SUPERTALKTHE POWER OF LOUD
Several years ago, I was an observer at a sales seminar. It had
been in progress for most of the day and the attendees were ex-
hausted, dispirited, and fed up with the slogans and suggestions
they had been given.
Sensing this, the leader suddenly took a new tack. "Are you
going to make that sale?" he yelled out suddenly.
Bewildered, the salespeople responded with halfhearted yeses.
Again, he yelled out, "Let me hear it! Stronger! I'll make that
sale!"
The answer was a little louder, and again he thundered out,
"I'll make that sale!" His volume was up and his voice booming.
It was as if a charge of electricity had galvanized the audience.
Suddenly their tiredness slipped away as they began to match
his volume. I'll make that sale! I'll make that sale! The room
rocked with their enthusiasm, and later, leaving the hall, I heard
them talking in excited voices: "What a session!" "Dynamite!"
"He really got the juices flowing!"
What had happened to change a tired group into such an eager
bunch? Subtext. The message behind the booming shout of the
leader was sheer power. By matching their volume to his, they
had also matched his subtext and had felt an infusion of energy
at the end of an exhausting day.
While raising the volume of your voice can emphasize what
you are saying in casual conversation and add a subtext of power
and strength, lowering the voice can also achieve the same subtext.
I once worked for a CEO who, at staff meetings, would deliberately
lower his voice to push home significant facts. We had to lean
forward to hear him—and we did because we knew and understood