You may find this humorous, but I do my own make-up.
No… let me back up.
In my TV news anchor job, I wear make-up…and I do it myself every afternoon.
Through numerous cosmetics consultants, trends, products, and shades, I’ve found what works best over the years. Luckily, I have good skin (I drink lots of water, and stay away from too much sun).
For me, the process of make-up application takes me about 3 minutes to put on the basics, then a little powder over that to take away the shine, and maybe some Carmex to gloss-up the lips and I’m on my way. My co-anchor needs a little more time, but there’s a double-standard in this business, and for women, make-up is both a blessing and a curse.
For one thing, women don’t tell you what ills make-up can cover. Believe me, it can come in handy for a blemish or bags under the eyes, even when I’m NOT on TV (ahem, not that I DO that, mind you).
Not that long ago when the TV station went HD, a big adjustment came about. LESS is more. The audience can see it if you cake it on too thick.
But I digress. The reason I’m writing all this is to tell you that cosmetics is the biggest retail product scam of all time, far surpassing the Pocket Fisherman, prescription drugs, furniture, and Ginzu knives. OMG, the money these companies make on (mostly) women’s vanity is scandalous!
I had to order online some basic creme make-up the other day. The small plastic containers that hold this product are the size of a silver dollar, and maybe the depth of 3-4 of those coins stacked one on top of the other. I ordered 3 of them, and ponied-up the $90+ dollars it took to pay for it. (ouch)
When the make-up arrived, I realized I had ordered the wrong shade, and wrote the company an email to ask how to exchange my 3 containers for 3 with the proper shade.
In a couple of days I got a response that they would send me the replacements at no cost, and instructed me to just throw away the three I’d already received that were the wrong shade for me.
Really?! Just throw them away? I had just paid nearly $100 for that cosmetic product. The fact that they cared little to have them returned told me the product really wasn’t worth that much to begin with. It made me feel that I had WAAAY over-paid for it in the first place.
Are you making a similar mistake to underprice your VO product/service? Do you let your clients know the value of your voice, the training, the studio, the equipment, etc. that has gone into your business? Do you “give away” re-do’s, follow-ups, and retakes?
Maybe a multi-million dollar cosmetics company can write-off an errant order, but it left THIS individual customer thinking I’m waaay over-paying for what amounts to face-paint in the first place. I doubt I’ll do business with them again.
CourVO
