I’ve listened to many speakers and you really notice the difference between the experienced and the inexperienced. It’s so often the small details that can make such a difference.
 
One of the most powerful tools you have for creating successful outcomes is your voice. Although many people don’t realise this, your voice and how you use it, represents around 40% of the power of your communication. Over the telephone this figure, according to UCLA studies, increases to an incredible 84%. 
 
People who have a great voice are a pleasure to listen to and, subconsciously, will influence us at a deep level. In advertising, this power is used to great effect and I’m sure you can think of one or two people who are famous for their voice quality. The reverse is also true and an unpleasant voice is something we prefer not to hear and such people are at a disadvantage when it comes to making the right type of impact.
 
Making sure your voice sounds at its best helps you become more persuasive. It allows you to articulate your ideas better and come up against less resistance when interacting with others. It increases your confidence because others respond to you better.
 
When you think about it there are many variables to the way we can sound. We can speak in or out of rhythm. We can vary our tonality, volume, pitch, inflections and tempo. Because our voice comes from how we use our bodies our posture and movement are very important. How we think, how we breathe and what ’state’ we are in all influence our sound.
 
There are many ways to check your voice sounds great at the right time and I’ve listed a few here that are easy to follow:
 
Check your posture. W hen your body is aligned sound comes out with more power, resonance and projects better.
 
Drink plenty of water. It helps your vocal folds to stay well lubricated. Avoid dehydrators like tea, coffee or cola.
 
Put emphasis in your words. When in conversation put good emphasis on words so they really have ‘feel’. By putting the emotion into the word this helps to fully engage the listener. Right now just say ’smooth’, ’slow’, and ‘gorgeous’ and you’ll notice what I mean.
 
Use livelier body language. More animation adds energy and enthusiasm to your communication (though don’t over do it!)
 
Add tone and inflection to your voice. Do you remember how comedians used to make fun of John Major and his monotone voice when he was prime minister? ‘Yes Norma I think we’ll just have a quiet night in tonight and watch some paint drying or better still perhaps we can watch the test card’.
 
Prepare in advance for your meetings and telephone calls. Before important calls and meetings run through them in your mind so you project more confidence and don’t find yourself pausing with too many ‘mmm’s’ or ‘eeer’s as fill ins. 
 
Overall, with a little thought and preparation you can significantly increase your persuasive powers when you pay attention to how you sound.

This may well be easier than you think. If you haven’t yet done so, the first place to look is with your existing clients. Who do you regard as an ‘ideal’ client and what is it about them and the relationship you have that makes them ‘ideal’? Better still, why don’t you ask the clients themselves? It can be surprising to find out what people value about your service as it may be different to what you imagine. 

You will probably find patterns emerging which fall into two categories. The demographic factors and the softer personal qualities.

Let’s deal with the demographics first. These are the population characteristics of the group(s) you wish to aim your product or service at. There are many variables and to name a few you have age, location, ownership (e.g. home, car etc.), income, wealth, employment (e.g. professional, business owner, retired). The idea is to form a clear picture or profile.

The second aspect is the qualities and attributes of your ideal client. These are the issues related to the kind of person they are and the relationship you have with them. One of the benefits of identifying who it is you enjoy doing business with is that it helps you identify the relationships that you don’t enjoy or are not profitable.

Having made these distinctions it becomes far easier to identify where to find, and how to connect with these people. It also becomes possible to create marketing messages that appeal to them because you know who you’re speaking to.

In the marketing of professional services, referrals, introductions and recommendations are the best source of new clients. If you want other people to recommend you then they need to know who you want to meet. The more specific you are the easier it is for them to identify these people on your behalf.

By engineering your product or service to appeal to your target group (s) you become more attractive. In an increasingly commoditised world the more value you add the more loyalty you create. Large organisations may have greater resources and financial muscle but they so often lack the nimbleness and genuine personal touch that a small business can offer.

The idea is to uniquely position yourself and your business and effectively lock out competition. Over time this will positively impact your business in many ways. Higher profits, more referred business, more repeat business and more enjoyable relationships to name a few.

There is a huge amount of material available on this subject but there is some that stands out as particularly powerful.
A few years ago I was fortunate enough to attend a seminar where Dr. Robert Cialdini was presenting the findings of his scientific research into the process of influence. What I learned were a collection of principles which are at the heart of all sales and marketing, and, therefore, growing your business. In fact when you are in any situation where you want to influence, knowing these ideas gives you a considerable advantage. Not only because you can learn to ethically use them yourself but also you’ll begin to recognise where they are being used on you! (and they are – all the time).

