How To Instantly Sound More Confident The Next Time You Make A Phone Call
Today’s hack is simple, and effective. I use it almost every day.
The next time you leave a message on someone’s cell phone, press ‘#’ when you’re done. On 99% of cell phone carriers you will then be given an opportunity to listen to your message, and if needed, delete it to record a new one.
Why should you do this? I’m glad you asked.
If you’re anything like me, you will be utterly shocked at how you sound on the phone. It’s probably nothing like how you sound in your head.
When I’ve listened to my messages in the past, I couldn’t believe that I sounded so depressed, sleepy, aloof, or annoyed (each of which came across at different times, whether I felt that way or not).
People make all sorts of snap judgments when hearing your voice. Your tone, pitch, pace, and inflection conveys all sorts of meaning (far more than the actual words themselves).
Some common problems you can try to eliminate from your speech are:
- Saying ‘um’ and ‘ah’ more often than you should
- Saying ‘like’, ’sort of’, ‘maybe’, ‘you know’ or other filler words which can make you sound unsure or immature
- Raising the pitch of your voice at the end of a statement (as if you were asking a question), which sounds child-like (try saying “My name is [your name]” and raising the pitch at the end)
- Speaking constantly in the same tone of voice, which can make you sound boring and tired
If you’d like to improve your voice, I highly recommend Dr. Carol Flemming’s audio book, The Sound Of Your Voice.
In it she plays recordings of various job applicants, and you’ll instantly realize how powerful your first impressions are about each person. Some of them you are ready to turn away after hearing them speak for five seconds, and you can tell that they have no idea what they sound like! She goes on to recommend that you record your voice and helps you analyze it for problems.
Personally, I didn’t have time to record my voice each day and review the recordings, but I had another source of voice recordings readily available: my voice mail messages.
Use this hack and I guarantee that…
- You won’t sound anything like you think on the phone
- You’ll start to see opportunities to improve
- People will return your calls faster and more often
- You’ll save yourself embarrassing moments when your first message didn’t come out right
Brian Armstrong is an authority on how to start a business. To learn how to get out of your 9-to-5 job, start working for yourself, and achieve financial freedom, visit his website at StartBreakingFree.com. You can also discover how to start a business in one month for under $100.
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Comments
Johnjoe says on July 12th, 2007 at 11:29 am
Two other good ways to instantly improve the sound of your voice are to stand up and smile when speaking.
touch0ph says on July 12th, 2007 at 12:39 pm
The reason you want to stand up is so that you’ll speak with more force from the belly. This makes your voice deeper and more resonant. Anything else sounds nasally and wimpy.
Will says on July 12th, 2007 at 1:38 pm
Stop saying “Thanks. Bye.” and say “Thank you.” This is more definitive, and you sound less like you have time to chitchat.
Brian says on July 12th, 2007 at 3:20 pm
Will,
You just made me think of another one. When answering the phone, don’t say “Hello”. Say “This is Brian” or quite literally, just your name “Brian Armstrong”. Most pros I meet do this.
This saves those wasted few seconds at the beginning of each call where people say:
“hello”
“can I speak to so and so”
“this is he”
Abhimanyu Grover says on July 12th, 2007 at 4:04 pm
Its important that you should be standing while talking as lying down effects pitch negatively, and your confidence as well.
John says on July 12th, 2007 at 4:10 pm
You can do this too when you’re recording your outgoing message for your voice mail too. It’s hard to do though because it’s painful to listen to your own voice.
Will says on July 13th, 2007 at 10:07 am
A more extreme example of what I was trying to get across is ending your message with a bunch of sign-offs like, “OK. Talk to you later. See ya. Take care. Thanks. Bye.”
Just say bye and ring off.
Similarly, if you go to someone’s cube to ask him something–when you’re done, say, “Thanks” and walk out. It seems unceremonious at first, but people will begin to appreciate that you don’t hang around for half an hour trying to extract yourself. “OK, well, like I said, I’ll get you those papers. And, uh, we’ll take it from there and, uh, see what happens, and, uh, I appreciate the help, and, uh, ok, see you later.”
cynthia says on July 14th, 2007 at 5:10 pm
This is so very true! I recently saw myself on video and was amazed at how differently I sounded on tape than what I sounded like in my head. I am now using Bob Corff’s CD that I bought from his website, http://www.corffvoice.com/. It was one of the first results that came up when I googled! ;) Anyway, it’s really helped and I’ve come such a long way! I would highly recommend it or any voice training. You’ll be surprised at how differently people view you.