Selling Today: Partnering to Create Value, 14/e

Impact of Voice Quality on Relationships

As noted previously, every spoken message has a vocal element. What we hear is greatly influenced by the speaker’s tone of voice, vocal clarity, and verbal expressiveness. On the telephone, voice quality is even more important because the other person cannot see your facial expressions, hand gestures, and other body movements. You cannot trade in your current voice for a new one. However, you can make your voice more pleasing to others and use it to add value to your relationships. How?

Consider these suggestions:

1. Do not talk too fast or too slowly. Rapid speech often causes customers to become defensive. It raises psychological barriers because a “rapid-fire monologue” is associated with high-pressure ...