What Dr. Cialdini discovered, through scientific research, was that there are just six principles of ethical influence, which I will summarise for you.

Reciprocation
If someone does something for you then you are compelled to repay that kindness. You feel obligated to the giver. Why do businesses like to give away free samples, trial of services, or concessions? Because it induces reciprocation.

Scarcity
Why are diamonds expensive? Because we believe they are rare. When something is limited then the perception of its value increases. Businesses offer limited editions, buy now while stocks last offers, and exclusive information to emphasise scarcity.

Authority
When someone is considered to be in authority, or an authority, they can excerpt considerable influence. People often simply obey, without question. Professional credentials, expertise, and industry knowledge all fall into this category.

Commitment
When people make a commitment they want to remain consistent with that decision. They will feel internal pressure to stick with what they’ve said. If a business can get people to make a small commitment first they can build on it from there.

Liking
People like to do things for people they like. That’s why rapport is so important in selling. Even if we don’t really want to do something we’ll often do it just because we like someone (how else could they get people into a tuppaware party!). People who genuinely like people make the best persuaders.

Consensus
People often look to others for guidance before making a decision. Few people want to be the first to try something, preferring to see how others get on first. Businesses use client testimonials and the experiences of others to help people come to a decision to use their products and services.

What’s fascinating about these patterns is they induce what Cialdini calls a ‘click, whirr’ response, meaning that we respond in a mechanical way without thinking about it.
To help you recognise these patterns just start paying attention to advertising, promotional materials and commercial media. They are being used constantly.

With a little thought it’s possible to incorporate all these ideas into your communications and reap the rewards as a result.

One of the questions I’ve sometimes asked in response is “how many “no’s” have you had in the last week or two?”

Very often it’s not many.

So here’s an interesting paradox. When business slows up a bit people often stop talking to other people because they feel down. They feel like a victim of circumstance. They become like the bunny in the headlights. So the story told over and over in the media becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

But even at the best of times many people find excuses not to talk to people, if they think it means they might be rejected.

And here-in lies the real issue. The fear of rejection.

People frame it in their minds that a “no” means they are being rejected. And people hate that and so they avoid it. Great strategy that one. It also means you’ll go broke.

I learned about this behaviour right at the beginning of my sales career. In the sales office I worked in you seemed to have two kinds of people.

Those who shut themselves in their office and got on the phone. And those who made endless cups of tea, spent ages in conversation about everything and anything and generally avoided any situation where they might hear the dreaded word.

Guess who did the most business?

The fact is that you cannot hear “yes” without hearing “no”.
How could you possibly go through life expecting to only hear “yes”. It will never, ever happen.

No and Yes go together. Just like day and night. You can’t have one without the other. 

The way to overcome this fear is to become as happy with a ‘no’ as a ‘yes’. Why pin your sense of self-worth on someone saying ‘no’ to an idea? When people say no it’s not rejection. It’s simply no. Just data.

When you are as happy with a ‘no’ as a ‘yes’, your results will go up. Often dramatically.

Why? Because you’ll always get what you want on every call, whether it’s a yes or a no. Consequently, you will cease to feel under any kind of pressure.

I won a brilliant piece of business a couple of days ago. I’d called someone up and asked for a meeting. I went along and I was completely open to what might happen. I would have been happy with whatever way the meeting went. I was just curious and simply placed my full attention on the person.  My intention was “how can I best serve this person?” If no business had resulted it wouldn’t have mattered. I enjoyed meeting this person and they would have got value from the meeting anyway. So it was win/win.

Despite the economy there is opportunity everywhere. Everyday, with every conversation, with every person we meet there is the seed of an opportunity. If you expect it.

Your assignment – make at least one big, bold request for business each day.

It’s an area which always seems to generate interest and often people are looking for that little extra edge or ingredient that’s going to make all the difference.

I’m sure most people are aware of the need to build rapport, gain trust and ask the right questions. Of course, there is also the much under-used skill of simply being a good listener.

All these are important to develop because they are fundamental to good communication but there’s another aspect to influencing which is less talked about but equally important.

Just recently I was talking to a friend who had attended a sales training. She told me how the trainer had said “it’s a war zone out there and every day you’re marching into battle. Be prepared to take aim, lock onto your target and constantly push forward. Once you’ve got a sniff of interest be like a terrier and never let go” (I wondered if the trainer was ex-military?).

