9/17/2024-Your silver tongue is a weapon

You know when you sound like a semi-human sales bot, so be aware of how your voice sounds and practice. Get your seller voice to where you know your customers will find genuine and credible.

Your customer stares at you strangely, and you think, "Gosh, what did I just say?"

Your verbal communication is greatly affected by the words you choose, your syntax, your cadence, and your tone.

The expectations are not that you speak like an Elizabethan Shakespeare character, but sounding like a punk fresh off the street ain’t cool either. (That was harsh; apologies to punks everywhere.)

Avoid cheapening your speech because you’re trying to be casual or cool.

Speak like a professional.

Use your mobile and record yourself during a meeting with a client today. (Nobody has to know but you.)

Later – when feeling really secure – find a private place and hit the play button. (Don’t choke; you’ll be fine.)

How do you sound?

Are you too formal? Or are you too casual? How’s the enthusiasm and confidence?

Most importantly, do you come off the way you intend?

Your buyers are constantly making conscious – and unconscious – decisions about whether to trust you, so it’s important to find and establish your seller voice.

It’s not just the sound of your voice but how you use it that matters. If someone were to ask you, "Where’s the drama in your voice?" would you know what that meant?

Your interpretation is correct: How you make your voice perform is as much a part of selling as is owning your value proposition.

Here are some speaking elements that you should think about when pitching, er, conversing with your customers:
+ inflection
+ energy
+ pauses
+ modulation
+ tone
+ strength
+ enunciation

Finding your voice includes reaching the natural state where everything sounds natural…and authentic. (You could even throw the word "human onto the heap.)

Finding your voice also includes getting the tone right…especially when using marketing department-created talk tracks with customers. You’ll need to translate what was created for you into jargon that sounds human to your customers.

You can hear yourself when you sound like a semi-human sales-bot*, just be aware and practice so you get to the place you know your customers will find genuine and credible.

"If you ever doubt the sound of your voice, all you have to do is practice," says voice coach Caroline Goyder in this compelling Ted Talk.

Accompanied by an unusual prop, Caroline teaches you to use your voice as an instrument while also offering tips on how to build confidence.

Your tongue may be silver, but your verbal communication skills must be gold. Don’t wait for them to magically change, study and understand what you need to do to improve.