Written by Allison smith. Edited by Omar Shaikh.
I am blessed to gain lots of new clients every week who either approach me due to being referred by a colleague of theirs, or many come my way by way of  Google searching and landing on my website.  However, in addition to fresh new clients, I am also [...]

Written by Allison smith. Edited by Omar Shaikh.
A few years ago, I voiced an interesting project for Kodak: a self-serve photo development kiosk where photographers could process their own film by simply walking up to a kiosk, installing their film, and controlling the processing of their photos in a very turnkey way. I was actually [...]

Written by Allison Smith. Edited by Omar shaikh
When I first started out as a voice talent, (OK, I’ll admit it: pre-internet) the extent of “savvy” marketing was mining the Yellow Pages, searching for local sound studios, talent agents, audio production houses and film production companies  to which to send your demo. Once those leads were [...]

Written by Allison Smith. Edited by Omar shaikh.
It was pretty early, and I was very groggy, but there was no mistaking it:  it was me on the phone. I was in Dallas, and scheduled a hotel wake-up call for 7:00 AM. When I picked up the receiver it was….me. Waking me up. About a year before [...]

Written by Allison Smith. Edited by Omar shaikh.
I recently stumbled upon a great article on the Destination CRM website by Natalee Dyke entitled: “IVR Hell” which definitely encapsulates everything amiss with mis-designed, mis-written, and just generally frustrating phone trees — give it a read at: http://bit.ly/1XQaoM and meet me back here.
She really brings a lot [...]

Written by Allison Smith. Edited by Omar shaikh.
It’s generally well known — by clients of mine whom I’ve worked with for awhile — that I am game to voice pretty much anything. In fact, I encourage offbeat, parody, and “joke” prompts — they provide a welcome respite from the run-of-the-mill (but highly necessary) IVR stock prompts. [...]

Written by Allison Smith. Edited by Omar shaikh.
A few times a month, I’m e-mailed by people who are toying with the idea of getting into voice-over — they may have been told they have a great voice, or have become enamored with the idea of being the next Simpson-scale animation voice.
There’s no question that it’s a [...]

Written by Allison Smith. Edited by Suzanne Bowen.
Despite me recording prompts in Spanish almost every day, I don’t technically speak Spanish. Or Hebrew, Tagalog (an Austranesian language spoken in the Philippines) or a host of other languages which I’m urged, cajoled, or persuaded into voicing.
I studied Spanish for two years at the University of Calgary, out [...]

Written by Allison Smith. Edited by Suzanne Bowen.
My very first contract voicing telephone prompts was with Telus — the telco conglomerate in Alberta — who hired me to voice their mobility platform. I attended a meeting where they were discussing which prompts were needed, and what time committment would be required of me (in the [...]

Written by Allison Smith. Edited by Suzanne Bowen.
In my career as a professional telephone voice, I can tell you that the work is fairly formulaic — almost everybody requires a front-end (“greeting”) message, a message once people get to their various department selections, an after-hours greeting, and occasionally, an extended absence greeting.  That’s it. Sometimes, [...]