How much confidence, energy, and enthusiasm does your voice radiate when you speak about your ideas, services or products? Your vocal sound is what people react to first and then they listen to what you’re saying. Experts say that in a telephone conversation, 80% of your persuasiveness comes from your speaking voice and 20% from what you say. Most people don’t realize that the sound of their voice is an important and determining factor as to whether someone buys.
Unleash the magic in your voice. John, a young 30 year old scientist, was holding his voice back on purpose and sounding flat and monotone, because as he said, that is how all the other scientists speak. However, he continued, now that I am advancing in my career and doing a lot of presentations at science conferences I realize that this way of speaking is not helping me reach my goal of being an excellent communicator.
John, you are not alone, I have clients, from both the engineering and the IT fields who speak the same fast talking, monotonous way. However, what sets you apart is that you have a rich baritone voice when you use your breath to support it and when stop trailing off at the end of your thoughts.
If you want to sell with your voice you need to use it purposefully to engage the listener, a low pitched rich resonant baritone voice makes both men and women feel comfortable and reaches them on a gut level. The accomplished actor, James Earl Jones, who plaid Darth Vader in the movie Star Wars, is a perfect example of this phenomenon.
In order to sell your ideas most effectively you also need to speak clearly at approximately 150 words per minute and let each thought you say build upon the previous thought. People don’t speak in sentences they speak in thoughts, one after another. All the thoughts must connect in a succinct and concise way to tell the story of your scientific research. It is never just about the facts, John. Each thought you say has a corresponding feeling associated with it, even if it is simply enthusiasm or sounding like you’re interested in what saying.
For example, every comedian knows that if he doesn’t think his jokes are funny, no one in the audience will laugh. It is the same for you. If you don’t feel your ideas are interesting and you show no excitement, your audience will not be motivated to buy.
Many of my clients tell me that would require a personality shift and they are right. When speaking to a group of people, I feel it is the speaker’s obligation to persuade the audience. When being engaging doesn’t come naturally to you or when you are not in the mood, one way to correct this is to use speech melody which means to emphasize words by changing the pitch and/or the volume.
For example in saying “Hello” to an audience, I can say “hello” going from a high pitch to a low pitch or “hello” a low pitch to a high pitch, both of which are more engaging than just speaking with a flat monotone sound.
Selling with your voice is easy with the proper voice skills. These skills enable you to sound open and engaging and to connect with your audience on a primal level. The speaking voice is a powerful tool that motivates, inspires and influences others to open up to your ideas, get involved, ask questions and finally to buy from you whether it is your vision, your products, or your services. You Voice Is Power.
Are you ready to discover how you can improve your speaking voice by signing up for your 20-minute free voice analysis, http://www.voicepowerstudios.com/analysis.html or call 877-783-2455
