I know many of you have had to deliver a speech when the stakes were high. And for whatever reason, you got a flu bug, bad cold or sinus condition. To top it off, you couldn’t cancel. This can be a terrifying!

Well! A couple of weeks ago, I was scheduled to give a 2 day voice training workshop in the Midwest and two days before I get the worst cold and sinus condition I have had in years. You know, blowing your nose, coughing, ears all plugged up, a tickle in the throat and the beginnings of a hacking cough. People, were excited about voice training workshop and traveling from all over the Midwest. There was no way to cancel. I needed to get on a plane, travel through airports, stay in an air-conditioned hotel with windows that can’t be opened, (no fresh air), give the workshop and get back home.  Exhausted at the prospect, I thought, lucky, I asked for a lapel mike!

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Yesterday I received a call from a skeptical sales manager, named John, who had read my "Can Voice Coaching Increase Your Sales?" blog entry.

He said, in a sarcastic and monotone voice, "Those robotic sales agents that you talked about who had a high school education; how are they doing? You said you believed that your voice coaching and speaking skills for success programs would increase their sales 3%. Well did it? In this global economic down turn, I have my doubts…I couldn’t resist calling your toll free number to find out?"

"Thank you for calling", I said in a very confident, engaging and well articulated voice. "I have Good News to report"… "Great", he said again in his flat, monotone voice. I was hoping he was noticing the contrast in our voices.

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In the Voice Power Studios weekly free voice training analyses, I am often asked for accent modification help by business professionals who are highly educated and highly qualified for their jobs, but due to their foreign accents find that their co workers cannot easily understand them.

These frustrated English and a second language speakers tell me that they are speaking with correct grammar and many of them have tried to communicate more clearly by speaking slower. And this is a good idea; however speaking too slowly and deliberately can give the impression of not having a clear, accurate and powerful response and/or not knowing the English language very well. In addition if you use a lot of filler words like (ah) or (uhm) you will definitely lose the attention of your listener who may be an important client, your boss, or the CEO of the company.

Want to find out the quickest way to use your voice to increase your speaking skills?

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Charisma: A special charm or allure that inspires allegiance or devotion.
Leadership: The ability to guide others.
Power: The ability to act or do with great influence, force or authority.(1)

I believe:

• All three of these are reflected in the sound of the human voice.
• That the human voice is the catalyst for creating action and,
• That the power of the human voice can make a difference for the better in a family, an organization, a corporation or a government.

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Recently I had a call from a Sales and Training Director in charge of 300 telephone sales representatives. She said, “Most of my sales reps speak 8-10 hours a day and after a couple of hours, they sound robotic, tired, and uninterested. I believe that our company could increase sales by training our sales reps in voice and speaking skills.

“Right now, my reps work the numbers and feel that if they talk to X number of people per hour, they are sure to close X number of sales. This is a commission only job which requires a high school education, however, I believe with a better sounding voice and speaking skills each rep could take home a big paycheck, grossing over $50,000 a year. “ My goal is for our sales reps and our company to increase sales 3% in the coming year”.

“How can you help”?

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