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IMPACTCommunications, Inc. Customized Training Solutions
for Selling Your Ideas and Responding to Your Clients
February 2003 Phone Communication Skills Newsletter
www.impactcommunicationsinc.com Telephone: 847-438-4480 E-mail:
[email protected]
How to Improve YourTelephone VoiceBy Judith
FilekPresident,Impact Communications, Inc.
Many people think they have a bad telephonevoice. While its true
that not every ones voicesounds like a radio announcers voice, very
fewpeople have a terrible voice. What they have is abadly produced
voice. To sound confident and beperceived in a professional manner
on thetelephone,one must pause and breathe and followsome simple
maintenance tips.
A good voice requires lots of power or air. The wayto get that
power is by breathing from the dia-phragm. Unfortunately, many
people breathe shal-lowly. They fill their lungs only to ten
percent oftheir capacity. A voice that is starving for air be-comes
a monotone or sounds tinny and unfriendly.Also, the ends of
statements fade, and there are lotsof umsand ahsas the person drags
in a quickbreath of air.
To check whether you are breathing from the dia-phragm, place
one hand on your upper chest andone hand on your diaphragm. Take in
a deepbreath and notice where you feel the breath first.Unless you
feel your diaphragm moving, you arebreathing shallowly. To heighten
your awareness ofhow diaphragmatic breathing feels, raise your
armsabove your head or lie prone on a bed. The onlyway you will be
able to breathe in these positionsis from the diaphragm. To remind
yourself tobreathe from the diaphragm when calling a clientor a
customer, place your hand on your diaphragm.Your diaphragm should
move like bellows whileyou are talking.
To keep a voice sounding terrific for the entireconversation,
take frequent pauses to breathe. Itwill improve your voice
dramatically. Suddenly, itwill sound rich and resonant. A one or
two-secondpause at the end of a statement or at the end of a
thought is ample. The additional benefit of pausingis that your
articulation will be clearer since youwill have time to enunciate
every syllable in theword. Pausing will also eliminate non-words,
likeah,or umthat make a person sound unsure.Most importantly, it
will give you time to formulateyour thoughts and make compelling
statements.
Besides pausing and breathing, it is important topay attention
to posture. The lungs are the largestorgan in your body, and they
cant move properlyif they are restricted. When talking to a
customer,make sure your feet are flat on the floor under yourchair
and that your arms are on the desk ratherthan crossed on your
chest. If you are nervous,consider standing up and walking around.
It willhelp you to release energy and to breathe.
Also, try gesturing. It will bring more air into thelungs, and
the voice will sound more enthusiastic.The client never wants to
feel you dont care. Ifyou are tired, gesturing is a great way to
get yourown energy level up and to get you back into
theconversation.
People want you to sound like you like your job somake sure you
are smiling and that you keep amirror by your phone. Smiling will
cause the toneof your voice to sound warmer. As you look
inthemirror, notice how far you open your mouthwhen you talk and
whether you use both yourupper and lower lips. Lazy lips and a
mouth thathardly opens create a badly produced voice.
Lastly, drink lots of water. Avoid caffeinated drinksthat pull
moisture from the vocal cords. Avoid hav-ing milk in your coffee or
eating cream cheese onyour bagels right before you start your
calls. Dairyproduct cause mucus, and you will constantly beclearing
your voice.
Those who are radio announcers have learned theimportance of
pausing and breathing. They havealso mastered how to maintain their
voice all daylong. Many of your customers only know youthrough your
voice. Make sure it creates the imagethat you want.
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IMPACTCommunications, Inc. Customized Training Solutions
for Selling Your Ideas and Responding to Your Clients
February 2003 Phone Communication Skills Newsletter
www.impactcommunicationsinc.com Telephone: 847-438-4480 E-mail:
[email protected]
Copyright 2003Impact Communications, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.
Impact Communications, Inc. consults with in-dividuals and
businesses to improve their face-to- face and over the phone
communicationskills. It is not what you know but how you
com-municate it that makes a difference. To reachus, phone (847)
438-4480 or contact our web
site,www.ImpactCommunicationsInc.com.