Certainly, this is one approach. It seems to continue to be a commonly taught approach in sales training judging by the number of aggressive sales tactics employed by so many organisations. It was how I was taught when I went into sales and for a long time all I did was push, push, push. It works and it gets results but the problem is that it’s very draining.

Another very different approach is to stop pushing altogether. Instead, once you’ve set your intent you just let go. You stop trying to make things go in the way you want by attempting to control them and you trust in the outcome, whatever that may be.

The late Thomas Leonard, wrote a chapter called “unhook yourself from the future” in his excellent book “The Portable Coach”. How this idea works in an influencing situation is that you allow yourself to be as happy with a ‘no’ as you are with a ‘yes’. The focus is on a genuine collaboration with someone and helping them to move towards their outcome and not on just making a sale or getting someone round to your point of view.

The difference between these approaches, fundamentally, is fear or more importantly, the absence of it. The idea of always pushing is fuelled by the fear not getting what you want and because of this you try to control the outcome. The problem with this, as previously mentioned, is that it’s draining, tiring, and can have lots of disappointment attached to it. More importantly it makes you unattractive because people don’t want to be pushed. 

On the other hand when you ‘let go’ you begin to become more attractive. People will open up to you more and trust you because you are not trying to make them do what you want.

The remarkable thing is that with this approach things will start to go your way more often. The right people, opportunities, and resources appear just at the right time. Personally, I believe that they were there all along but because when we were so locked on to our targets we didn’t notice them or recognise them.

So, to conclude this piece, when you’re in an influencing situation be aware of your intent. Are you trying to control or are you willing to release that control and trust in what happens? Remember that in order to let things come in you must allow the space for them.

As we went round the group, each person in turn said “I’m a financial adviser.” This may have been true but I went on to make the point that it didn’t tell me much. It also probably wouldn’t have compelled many prospective clients to say “That’s fascinating, do tell me more.”

It may seem as though I’m picking on financial advisers here but it could just easily have been any group of business person – accountants, coaches, legal professionals, personal trainers or designers.

We live in a time when brands are extremely powerful. In fact the world seems dominated by huge brands that we all recognise. Nike, Coca- Cola, Starbucks, Hewlett-Packard, BMW – there are hundreds, if not thousands of recognisable brands, aren’t there?

Personal brands also highly recognisable. Pamela Anderson sticks out a mile doesn’t she? Gordon Ramsey is hardly what you’d call shy and retiring. Even George Bush is a brand (tee-he!).

The point is this. If you identify yourself as simply an adviser, coach, trainer etc. you are doing yourself a disservice. Why? Because you are reducing yourself to a commodity, meaning that you’re allowing other people to compare you. Open any yellow pages or search a web directory and information is stored in categories. There may be twenty, fifty or a hundred businesses listed in a single category.  

When you present yourself as something people already know about, most people will have an opinion formed already – no matter how much better or different you are. This doesn’t often generate curiosity. It doesn’t compel people to find out more. 

A better idea is to create as unique identity as you can so you avoid comparison. After all, there’s only one Pamela, isn’t there (thankfully, some might say!).

The place to begin is to be authentic. In other words, be you. When you’re being you, you don’t have to fake it. People are becoming bored with ’spin’ and can see through it a mile away.

How can you present yourself and what you do in a way that arouses people’s curiosity and grabs their interest?

“Hi, my name’s John Dashfield and I help small business owners make more money with less effort. For example, we’ve helped our clients increase profits by up to 100% in just six months using the unique One Page Business Plan.”
 
I have found this gets a better response, from the right people, than “I’m a business coach.”

Brands are recognisable because they are consistent. This means what you see, hear and feel consistently gives the same message. With both you and your business it pays to work at the message you give out.

If you want to convey quality, for example, how do you demonstrate that? Is your business card of sufficient quality? Do you look and sound the part? Do you keep your promises?

As you think about your business, in how many ways can you make yourself stand out from the crowd and be more attractive to your intended clients?

One particular guy in the office I worked from was the number one sales person for the company…worldwide! This meant he sold more than literally thousands of other people, all over the world. Every month he brought in phenomenal amounts of business and always seemed to have a queue of opportunities.

I was intensely curious as to how he managed to do this so I asked him how he marketed himself. He replied “Just do everything, all of the time”.

