The Tone of Voice of a Sales Representative – his hidden weapon

Let’s take a look at a specific subject that many of the sales representatives still don’t like but it’s very important: do you lose clients because of your tone of voice?

In times when the “face-to-face” talks are more rarely to happen and the deals are happening over the phone your voice can be determinant for your success.

The biggest shortcoming of the phone conversations (including also the text messages) is that it doesn’t show your body nonverbal language which can strengthen or weaken your position. In this kind of communication there’s only a voice.

Before a while a young lady came to me due to her application for accound executive. Our office is located in a big flat without separate rooms so it’s easy to hear everyone. I heard this lady (when she came in) and also when she was talking with someone. It was needless to look at her because she wasn’t the right person for this position. Why? Unfortunately the reason was not her education, but her tone of voice.

The accounting executives – coordinators who are working at an advertising agency often have different projects in many cities so therefore they spend half of their time speaking with partners/clients over the phone. The friendly tone of voice and the self - confidence can be used as a specific tool in order to reach success.

I know that each of us was born with his voice and we often take our voices for granted but the truth is that we can train our voices. Your voice is actually power and help you to improve your carrier or to lose your next deal.

4 basic factors play very important role in your “tone of voice management”:

1. Your tone – your timbre have to express your self – confidence and self – secure. Ask your colleagues what they think about your voice. Accept critics because they can help you to improve your voice skills and to reach your goals.
2. Intonation – when you think about the key arguments of your point make sure that your intonation express them right. 90% of the meaning of your words are caused by your intonation.
3. Elocution – practice, practice, practice! Don’t be scared to practice your elocution as long as needed. You can be self – confident only if you have the right elocution which will help you to have the right intonation as well.
4. Energy – it’s much similar to the tone but it’s not the same. Your voice energy will allow people to feel like they stand face to face in front of you. Something that can embarrass you is the speed of your voice. Sometimes we speak very fast and people ask us to repeat. So take a breathe, think about what you want to say and say it with the right energy.

In most of the cases your voice can be trained only if you realize its problems. Sometimes there’s nothing wrong to ask a specialist for help. If you feel that your tone of voice embarrass your success it’s time for change.