No SmartCast Leads

Bobbi Owens · Posted: Wed May 07, 2008, 00:24 (GMT) Post subject:

Re: Diane - No - What they are saying and what I've been told by V123 etc is that if you answer TOO many leads - they will "pull you out of the running" so to speak - in other words - NO leads - which is what happened to me and I guess others - That was one of the responses I posted -

Since BETA testing the the NEW V123 from the beginning I STRESSED - again - I STRESSED that - because they are BUSINESS people and NOT all VO artists - they don't understand the nature of the business - VO or ACTING for that matter - or ANY creative Biz - OR even if you want a DATE!! - IT'S A NUMBERS GAME - and to STAY IN and hopefully WIN some gigs - you MUST submit and be on top of ALL - I repeat ALL - of the leads, jobs etc that MAY pertain to you - YOU NEVER rule yourself out unless it's obvious (Let the Casting Director, Client, Agency what have you do that) - BUT you keeping submitting and trying - You'll obviously get better and better and ABOVE ALL as you all know - it's perseverance- - They didn't agree - and so NO LEADS for alot of us almost a year later into the SmartCast development - I REALLY don't want to start a thread as such which is why I left the boards - but re: the percentages - they have to do with what you are submitting and based on the SmartCast system -if it deems you have submitted too many leads as far as the programming is concerned - then NO leads for some of us!

And by the way RE: Rankings - when that came up - we asked "OK - How can you allow people to rank us that way and other questions?" - They said the rankings WERE NOT re: Talent - BUT - used for the Client - to narrow down which auditions they liked best so they can go back and filter the 5's, 4's etc or if the client is an agency - to be able to just give the 5's and 4's let's say to the client - BUT as you have seen - it ranks or seems to rank talent based on the STATS page we all have which is something we were ALL VERY VERY concerned about as that is SOOOOO objective - anyway - The more changes they make - you will see changes in your profile that shouldn't be - for example - I have 11 demos - (It clearly states with the new system - I can have as many as I want - and the FIRST demo I list should and will be the DEMO on the listing page - ) WELLLL - If you don't know what that IS - I suggest you check - as I found that my 11th demo came up in search ratings but NOT my 1st demo - or Commercial demo as it had ALWAYS been - They said because of the new search system they are implementing this happened and they corrected it - BUT - BUT - HOW LONG had it been that way? - No way to tell - SO - I suggest you check your profiles or rather LISTING page etc WEEKLY - until the changes stop or hopefully stop - Just my 2 cents and unfortunately advice learned the HARD WAY!!

Oh - re: percentile - I WAS in the top 53% - BUT as I have NOT received any leads - that number decreases as well as your submission percentage - so from what I posted earlier - I am DOWN about 100 points or so because it's DAY 5 and NO leads.

Robert Jadah · **Voice Talent** Joined: 17 Jun 2005 Posts: 2627

Oh...I'm so happy to be free of it all, Bobbi. I feel your pains.

Vent On!

Maxine Dunn · **Voice Talent** Joined: 25 Apr 2004 Posts: 675

Hi Caryn ~

HHmmmm.... Ok, that sucks the big Kahoona. Call 'em up. Raise some hell! laola

It sounds a little fishy that you haven't been getting any leads, Smartcast or no Smartcast. I normally get between 5-10 a day average, sometimes more, sometimes less and that seems to remain consistent whether I never audition or audition my buns off. But if you're not getting ANY, I think it's definitely worth a call to customer service as that just doesn't seem right. It might be a glitch and I think it's definitely worth investigating. Even if you answered every single audition that came to you in a month's time, you should never just suddenly be "X'd" out of getting ANY leads. We are paying customers, after all.....

You are an INCREDIBLY, insanely, amazingly talented artist, (I’ve listened to your wonderful demos over and over!!), and you should be getting pant-loads of auditions. Yes, I said PANT LOADS. The squeaky wheel gets the oil….Make some noise! There's gotta be SOMEONE at the helm over there! computer

xoxox
Max.

.

Caryn Clark · **Voice Talent** Joined: 27 Mar 2005 Posts: 1000

Max, that is so sweet of you. THANKS!!! You made my day. Really. I just came home from my very last Board of Directors meeting for a non-profit I've been volunteering with for eight years. I've been on the Board the past two years and it's been an absolutely fabulous experience. I'm really going to miss everyone... so yeah, I'm a little sad, but your note really put a smile on my face!!!