It took me a while to work this out but the essence of the situation was that lots of marketing went on ALL THE TIME.
In the years since, and having worked with many other businesses, you notice the same trend. Regardless of all else the ones who do the best do lots of marketing and it goes on constantly. This is especially true right now, in a contracting economy.

The reason so many small businesses fail to reach their potential is that instead of doing everything all of the time they do nothing most of the time. Often, you notice a pattern that leads to constant highs and lows.

When times are busy very little marketing tends to get done…because the perception is…there’s not enough time. But when the work is finished there’s little or nothing to take its place. Marketing activity is then frantically undertaken – yet it’s reactive behaviour, which costs more money and is far less effective.

The best time to market for new business is when you don’t need it, which means finding ways to market your business when you’re busy.

Although the guy I knew made it look easy, behind the scenes was a well-oiled machine, consisting of:

The marketing mix
The engine ticks over because there are several ‘cylinders’ all firing at once. For example, there are opportunities coming via referrals, alliances, website, existing clients, tele-marketing, seminars, speaking etc. There’s no reliance on just one or two sources of business. 

A systematic approach
There is a marketing strategy and well planned tactics. Activities are scheduled well in advance. We suggest creating a 12-month marketing plan. Of course, you need to remain flexible because of external forces but the outcome should always remain in focus.

Constant recording and testing of results
The recording of results is critical to improving the system. For example, where does business come from, in what quantities, how much does it cost and what is the profitability? How can you leverage results if you don’t measure what’s happening?

Team work
A lot of business creates a lot of ‘mess’. What stops people doing more business is that there are hold-ups on the conveyer belt. It’s only though systems, delegation and a good team that results become consistent.

A willingness to try new ideas
What works today may not work tomorrow because they world around us is always changing. There has to be a budget to test new ideas and at the same time the courage to let go of old ideas that have stopped working.

Hard work
Very little gets achieved without getting stuck in and some hard graft, despite what the ‘guru’s’ suggest.
According to many experts, 2009 is going to be a tough year. The winners, those who pick up the lions share of the business, will be the ones that continue to market. Last week I heard someone say that because their competitor had gone into liquidation they didn’t need to advertise. But people won’t turn up unless they know you’re open for business, will they?

It’s an area which always seems to generate interest and often people are looking for that little extra edge or ingredient that’s going to make all the difference.

I’m sure most people are aware of the need to build rapport, gain trust and ask the right questions. Of course, there is also the much under-used skill of simply being a good listener.

All these are important to develop because they are fundamental to good communication but there’s another aspect to influencing which is less talked about but equally important.

Just recently I was talking to a friend who had attended a sales training. She told me how the trainer had said “it’s a war zone out there and every day you’re marching into battle. Be prepared to take aim, lock onto your target and constantly push forward. Once you’ve got a sniff of interest be like a terrier and never let go” (I wondered if the trainer was ex-military?).

Certainly, this is one approach. It seems to continue to be a commonly taught approach in sales training judging by the number of aggressive sales tactics employed by so many organisations. It was how I was taught when I went into sales and for a long time all I did was push, push, push. It works and it gets results but the problem is that it’s very draining.

Another very different approach is to stop pushing altogether. Instead, once you’ve set your intent you just let go. You stop trying to make things go in the way you want by attempting to control them and you trust in the outcome, whatever that may be.

The late Thomas Leonard, wrote a chapter called “unhook yourself from the future” in his excellent book “The Portable Coach”. How this idea works in an influencing situation is that you allow yourself to be as happy with a ‘no’ as you are with a ‘yes’. The focus is on a genuine collaboration with someone and helping them to move towards their outcome and not on just making a sale or getting someone round to your point of view.

The difference between these approaches, fundamentally, is fear or more importantly, the absence of it. The idea of always pushing is fuelled by the fear not getting what you want and because of this you try to control the outcome. The problem with this, as previously mentioned, is that it’s draining, tiring, and can have lots of disappointment attached to it. More importantly it makes you unattractive because people don’t want to be pushed. 

On the other hand when you ‘let go’ you begin to become more attractive. People will open up to you more and trust you because you are not trying to make them do what you want.

The remarkable thing is that with this approach things will start to go your way more often. The right people, opportunities, and resources appear just at the right time. Personally, I believe that they were there all along but because when we were so locked on to our targets we didn’t notice them or recognise them.

So, to conclude this piece, when you’re in an influencing situation be aware of your intent. Are you trying to control or are you willing to release that control and trust in what happens? Remember that in order to let things come in you must allow the space for them.