Selling Your Likability 51
“He made an amazing recovery,” every syllable sounds exactly
like every other syllable. You’re inviting anyone listening to tune
you out or to misunderstand you. When you open your face (and
by that very action you’re de-stressing the muscles), chances are
the words will come out like this:
He made an amaaz ing
recovery.There’s variety in volume, pitch, and rate inside that sentence.
There’s honesty in that sentence.
Volume is the most overused and the least effective of the
three vocal tools.
Years ago, before refined sound systems, powerful, sonorous
voices were the norm, the speaker had to reach the back of large
auditoriums. The only aid was the speaker’s own vocal power. But
as the technical equipment improved, the ability (or lack of abil-
ity) of most speakers remained in the 1920s. The advent of the
microphone should have altered speaking styles drastically, but it
hasn’t. Before the microphone, it was never possible to speak in
an entirely conversational voice and be heard by a large number
of people. Now it is. But most inexperienced or uncomfortable or
untrained speakers tend to speak too loudly in public situations.
The untrained will approach the microphone, clear the throat
(which may or may not need clearing), place the voice too far
back in the throat (to impress the audience with authority), and
speak too loudly. The sound that comes out is pompous. It’s the
sound of the great “ahem,” a phony voice, an affected voice, a
“platform voice.” Yet, many of us still do it, thinking it’s the proper
public voice for the serious professional.
Young men and women moving up in the world must be espe-
cially aware of this trap. It’s very easy to fall into because we’ve
been led to believe that it’s what’s expected in the upwardly mo-
bile world. It isn’t, but after all, our role models, the business and
political leaders we see all the time, show us very few examples of
good communication skills.
One young man, seeing a television replay of his before and
after presentations in a workshop said, “Now I know what you
mean. You’re telling me to use my ‘living room’ voice all the time—
not my ‘radio’ voice.” That’s it exactly! You should use your warm,