Let's talk business

By ANGELA McCARTHY

Ever noticed how few people have good phone manners? How many talented managers bore you to tears with a presentation? And how your own answer-phone message can send you to sleep? The common factor is the misuse of the voice - an amazing tool or a torture weapon, depending on who is telling the story.

I'm someone who has to redo my phone message a dozen times to make it sound half-welcoming. I'm also regularly informed by friends that I sound incredibly bored on the phone. My voice is letting me down, personally and professionally.

So I went looking for people who advise on voices - communication advisers, media trainers, voice consultants. They're warm, empathetic and seem delighted to talk to me.

New Zealanders are known for nasal tones, over-fast delivery and ending sentences like a question, with an "eh?" thrown in for good measure.

We need to break bad habits and make good ones, say the experts. Pace, diction, inflection, enthusiasm and confidence all make a difference.

The first habit to develop is simple. Smile when talking into the phone, even if you've had the worse morning in your life, you're hung over, have fought with your partner or arrived at work to a desk piled with urgent jobs.

Your voice usually reflects your mood, says Maggie Eyre, accounts director for Encore Communication, trained actor and author of Speak Easy: The Essential Guide to Speaking in Public.

"If you're feeling tired or stressed it comes through. So stand up, take a deep breath, breathe correctly and smile. You'll give out much more energy."

Communications consultant Margaret Fleming, who runs a one-day Auckland Chamber of Commerce course on telephone behaviour, suggests people put a reminder to smile in front of them - maybe a smiley sticker on the computer.

"Physiologically it lightens you up. It's all to do with muscles."

Eyre likens the voice to a musical instrument. "You need to look after it, maintain it, fine-tune it and make it work for you. A flat voice sounds depressed, a monotone voice sounds like you don't care."

You can learn techniques to get you through a bad day, says Eyre. "It's about pace, projection, diction [clarity of words] and colour in your voice."

Eyre emphasises the importance of finding passion for what you're doing, as well as developing better vocal techniques. "Words are not enough. In New Zealand I don't believe we're encouraged enough to let our passion out in front of an audience with confidence."

I never realised that speaking was so physical - or emotional.

Your first impression of an organisation's culture is when you first make contact. If the receptionist, PA or phone staff sound grumpy, shy, arrogant or not focused, then that is how the company is perceived, says Eyre.

Matte Ineleo, Vodaphone customer services team leader, says no matter what his mood may be, when he logs in he enters professional mode.

"You just have to shut things out of your mind and think, 'I'm here to work'. It is like a switch that goes on."

The 26-year-old brought his velvety tones to Vodaphone after five years in radio, the past two at 531 PI, an Auckland Pacific Island station.

Nicknamed "the voice" by fellow call-centre staff, Ineleo says he loves the individualised aspect of customer service.

That passion, and the satisfaction he gains from helping callers, comes across on the phone, says Vodaphone customer services director Neil Porteous.



Phone behaviour is an art of its own, says Fleming. Because there are no visual clues, we should speak slowly and pause more to get our message through.

On her course she teaches participants how to match the caller's communication style.

"Always match a caller's style without getting embroiled in their emotional state. For example, 'I can understand that would be very annoying' acknowledges their anger, but you don't become part of it," says Fleming.

A good phone voice is important when job searching as well.

People's voices reveal immediately if they're expecting to be knocked back, says Jane Kennelly, Frog Recruitment managing director.

"You need to think of each new call as a fresh start, a new conversation, another opportunity. It is the people who project themselves well over the phone who get to second base."

Many people portray themselves badly in phone interviews by trying to dictate the terms of the conversation or responding abruptly, rather than giving full and complete answers.

Adds Kennelly: "We want to hear energy and passion in the voice. People have to be able to inject their personality into the conversation without trying to take over. This shows a good sense of self."

One way to improve your voice is to use the services of voice tutors or consultants.

Voice tutors cost anything from $50 to $150 an hour, usually around $80, says Eyre, who notes that while many organisations pay to have senior management improve their presentation skills, fewer put money into their front office staff.

But because professional help doesn't come cheap, people can do a lot to improve their voices without it.

"The key is to become conscious of your voice," says Eyre, "and to practise and practise and practise.

"These are lifelong habits you're working to get rid of."

Sound advice:


WARM UPS

Warming your voice up helps bring light and shade, energy and enthusiasm into your voice, says Roseann Gedye, communications consultant and part-time senior lecturer on Unitec's bachelor of international communications.

"Go into a presentation cold and you sound tired."

Warm your voice by singing, chanting, humming, doing tongue twisters or breathing exercises. Anything out loud helps.

Another trick is to drink warm water, says Gedye, which helps to keep your vocal cords lubricated. "It also helps when you've overused your voice, so if you feel tired and don't want your voice to sound tired, warm water will help, not coffee."

UMM ERRR

Men and women both suffer from umming and ahhhing too much. "What you're doing is vocalisng the pause, filling it up instead of taking it," says Gedye.

Eyre suggests pausing and inhaling every time you go to say um, ah or another filler word. "Pausing is so much more effective than fillers. Silence is powerful."

BREATHING

Kiwis often dont breathe properly when talking, says Gedye.

Fleming agrees. "We often breathe into our chest cavity and don't get enough air to round out words properly. We also need to use our lips, teeth and tongue more to help us speak clearly."

She says words get muffled when we don't use our lips properly to say letters and blends of letters, particularly at beginning and end of words.

LOSING YOUR FALSETTO

Many women suffer from high-pitched voices. To tone it down, Gedye suggests pressing on your navel. "It makes you think about where you're breathing."

Find your pitch boundaries, says Ineleo, by pitching your voice as high, then as low as possible.

"This helps you find the middle. You start at the middle level, leaving room to go up if you want to sound more light-hearted and down if you want to sound more serious."

Eyre explains that the falsetto quality some women have occurs because their breath escapes just before the tone starts. Using vowel sound exercises stop it happening.

She suggests practising sentences where each word begins with a vowel, like: Elegant elephants eat everything.

"Or count backwards from five, lowering your pitch slightly each time. By the time you've go to two or one you've probably hit the pitch that is more naturally your own, instead of the one you habitually use."