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.

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Say it again, please? Manish, born and raised in India with 22 years of living in the US, still heard that plea over and over again from his financial clients. I said that when it comes to money people are pretty nervous especially these days, and outstanding communication is essential.

In the first voice session, he quickly learned the value of slowing his speaking rate and saying his words clearly. In his words,” when I slow down it gives me time to think about what I am saying and how I am saying it”. He was simply amazed at how there was less confusion between what was going on in his mind and what he was actually saying. Before this “ah-hah” moment, like most people he just start speaking as fast as his ideas were popping into his head. Saying the same thing twice with different words and often stumbling over his words and using a lot of “ah’s” and “Uhm’s”.

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It really is amazing how changing your speaking voice can positively change your life and the relationships in your life.

Just this week, two business professionals, Marsha in her 60’s and Katie in her 20’s, called for a voice consultation because at work both of their voices were being judged negatively. Marsha was accused of sounding overbearing, bordering on angry by the team that she managed and Katie was told by her boss that she sounded like a child of 12 and that this was undermining her credibility with her real estate clients.

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A confident, clear, powerful voice is the key that enables you to persuade and influence. Whether you are a lawyer speaking to a jury, a mother with a 5 year old, a sales person closing a deal, a person running for political office, or a CEO speaking to his stake holders, your voice sends many vocal cues that make a huge difference on the impact you and your message have.

Consider some of the best speakers of 2012 listed by Decker Communications: Michelle Obama, Bill Clinton, Sheryl Sandberg, Stephen Colbert, Jon Stewart, Marissa Mayer and Ryan Seacrest. Their vocal cues speak volumes in terms of the positive impressions they make.

Why does how we sound have such an impact?  Listeners can have a positive or negative emotional reaction to the way you speak. Jeffrey Jacobi, author of How to Say It with Your Voice (Prentice Hall, 2000), surveyed 1,000 men and women and asked, "Which irritating or unpleasant voice annoys you the most?" Overwhelmingly, the most annoying sound was a whining, complaining, or nagging tone.

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Speak with Confidence and Advance Your Career in Silicon Valley

Silicon Valley houses IT professionals from all over the world who speak English with an accent that may be keeping them from advancing in their career. As the owner of Voice Power Studios, I have worked to modify the Indian, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Italian, Russian, Polish, Lebanese, Malaysian, French, and German, accents of my clients from Intel, Northrup Grumman, Microsoft, Caterpillar, Inc., and Computer Sciences Corporation.

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