Law Review

Do you lose business once you open your mouth?

Excluding certain instances (like singing in the shower), for many people, the sound of their own voice isn't exactly music to their ears. In a recent study by Bruskin Goldring Research in Edison, New Jersey, 15.6 percent of respondents said they'd prefer a friendlier voice, 14.2 say they'd like to sound more powerful, and 14.1 percent want their voices to sound more confident.

Yet while some of us merely dream of having the bold voice of James Earl Jones, as a small-business owner, you should actually take the sound of your voice very seriously, says Jeffrey Jacobi, author of The Vocal Advantage (Prentice Hall) and a member of the speech communication faculty at New York University. Why? Your voice, he says, has a huge effect on your business's bottom line.

"Having a bad voice or speech habits can cost you business," insists Jacobi. "You could be losing millions of dollars a year in lost sales and unmotivated employees."

In fact, your voice may be making all kinds of unwanted impressions without your knowing it, says Jacobi. Speaking too fast, for example, makes you appear untrustworthy. Weak voices command no respect. And if your voice is flat and monotonous, people are likely to ignore you or tune you out.

How do you know if your voice is failing you? According to Jacobi, some red flags are if your voice trails off at the end of sentences or quivers when you get nervous, or if people often interrupt you, talk over you or ask you to repeat yourself.

Fortunately, you can subtly change your voice through exercise and achieve dramatic results, says Jacobi. Use a tape recorder to record a few minutes of your speech, or ask friends or colleagues for their honest opinions. If you hear something you don't like, Jacobi advises consulting a voice trainer or a book on the subject for exercises that can help strengthen, modify or change the pitch of your voice. -Heather Page

This article was originally published in the July 1996 print edition of Entrepreneur with the headline: Law Review.