It’s all in the pitch - Part 1

Getting the voice pitch down

In situation of dire peril a shrill, high pitched diction is proper. But for a business situation, one in which you are trying to impress somebody else with your rationality, your integrity, your self-confidence and you innate good taste and judgement you do not want to emit the tones of a person in distress.

Never portray or arouse fear in a business meeting of any kind. If you allow fear to leak out into your actions, in your diction or in your words, you have lost ground that cannot be recovered. If you inadvertently arouse fear in the person you are discussing business with, i.e. the investor, you’ve lost the battle completely. It’s the opposite of fear, confidence, that makes good business relations.

There are various ways you can control the pitch of your voice. One of the most important is to remember one thing. If fear and hysteria cause your voice to rise you must never allow yourself to fall prey to fear or hysteria when you’re in a business meeting. This of course, is easier said than done, especially when you’re in a situation where you might not necessarily be able to pay the mortgage, the bank is after you, this is the only meeting with an investor and you’re worried about all the background things. So at this point you have to remember to be an actor. You are on stage and you might be the only person on stage and there might only be one person in the audience, but it’s quite likely that that person in the audience is going to be pivotal to your success or your failure.

It’s not easy to relax. The ability to relax is not an easily acquired habit. Usually when you’re going to meet someone for the first time to discuss business, you tend to tighten up. You want above all to impress your new contact. You want your image to come across in the best possible manner. You want to elicit a positive response in this person who may help you expand your business or even save your business.

The too loud voice

Although the usual stereotype of windbag of a person who talks to loudly and swings his arms while speaking, you have to look at the context of where you are performing, i.e. the environment and the audience. It’s possible that you may be hard of hearing and therefore are unable to effectively monitor and respond to the true volume of your voice. People, unless invited to do so, are rather unlikely to comment on this. But from time to time it is worth engaging the opinions of other people. Better to know the problem of talking too loudly in advance than it is when you get in front of an investor.

Verbal ticks

One of the most common ticks in speech is the use of long drawn out ‘uhhh’ or ‘ahhh’. This is a disastrous habit because it is something that you do without hearing yourself doing it. You have to make an audio tape of yourself in order to catch it. Most people are amazed when they hear themselves doing the ‘uhhh’ routine.

Like ‘wow’ and ‘you know?’

The second most common type of tick is the currently popular phrase ‘you know’. This has no reason for existence. If you assume the person to whom you are communicating already knows what you are about to say, then there is no point in speaking is there? The obvious answer to the phrase when it’s used in extremis is as follows, ‘No, I don’t know. Why not tell me?’

Another thing to watch out for is the unnerving habit some people have of clearing their throat just before uttering a word. You can become a victim of throat clearing because you’re nervous, in this case the throat clearing is used for a purpose. However, whether or not it is necessary or simply habitual, it is irritating and should be avoided at all costs.

A more or less specialised type of verbal tick is the regional habit with a rise in pitch, thereby making a statement seem to be a question. Listen to yourself and ask the question like, ‘Is it too late to try?’ If your voice goes up on the word try, then this makes the sentence a question rather than a declaration.

On the other hand some people have an ingrained habit of ending every sentence with a rising inflexion. ‘I’m going shopping at the supermarket,’ said with a rising inflexion on the last word, the statement shifts from an unequivocal and quasi questioning mode rather than a declarative statement.

One of the easiest ways to relax your throat is to yawn deliberately, close your eyes and let your jaw drop loosely on your chest. This is the right position to initiate a yawn. Let the yawn take over, opening your mouth and the back of your throat as wide as possible. Feel the way your throat muscles stretch out. I’m not suggesting you do this in the course of a first meeting, but if you happen to be in the waiting room and hopefully no being observed by close circuit TV, and you feel tense, then the yawning approach can be remarkably effective. As with all of these things there is a time and place and it can be catastrophic if you used it at the wrong point. No investor needs to be made aware of just how boring they may be!

To be continued . . .

Next time we will cover some of the other bad habits.

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