Over nearly 20 years as a voiceover talent, I’ve worked with hundreds of clients. I can count on one hand the number of times a client may have been unpleasant or unprofessional. For the most part, clients value collaboration, respect deadlines, and treat me fairly.
But here’s the twist: the biggest challenges I’ve encountered recently haven’t come from clients at all. They’ve come from within the voiceover community itself.
Where Professionalism Breaks Down
Alongside my VO career, I also serve as a project manager at a website development company that builds sites for voice talent. That means I’ve also worked with hundreds of my peers on the “business” side of their careers. And over the last couple of years, I’ve noticed a troubling trend: a rise in unprofessional behavior from some in our own ranks.
Every industry has its share of challenges and difficult customer service interactions. Perhaps these are just standard but lately, it feels like we’re seeing a different caliber of behavior entering the industry – and sometimes, even long-time veterans are slipping.
Here are a few examples:
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Compensation misunderstandings. As voice actors, we advocate for fair rates, usage fees, and revision charges. Yet I’ve encountered talent quibbling and debating to pay fairly for work done to their own websites. Revisions to a website can be just as time-consuming as revisions to a voiceover recording. That’s a double standard.
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Not following instructions. In VO, following project directions is non-negotiable. But when I provide detailed step-by-step Zoom calls, emails, PDFs, and explainer videos for website processes, too many ignore them — dismissing or repeatedly asking for the same information, delaying progress, or even arguing against the instructions. If we aren’t practicing attention to detail in all areas of our work, it can spill into the way we serve our clients.
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Rude or dismissive communication. I go out of my way to clarify and assist with folks promptly, even on weekends and holidays. While most colleagues communicate with kindness and respect, I’ve also seen condescending, dismissive comments, or even aggressive messages that later get brushed off as the result of a “bad day.” We all have long days. But professionalism requires us to manage how we communicate — especially in a collaborative industry like ours
How Professionalism Shapes Opportunity
This isn’t just about minor inconveniences. Behaviors have real consequences. If we don’t apply the same professionalism to our peers and vendors that we demand from clients, we risk weakening the very foundation of our industry.
How can talent handle detailed client directions if they can’t follow instructions with their own vendor? If they can’t communicate professionally with colleagues, what happens when a casting director or agent is on the receiving end? These habits can cost opportunities — and erode the reputation of our industry as a whole.
Moving Forward Together
The good news is that professionalism is a skill we can all strengthen. It’s not about perfection — we all make mistakes, and we all have bad days. It is about consistency. It’s about treating every interaction, whether with a client, a colleague, or a vendor, as an opportunity to build trust and strengthen relationships.
Voiceover is, at its heart, a relationship-driven business. Our reputations travel with us. When we practice professionalism in all corners of our work — communication, compensation, follow-through — we build an industry that clients want to hire from and colleagues want to collaborate with.
A Stronger Industry Starts With Us
Voiceover is a relationship-driven business. We expect clients to treat us with respect, pay us fairly, and honor our professionalism. We must hold ourselves to the exact same standards when working with one another.
Professionalism isn’t optional. It’s the very foundation of trust in this industry.
I believe the voiceover industry has an incredible future. The talent pool continues to grow, opportunities are expanding, and technology is opening new doors. If we can match that growth with a renewed commitment to professionalism — both outwardly with clients and inwardly with each other — we’ll all be stronger for it.