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…

Everyone in sales has their own views on this topic and I am not speaking for everyone when I write this bog post. I am speaking from my own experiences as a successful account manager turned sales manager. I know that cold calling is a tough business model and some people find it too difficult and sometimes stressful. However, the pros from cold calling far outweighs the cons when you take a look at why cold calling is a much better method than other business models within a B2B environment.

1:            Cold calling is never passive, it is always active. I can’t stress this fact enough because being active makes things happen at a pace that you can control. You are the person who pays your bills and you need to set things in motion for you to be able to sustain your lifestyle. They say that fortune favours the bold and with cold calling this is very true.

2:            You never know what is around the corner with cold calling. Any existing account has only so much unlocked potential… but a new account can offer a hidden treasure of untapped revenue. The key to this is to get into the account and then spread your wings. Find every key contact that you need to in order to fully prospect that account.

3:            People favour the bold. In my opinion nothing is bolder than a cold call and the more cold calls that you do, the bolder you will become. It is a numbers game… the more cold calls that you do, the better you will get at it, which enables you to do more cold calls in return. This will do wonders with your self confidence and will improve other areas of your life in turn.

4:            Cold calling makes everything else a cake walk. Imagine that you spent the day lifting 50lb boxes around the office. Now imagine spending the next day lifting 5lb boxes. Those 5lb boxes will feel light as a feather because you had become accustomed to handling something much more difficult. This is also true with cold calling. Once you get used to converting cold calls to customers it makes it so much easier to get a warm lead to make their purchase.

5:            Self Respect is built over time. Do you know the feeling that you get once you have accomplished something worthwhile? People often get this feeling when they create something from nothing. This is what the most creative people do… the key difference is that your end result is measured in by company revenue and personal income.

Remember:        When you convert a cold call into a paying customer… you did it yourself, nobody did it for you. Take pride in what you do as it is just as important as any other job. Sales make the world’s economy flow. Absolutely nothing happens in the world until someone sells something… and that something usually starts with a cold call.