Sound Advice: Creating Your Best Voice

Speech

 

In almost every workshop, someone asks me about improving the sound of their voice. While I can share the things that I do (sip water throughout the day, sing, hum), I am not an expert. I rely on the advice of Natasha Marchewka.

Over the past 10 years Natasha has built a very successful voiceover business, creating thousands of commercial and business narration projects around the world. She also provides presentation skills coaching and she’s helped me take many a speech from “okay” to “awesome”. Natasha’s voice is her business and her knowledge is invaluable to me.

Her recent move from Nova Scotia to California drew her attention to accessing her best morning voice, something we should all know how to do. The sound of our voice supports our ability to communicate effectively (and most of you know that I highly recommend getting phone calls done first thing every morning!).  Courtesy of Natasha, here are some tips to consider to put your best voice forward:

Now in the Pacific Time Zone, I’m up a little later than my friends and colleagues in the Eastern Time Zone where most of my voice work comes from… This means, if I wake at 6am, it’s already 9 and scripts are hopping, work is moving…but, my voice is not. Vocal warmups are now more important than ever for me, since I often have to hit the ground running vocally in the mornings. Once everyone has cleared out of the house, my first order of business is to vocally warm up as best as I can, as quickly as I can (though speed is not recommended!).

Some great ideas for vocal warm-ups for anyone needing to sound articulate and professional in the morning are humming musical scales (or any song), as well as, reciting tongue twisters. I find some vocal exercises even more effective when I’m folded forward, with my head hanging upside down. Drinking a warm beverage is also beneficial, though I’m particular about mine depending on the acidity and sugar levels. Certain herbal teas like Throat Coat or Ginger tea or any mild flavored tea works for me and strangely, hot chocolate (one that’s not too sweet) is also helpful for me.

Wanna take it to another level? Vocal Yoga. Here I thought I was coming up with something unique, a marriage of my two passions – the voice and Yoga – and it’s actually already a “thing”. The point is that breath techniques, gentle stretching, and other aspects of Yoga work can help support our voices and can be dramatically beneficial to our sound and ability to communicate.

Closing a sale is the natural outcome of inspiring great conversations and listening intently to our potential customers. This natural approach still involves a process – a plan that moves potential customers through a journey of discovery with you. So ... what's your process? And am I the right sales coach for you? Let's find out.

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What's The Phone Lady doing?

  • One-on-one coaching with 6 amazing entrepreneurs - info about sales coaching here
  • Designing a sales campaign - that includes phone conversations - for a waste management consulting firm
  • Creating client communication module for college students
  • Delivering remote learning on essential business communication skills for job search
  • Remote learning experience on sales and customer service skills for vet equipment company
  • Remote learning experience for financial advisors
  • In-person learning experience with new business owners on creating a sales process
  • Remote learning experience on essential skills to reach and inspire conversations with C-suite executives
  • Team coaching for a firm representing natural products for arthritis in dogs
  • Remote learning experience on sales and customer service skills for a transportation company
  • Remote learning experience on both discovery and sales calls for new startups

Do you or your team want to improve your communication skills? Do you have a communication question or challenge you'd like to discuss? This quick-to-fill-out form is easy to use and you'll hear from Mary Jane very soon.