Blast
Why blasting 500 'leads' with a boring AF email is a really really bad idea
There’s an email tool making the rounds in voiceover circles right now, and I need to talk about it.
The pitch is kinda irresistible: load up a list of “leads” that you “own”, let the platform write your outreach emails, set up automated sequences, and sit back while the bookings roll in. Hustle smarter, not harder. Scale your business like a real entrepreneur.
I’ve seen the emails.
They’re bad. Not just bad bad but like…BAD bad.
Like, aggressively generic, could-be-selling-any-product-or-service, written-by-a-bot-trained-on-2019-LinkedIn bad. And here’s the part that gets my fuckin’ goat: those emails are landing in the inboxes of real people, real producers, real creative directors at real companies. People who actually hire voice actors. People who, once they’ve formed an opinion of you, tend to keep it.
We always hear “you only get one chance at a first impression,” and yeah, this impression is “I don’t give a shit enough to write my own goddamn email and you’re in an automated sequence that traditional Business Development Managers use.”
Here’s the thing I want you to sit with for a second: voiceover is not a SaaS product.
The traditional sales sequence model of high volume outreach, automated follow-ups, optimized subject lines—- was built for businesses where the thing being sold is a thing. A software subscription. A widget. A service with a defined deliverable and a price sheet.
You are not a widget.
When a senior decision maker opens an email from a voice actor, they are not evaluating a product spec. They are forming an impression of a human being whose voice they may someday put in front of their client, their audience, their boss. The email is the audition. The tone, the word choice, the personality (or lack thereof), thee entire package, all of it is telling them something about what it would be like to work with you.
A boring, templated, sequence-blasted email tells them exactly what they need to know. They know it from a mile away becuase their business probably has the same strategy. And then they move on.
I get why people are buying into this. (For REALLY high price tags, btw)
Cold outreach is scary and slow and rejection is demoralizing and the idea of automating the painful part sounds like a gift. And honestly, if you’re selling B2B software, this model probably works fine. Volume is a legitimate strategy when what you’re selling is fungible. (isn’t that a great word? get ready because I’m gonna use it here again in a sec)
But creative services are not fungible. You are not fungible. That’s literally the whole value proposition!
The producers and creative directors and brand managers you’re trying to reach are drowning in their inboxes. They get pitched constantly by ALL KINDS of vendors, not just us buzzy voice actors. They have finely tuned radar for anything that feels impersonal, automated, or like it was sent to 500 other people at the same time and because it was, and they can tell.
The delete rate on these emails isn’t just high. It’s probably doing active damage. Because some percentage of those “leads” are real humans at real companies who now associate your name with spam.
Now I’m not saying SOME of these emails aren’t getting opened. Maybe even responded to. But to the half dozen people I’ve spoken to who are using this service….they aren’t seeing any yield.
Real outreach, the kind y’know, that actually converts, is slower, more targeted, and completely personal. It requires you to know something specific about the person you’re contacting. Or specific about the work they’re doing. It requires you to have a point of view. It requires your actual voice, even in text form.
It’s not scalable in the traditional sense. But it works. I know it works because I’ve done it, and I’ve watched it work for my students, and I’ve also watched the automated approach crash and burn up close.
The shortcut isn’t a shortcut. It’s a trap with a very clean user interface. And a high fuckin’ price tag.
If you’ve already been using one of these platforms, it’s not too late. Stop the sequences. Do an audit of who received those emails. If there’s anyone on that list you genuinely want to build a relationship with, give it some time and then approach them like a human being next time. I’m not saying to apologize per se- but hit them with the real you. Not the automated you.
And if you’re considering signing up because it sounds efficient: I’m begging you to reconsider. Your outreach is your brand. Don’t outsource it to something that doesn’t know what makes you interesting.
Got a thought here? Hit me up. I read everything!
There’s lots on the calendar for May for classes. And I do mean LOTS. The theme is going to be Children’s Media so if you’re at all interested in this vertical, please check the Classes and Coaching section on the Acting Business Boot Camp website.