Inactivity Messages are a Must for Voice123

As a talent, and employee at Voice123, I am baffled at the complaints I hear about the Voice123 inactivity system. The reaction I often here is, 'You are branding me as inactive, when I am working in this business for many years.' Aside from this being a complete overreaction, let me explain why this is so far off the mark. It is hard to understand why one can think this way.

First: A website is a website. No one gets 'branded' by data shown on the internet. The voice seeker viewing that says, 'Oh, I guess they are busy', and nothing more. You brand yourself with your demo quality, and online communication skills. Second thing: Does anyone remember the good ole' days of beepers, then cell phones, when there was no opportunity offered online?

There is a parallel here to the need of the inactivity system:

• What would happen if an agent or voice seeker called a talent for a last-minute job, and you were not available or worse...you never called back? That important person would say, 'They should have at least some way I can reach them!'. Most likely, this led to the person not calling again for a good length of time, especially if the message was never returned.

The same logic is applied when you think about how the Voice123 Inactivity system works. It is born out of the need of the very important voice seekers the website needs, who will pay talents to do work. Especially during the holidays, we found voice seekers consistently frustrated, at the fact that certain talents never called them back. By no means does this dictate that you should cancel holiday plans, but if you are NOT available...and you ignore that metaphorical 'call from an important person' in 2008, it has the same damaging effect as ignoring a phone call in 1988. It makes the other party think you are not serious about your business.

Now, I am sure that we all like to park ourselves on websites for good exposure, but the plain and simple truth is...You are either in this voice over business or you are not. It is not wise to throw your name on a website with the hopes they will find you, and then, not pay attention to it. You have to be there to answer when someone comes fishing around to offer work for you. In the eyes of those 'looking for talent', they have specifically stated they view this as false advertising.


Simply put...people use websites and the Internet for business, now more than ever. They expect that the person on the website is there to run a business of their own because they are presenting a product on that page, which just happens to be a voice. They also expect that if they contact that person, he or she will return the email. In many ways, 'branding' oneself as 'ACTIVE' is worse because...it is misleading. You are either active on a site or you or not. You have to show that you are using a website, and that you are active in its daily or weekly process.

Granted, we all have things happen to us that distract us from a website, but that is why showing inactivity is better than leading one to believe you are available. For the talent, showing that you are inactive is protecting him/her from being in the embarrassing situation of 'not contacting someone back.' Therefore, the voice seeker should have known. That message shows the voice seeker you will not be easy to reach, so they are either taking the chance in waiting but at least they knew before they tried.

From a Voice123 perspective, we have to do this for ourselves as well, and I openly admit it. What takes place on Voice123, and the actions of everyone, reflects on what people think of Voice123. For that reason, to have a website filled with misleading profiles, even from the very best talents who are out of town on business, would make our website look like a waste of time to use if they are constantly contacted and no one returns the call. Remember exactly what the message says:

• **** does not appear to be an active participant of the Voice123 marketplace at this time. aaaBB **** was last active on Voice123 more than 30 days ago, OR may not be receiving our email messages.

This means that you are not using Voice123. It does not mean that you have left the industry. Besides, if you want to reset this, just login every once in a while. That is all.

The thing is...voice seekers love using Voice123 for these little details to which we pay very close attention. In fact, I wish Voice123 had the inactivity system a long time ago. I will tell you something I have never expressed to anyone, which is why I have always believed in Voice123:

• Back in 2005, while dealing in claims at AIG, I was dying to quit and use Voice123 full time. I had a premium subscription at the time. One day, as was the case then, I returned home at 6pm to answer auditions. I had a private invitation from a very large agency in NYC, in which I was instructed to answer as quickly as possible. I had received the invite at 10am that morning.
  
• If I had that inactivity system, they never would have contacted me, but instead I was faced with the embarrassment of contacting them after the deadline (which is much worse) to thank them and give them lame excuses as to why I did not answer, when the truth was that I was simply not focused on the website enough.
• I did try and contact the agency to let them know I was interested in them, but the moment had passed. I made the mistake of belonging to a website I could not contribute to, and presenting myself as a business-ready talent, when it was simply not true.
  

Oh...you may be wondering what agency contacted me...Don Buchwald. They contacted me again two years later and by that time I was already working at Voice123, so I kindly replied that I was no longer available because of my new job. Once again, the inactivity status could have helped me, but it was not developed yet. Two times contacted, and still busy...I dont expect they will contact me again.

Oh well...I stopped kicking myself a long time ago about this, but it is hard not to, and I completely understand why the inactivity system is helpful for everyone who uses Voice123. Besides, to take personal offense to web lingo is a simple waste of time and energy. Business lingo is rarely a personal insult or attack. We are merely trying to promote 'net-iquette', and we still have a ways to go because the needs of the entire community changes as it grows. Voice123 wants the best talent to use us, but even I know the best are at times teaching, or too busy...

So once more, just log in and log out when you get that email.

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