Blog « speakerblogger.com

Are You a Monotone Speaker?

By Arlen Busenitz, on September 29th, 2010

For 45 minutes the speaker delivered his keynote. If you had been evaluating him, you may have given him 5 stars for:

- Compelling content

- Great stories

- Good stage movements

- Connecting with the audience

You may have even him given 5 stars for a good conclusion, if you were still paying attention. This guy had a voice that was so flat/monotone that heart monitors flat lined when they heard him speak. OK, not that bad.

An otherwise stellar performance was hindered by the fact he talked at the same speed with the same pitch at the same volume for 45 minutes. It is very difficult to pay attention when the speaker has a monotone voice.

How is your voice? Having good vocal variety will help you share your expertise and have people coming back to listen to you. Here are some speech tips to help you have a clear speaking voice.

How to Improve Your Vocal Variety

Patricia Fripp, an executive speaking, coach taught me the following public speaking technique.

Vocal Variety Technique: Only emphasize 2-3 words in a sentence.

Look at the following sentence:

To be successful you need to have goals and a plan to reach them.

To deliver with vocal variety you may say:

To be successful you need to have goals and a plan to reach them.

Some people talk like this:

To be successful you need to have goals and a plan to reach them.

Every word was emphasized. You can improve your voice and vocal variety by following Patricia Fripp’s advice: emphasize 2-3 words a sentence. Do this and it will sound like music to your audience’s ears.

To emphasize a word, change how you say it. Even pause for a micro-second beforehand. This subtle shift in your voice will cause the words to stand out. Record yourself before and after. You’ll notice the extra vocal variety and your audience will love you for it.

Practice for just a couple minutes a day and you soon develop good vocal variety and avoid being monotone.

Are your offers consistent?

By Rob Christeson, on September 19th, 2010

Not every customer will notice inconsistencies in your products and pricing, but some will. You don’t want to lose those sales or the subsequent word-of-mouth from the satisfied customer, do you?

Recently, I was surfing on another speaker’s site. This speaker is a friend of mine, and quite successful in both his speaking/coaching as well as his product sales. I’ve purchased a couple of his products, and I recommend him (and a few others) on my Talk to the Human blog.

I check his site occasionally to see his blog and to see if he has any new product. One thing I like about him is his method of pricing. He has a standard price on his web site, as well as some bundled specials. Occasionally he may offer a discount for certain reasons, and he alway offers a great price on his individual items and his bundles when you see him speak in person.

On . . . → Read More: Are your offers consistent?

Improve Your Presentation Skills Fast

By Arlen Busenitz, on September 18th, 2010

Want to improve your public speaking skills fast? Check out this article on how several small changes can quickly improve your public . . . → Read More: Improve Your Presentation Skills Fast

The Million Dollar Question

By Arlen Busenitz, on September 9th, 2010

There is one question every prospect/customer is mentally asking. If you have a good answer, you’ll get more sales, customers, and business. Have a poor answer and you can lose customers.

Recently, I heard some answers that could have been better. My wife was out for the evening so I was babysitting our 5 month old daughter. I flipped the TV on and America’s Got Talent was having the final Top Ten compete for the last round where the winner receives $1,000,000.

A few of the contestants were asked after their performance, “Why should America vote for you?” Here is their chance to give a 60 second persuasive speech to elicit more votes.

In my opinion their answers were single hits, not home runs. Why?

Are you ready to sell?

By Rob Christeson, on September 3rd, 2010

There is a lot of advice about how to develop, produce and market your products and services. This is all really improtant to your success, but what sometimes gets lost is the execution process. What I mean by that is how we sometimes think that customers will buy our products or services simply because they are great, and because we know they need them. It is important that we also remember the customer’s point of view. Are we making them work harder to buy from us? To that end, have you ever lost a sale, or given up as a consumer due to poor execution?

I was in Borders bookstore today, and I selected a couple of books and proceeded to the counter to make my purchase. While ringing up my purchase, the clerk asked if I had a Borders Rewards card to use. I replied “yes,” and proceeded to give her . . . → Read More: Are you ready to sell?

speakerblogger.com