There are many, many listeners who simply cringe when they hear local vendors voicing their own advertisements on the radio. Sure, they laugh. Sure, they remember the merchant. They also remember that they vowed on the spot never to do business with that particular store. Whether it's because they had to sit through a painful listening experience or whether it's because they assume the bad commercial means that the business person is a bit less than professional, doesn't matter. What matters is, the commercial turned off a listener who may have otherwise spent money in that store.

Many business owners assume that all they need to do is let customers know about their store and customers will do business there. If that were true, corporations wouldn't be spending crazy amounts per year on marketing campaigns. How you present what you have to offer is important. It may even be more important than the quality of the product itself. No one is going to know about the quality if you can't get their attention in a good way to begin with. Telling them isn't going to cut it either, because they already have dozens of other business owners with the same item telling them their product is the best.

That's the reason your commercial has to stand out. But, of course, you want it to stand out in a good way. You don't want to make people dislike you.

A commercial should convince potential customers to try your product. And yes, sounding enthusiastic may indeed help you in some cases, but sounding professional – or hiring an actor to sound professional for you – will help you in more situations. Many business owners actually turn people off by trying to come on too strong, and too “fun.” Trying to seem “fun” often annoys people. It often makes customers feel as though you are not being geniune. It often makes them feel as though you are trying to make them think you are a very special person who needs to be paid attention to.

What you need to do is to make your audience member feel special, as though they are worth paying attention to. A professional commercial is a good beginning. You may even want to mention that to the voiceover artist you hire. “I want you to make my customer feel as though he or she is the most special customer in the world.” That always makes people feel good, because in our “Look at me!” society, it is very rare. And frankly, everyone is tired of people who want to sell them things clamoring for their attention.

Yet, when a non-professional puts together a commercial, that is exactly how they appear. It can be exhausting to have to endure something like that.

An actor, however, knows how to cut through all of that and make the listener want to know more. Even though the customer knows the actor is trying to sell them something, they become willing to believe the patter for a few minutes because it feels good. A professional voice-over artist knows how to interest listeners, and that is the best thing about them.