HOW TO DEVELOP A VOICE THAT SELLS

By Ron S. La Vine
President of Accelerated Sales Training, Inc.

When speaking with someone over the phone for the first time, we do not have the luxury of visual cues therefore it becomes even more important to make a good impression suing our voice.

Yes, your voice is a sales tool and how it is used over the phone can often make the difference between getting the sale or losing it to a competitor. In their book "Put Your Best Foot Forward, Make a Great Impression By Taking Control of How Others see You" Jo-Ellan Dimitirus, Ph.D. and Mark Mazzarella devote a whole chapter to voice alone.

The key point of the chapter is this. People dislike irritating, harsh, loud, quiet or boring voices and are attracted to deeper, more vibrant, energetic, clear and moderately paced speech. Similar to a car radio if the signal is static-filled or unclear, we change the station. If the signal's crisp and clear, we listen.

To build a voice that sells requires learning how to send out crisp and clear signals and that takes practice. Here's an exercise for you to do just that practice.

Pickup a digital recorder and then once a day for a week set aside 15 minutes to pick-up the daily newspaper and read aloud and record the stories on the front page in your normal voice. Next, read the same material only this time, read it with confidence, authority, and credibility just as an anchor on the evening news. How do you sound?

Remember you can control the emotion (up and down), volume (loud or soft), pace (fast or slow), tone and pitch (high or low) and accent of your voice. Your goal is a voice that shows controlled emotion, a lower pitch, has a moderate pace and has a standard accent for your country. It requires conscious effort however in the long run you will have developed a voice that sells.

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Ron LaVine, MBA is president and founder of Accelerated Sales Training, Inc., a live cold call training firm located in Oak Park, CA. You can get a special report “41 sales Tips You Can Use Right Now” AND the free bimonthly Sales Tips for Selling Success eZine all by signing up at http://www.ast-incorp.com. If you would like information on Live Cold Calling Sales Training please call Ron at 818-991-6487 PST. © 2010 by Accelerated Sales Training, Inc.