I've been in the same boat as you... probably get 5-10 leads a day, no matter what my auditioning pattern is. I received a private lead/job just yesterday, so I know I'm able to be "in contact" so to speak.

But yeah, I don't care what the stats are (and I don't know that they matter in getting leads) no SmartCast invites in 6 days is just wrong. Something has to be wrong with the system.

Steven Lowell from the Customer Service area tends to agree, and is feverishly looking into what's going on. Thank goodness.

Travis . · **Voice Talent** Joined: 23 Feb 2004 Posts: 55

I've submitted 350.16% more auditions than other premium subscribers.

My "audition/proposal rating score is greater than the rating score of 82% of all Premium Subscribers"

5/1 - 12 Smartcast Invitations
5/2 - 7 Smartcast Invitations
5/3 - 1 (Saturday)
5/4 - 2 (Sunday)
5/5 - 4 The last one was sent at 11:22 AM

Since 11:22AM 5/5, - None

Since May 1, I've sent 4 auditions.

Don't have any idea what any of this means.

Diane Havens · **Voice Talent** Joined: 09 Jun 2006 Posts: 1281

September Day Leach · **Voice Talent** Joined: 31 Aug 2005 Posts: 1526

God bless Steven Lowell. He really tries hard Smile

...and Diane, wow! Good point in that last post! Very Happy

Lee Gordon · **Voice Talent** Joined: 22 Oct 2004 Posts: 1549

Since I posted this afternoon I have gotten another four SmartCast invitations so I guess the recent lull is just an aberration, not necessarily a trend.

Of course, just because it comes from SmartCast, doesn't make it smart. The most recent one I got was from a heating & cooling company that offered the following advice on how to pronounce their name: Daflure pronounced “Da’-flur”
Anyone care to hazard a guess as to whether that's a long "a" or a short "a?"

Diane Havens · **Voice Talent** Joined: 09 Jun 2006 Posts: 1281

Yeah, September, you've got to feel it for Steven. It's like being the White House Press Secretary these days.

Caryn Clark · **Voice Talent** Joined: 27 Mar 2005 Posts: 1000

Ok, I got a response from Steven. I'm really glad they recognize there's a problem and they're working on it!!

Here's the response:

So, here's what went down...

At the end of April 30th, SmartCast kicked in, but there was a minor bug. The people who had not received invites had auditioned 5 or more times on April 30th, so the kick in on May 1st, was more like a drop kick. The 'be picky' thing is still in effect with Voice123. In this case, however, it dropped a bomb after that day.

We know who was effected, and are working on this. I am putting two weeks back on your subscription.

Bobbi Owens · Posted: Thu May 08, 2008, 02:51 (GMT) Post subject: RE: Check your Profiles

FYI - Those of you who had problems receiving leads for the past 6 days - It seems to MAYBE be fixed - BUT check your profiles - My Demo order was messed up as well as a few other things in my profile within the last few hours so check your profiles AND demos!

Diane Havens · **Voice Talent** Joined: 09 Jun 2006 Posts: 1281

Thanks for the heads up, Bobbi. My demo order had been wrong when the upgrade first hit, and I had to correct it -- so I do check it every so often just to make sure it stays that way.

Allison Scussel · **Voice Talent** Joined: 25 Apr 2007 Posts: 928

You should find this interesting. My subscription was up for renewal on May 1st. After weighing the pros and cons, I waited until the last minute to renew. (May 1st at 2:00am eastern time)

I haven't submitted any auditions and my stats say I've submitted 100% less than other premium subscribers since April 30th, 2008.
(no kidding) Yet, I've received at least 10 invitations per day since 5/1/08. I'm being treated like a newbie all over again and getting better service NOW compared to the month of April.

Serious flaw? Absolutely.

TTYL Allison

David Oxford · **Voice Talent** Joined: 09 Feb 2007 Posts: 505

Diane Havens · **Voice Talent** Joined: 09 Jun 2006 Posts: 1281

So, Allison -- very interesting! Flaw? Hell, no. Let's all take a month vacation from 123 and start with a clean slate, so to speak! All your stats wiped out? Better service? More leads? Guess that's why they call it a honeymoon. Or, in your case, a second honeymoon.

David -- Not to answer for Erik, but as far as not auditioning much-- I don't either. I really don't waste my time on stuff I know I have little chance of getting, or doesn't pay well enough to take the shot. I'm busy enough -- right now, anyway. I like to keep my irons in as many fires as possible, however, should that perfect gig/client come up ... oh, and the tax write-off.