Your voice is an important sales tool… and just like all your tools it must be in perfect condition if you are to do your job to the best of your ability. If you speak well, people will listen to you. However, if you don’t, people will treat you as background noise and tune you out.

Although your voice is a part of your complete image that you present about you and your company, it is also one of the most overlooked tools that have at your disposal. If your voice is weak due to lack of sleep or energy, poor enunciation, laziness, clarity, or abrasive it will have a negative impact on your customer’s overall view of you. If you sound either tired or negative over the phone it will essentially kill your client’s mood and that is the easiest way to walk yourself right out of a sale. Here are some ways in which you can learn to develop your voice into a strong force that is impossible to resist.

Record your voice during a conversation that you are having with someone. This doesn’t have to be at work because if you sound dull over the phone at work there is a good chance that you will sound the same any other time that you are on the phone. You need to know that people will turn away from a voice that is irritating or harsh, too loud or soft, fades away, or always ends on a high note as if every sentence that you speak sounds like a question ( this last one really annoys me).

Play the recording back for yourself and mark down each time that you find yourself making a mistake. If you find that you have a long list of mistakes you need to work on your voice. It is then best to practice your conversation and presentation skills until you find that you make little to know mistakes.

More often than not, salespeople speak with a monotone voice throughout a sales call and that can cause your prospect to end the call rather quickly. You need to try to add some changed in tone and pitch while you are speaking in order to keep the prospect attentive throughout the conversation.

Another important point to remember is enunciation. If the customer does not understand what you are trying to say you will lose the sale every time. Speak clearly and emphasize certain key words that you want to get across. Words such as , direct, quality, popular, remarkable, strong, tremendous, immediately, exclusive, attractive, sensational, tested, you, and special all tend to be some powerful words that will pull your prospect back into the conversation.

Your posture can change your voice dramatically. During my time as a sales agent and now a sales manager I have seen many people slouch down and hunch over their keyboards like a caveman using a computer. This is the worst thing that you can do as it will sap all of the strength from your voice. For a long time Greg Tufts (another sales manager in Canada) did not sit while he was talking to a prospect as it gave his voice the appearance of confidence that was needed. You should try this as it works extremely well.

Finally, you must remember to smile. The customer can hear it and will end up smiling in return. However you need to be able to mirror your customer. If they just told you that their dog died you should not smile into the phone and speak with enthusiasm. This will only upset them… so please remember to use your common sense…