You probably do this hundreds of times a year and never give it a second thought.
And maybe you even grumbled (or cursed) just a little.
I’m willing to bet money that in the past week or maybe even today, you picked up the phone and interacted with an Interactive Voice Response System.
A voice (maybe mine!) told you what to do and you’ve spoken commands, pressed touch tones and (hopefully) gotten what you’ve wanted out of the darn thing.
Welcome to the world of telephony voice overs
It’s not glamorous. It’s not sexy.
And recording these scripts can take a lot of patience and be downright tedious at times.
But it’s a booming niche voice over market that’s expected to reach $2.7 billion dollars by 2017.
I’ve been working steadily in this niche for over 20 years, and am the branded telephone voice of Citibank, Sears, Home Depot and many others.
Frankly, I don’t care how boring the scripts are.
This “humble” voice over niche has been very, very good to me.
It’s not for everyone but to find out if it’s right for you, I’ve put together a short training video for you.
Check it out below I think you’ll find the inspiration and help you need.
And after you watch the video I want to know your thoughts, whether you’re just starting out or you’ve at this awhile. Does the telephony niche resonate for you? If not, what else are you thinking about?
Let me know your thoughts in the comments box. I want to read about what’s on your mind so I can support you.
To your voice over success,
Susan Berkley,
Founder, The Great Voice Company
Hi Susan, I’m very interested in telephony, and am always fascinated by interactive voice response systems. I do a lot of long form narration, dividing/labeling files (have great software that helps with that), and I’d like to get into doing telephony, as well. Would love to know more about getting into this niche. Thanks!
I’ve done a few IVR recordings and would love to get established in the industry. I’d love training on getting these gigs.
Hi Susan! Your video explaining about the telephony niche definitely resonates with me.How would a person demonstrate their telephony skills in a demo? Do you offer training in telephony voiceover? Good to see you! Terri
Thank you for the reminder, I’ve done a couple of these a few years back, but would love to do more.
Hey Susan,
HYes, I think I would be a good candidate for the Telephony jobs–besides commercial. I’m no an animation voice (maybe one day!) Now…if I can tone down that Upstate NY regional dialect, all will be good!
Thank you for sharing this!
Doreen
Hi Susan, My niche has been message on hold for about 8 years. It has been my bread and butter. My experience has been this kind of work is high volume, atrociously low pay. However, I have to say, my voice is being heard all over the USA and in some foreign countries at luxury resorts, whilst people are placed on hold to make their spa reservations(said with my pinky finger up). My voice is the voice that welcomes you to Bobby Flay’s Mesa Grill in NYC and countless Aveda Spas. And, all this to say, I still love being a voice-over talent. You are my constant source of encouragement, education and cheerleader! I hope to one day expand beyond the high volume low pay routine, and thankfully I do have a couple other big gigs, but for now I keep on considering this to be constant practice. Thanks for being there for me (us all) Susan. Appreciate all you do. – Becky
Very interested in this niche, being a dispatcher, handling both telephone and radio
communications. Excellent overview!
I,AM SEEKING WORK,, LIKE YOURSELF, I TO WANT TO WORK IN THE INDUSTRY.
Susan, Don’t give up on me.
Since my Mom passed I’ve been struggling financially.
Plus after 20 years of being in photography, now due to “the digital era” that work is gone.
I’ve had to re invent myself like you have heard so many times.
I want and need this. To work with you. Plus I’ve got the “Pipes”
I love the phone call to agents series you do and do feel this will be a good first effort.
I just need to get a bit financially stronger now.
The good news. I have a pro studio I can use very reasonably. So I can do demos and such and put together nice reels for not a lot of money.
I hope in the next 60 days to be able to begin formally.
Thank you for your efforts and helping us to jump start into this great business…
Kind regards, Rick Wardell
I enjoyed your video. I am retired but still have a strong voice. I have not done anything professionally, still I enjoy sending inspirational messages via voice memo on my phone. My voice is on my website. I would like to further explore telephony.
Thank you,
Leslie-Ann Cunningham
This Niche sounds perfect for me. I am very patient and, I would love to be the voice of a brand. My voice also has a lot of energy.
Thank you for doing this. I have been told for years that I have a great voice and that I should give it a try. I wasn’t able to view the entire video however, this niche may be for me.
Thanks,
Nicole
Hi Susan,
I am genuinely grateful for how you and The Great Voice Company keep me in the fold regarding opportunities.
It has been unusually difficult to proceed – I had wanted to participate in the VO Boot Camp on several occasions.
It will have to be for another time in the future as my full time employment was ended due to the company I worked for laid 22 of us off this week.
Telephony sounds great for me! I am often told that I have a clear voice and one that is easy to understand.
How does one get started in the telephony field?
Thank you for continuing to email me with your tutoring sessions even though I have not been able to attend one of your wonderful classes.
I want very much to do voice overs, but just do not know how to get started, so I continue to procrastinate.
Hi, Susan, I really like the telephony niche and recently made a new demo specifically for telephony. May I send it to you for your evaluation?
Thank you for your consideration.
Susan, I love things like this that maybe are not very glamorous or are looked over by people who only want the most exciting types of work. Suits me just fine!
Thanks for your tireless encouragement to all us newbies!
Hi Susan
Thank you for all support
linda
I have been thinkiing of pursuing voiceover work and took several classes with one of our local experts. Telephony was mentioned, but not as in-depth as your video. It was very helpful in that you didn’t attempt to make it sound easy and simple. I would like to investigate further.