The 'unknown' factor is no more with Voice123, and as scary as the truth can sometimes be, you have the information to see exactly what is going on, so you can make effective business decisions. If you are not sure how to find it, come to a free Thursday Training on how to use Voice123 more effectively. (We will work on making copies of this training available for all who cannot attend.)

The collaboration of all efforts from Alex, Tania, the product development team of SmartCast, talents, voice seekers, and the entire Voice123 team has succeeded in keeping Voice123 the most widely-known, largest and most innovative voice over marketplace. We are committed to updating Voice123 to make it a more complete business tool for the future!

We thank everyone for sticking with Voice123's SmartCast over the past year, and look forward to many successful years to come.

Thank you as always!


Steven Lowell
Quality Assurance Manager