Putting Your Business On A 'Sound' Basis

Given that in most cases the product, service and price are compatible and very competitive, the decision will usually be based on the ‘image’ created by the company representative and the manner of his or her communication with the client. This will depend upon his or her understanding of audience psychology and their own personal performance. The success of the message depends upon the ability of the messenger.

Anxiety or nervousness in the messenger conveys itself to the client or audience, and is usually caused by not being on top of the subject and/or a lack of confidence in their ability to present the message effectively in the spoken word.

Given that a speaker has full knowledge of a subject, they may still feel their delivery is dull and boring. The reasons for this are usually the use of monotone, repetitive speech patterns, mumbling, ‘ums’ and ‘ers’, poor phrasing and emphasis on unimportant words. All these can be overcome with proper guidance and practice in using the music of the language, not in an elocutory way, but in a natural and relaxed flow of information.

Cicero, recognized as one of the founders of eloquence, stated that, “Oft an argument of great merit will be defeated by an argument of lesser merit which is better presented”. Today we are hearing more and more the lack of training, understanding of and experience in spoken communication.

Research has shown that 55% of the initial impression of a person is made by how you look, 38% by how you sound, leaving 7% for what you say.

Dress, grooming and posture are relatively easy to correct, but lack of confidence in using the spoken word can stop people from effectively delivering their message to a client, conference or staff meeting.

The bad habits of a lifetime can only be changed with the help of a specialist who can assist you to identify the basic faults and correct them over a series of sessions in a very personal manner.

For the past 28 years, Communicators Melbourne has helped thousands of business people and those in public life, to improve their image and become effective speakers

Public speaking is making yourself heard, effective speaking is making people listen.

For your message to be understood and remembered, people must consciously listen, and to make them listen you must gain and hold their attention.

Speech patterns must be changed in order that the sounds we make are as colourful and interesting as the content. These patterns can only be changed by using the change of tone, tune, pause, pace and volume as appropriate, after having first identified the word or group of words you want the audience to hear and remember. These five ways of making speech effective equate to the five controls of a motorcar - the brakes, clutch, steering wheel, accelerator and gear stick.

All these controls are used in response to some stimulus such as a traffic light, a corner, a hill or some other change in conditions. In speaking, the stimuli are the words and groups of words which should bring about an appropriate reaction.

You must learn to control the way you use words, in the same way as you drive a car. If you can drive a car you can speak effectively - or can you?

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