I help speakers, entrepreneurs and singers alike.  All of them are trying to leverage their voice to reach a goal – whether that is becoming more comfortable speaking to groups, converting a prospect over the phone, singing their favorite songs, or landing a part in a show.

The one thing I’ve come to realize is whether I’m singing or speaking, how I use my voice is extremely important to my overall success.  And that is because your voice is one of the first things people notice about you, singing or speaking

In business, I see entrepreneurs spend a lot of time and money building a website, creating marketing materials, sending out newsletters and emails, and engaging on Social Media.

Those are all extremely important (after all, you are reading this newsletter!), but they often ignore or avoid their most important communication tool  – their voice.

Using my voice has changed my life (and not just because I’m a singer), but because I’ve used it to create movement toward my dreams.

Singers and actors get out and audition in order to get gigs.  Entrepreneurs and speakers need to get out there and speak to build their business.

But you don’t have to be a professional speaker in order to get started!

Are you working on building a business, have an important message to share, or do you provide a service that changes lives?  A dream, idea or business that you keep to yourself has a hard time gaining momentum.  Check out these actions, and get excited about how your world will start to change for the better!

1.  Share what you do with your local community contacts first.  Start with researching and joining networking groups in your area, meeting individuals for coffee, or telling your close friends and family about your business or idea.  This is a great testing ground to see if there is interest in what you do and the message you want to share.  Sharing with individuals is a great way to start practicing your message and refining it as you grow.  I built a full 1-on-1 coaching practice just through taking these simple steps.
2. Pick up the phone and ask for help!  It’s amazing how positively people respond to a phone request as opposed to an email request.  This is true whether you are asking for business advice, asking a current client for a referral or testimonial, asking to receive a service yourself, or asking a prospect to buy a service or product!  We tend to avoid the phone for fear of rejection, but it’s so much easier for someone to ignore us by deleting our emails.  We are so over-saturated by screen time that it’s very refreshing to receive a phone call and connect in with the sound of someone’s voice!
3. Develop a list of potential speaking topics and test them with small groups first.  You don’t have to write out full speeches or even have given a speech before pitching potential topics.  What do you know a lot about and could talk about all day long that is of great interest to your clients?  Create a list of topics and then create the top 2 or 3 things under each topic that you would want your audience to take away with them.  Now you can pitch these topics to small groups like the local Chamber of Commerce, Rotary Clubs, and networking groups who are often looking for speakers with short presentations.  This is great practice and can help you refine and build your speeches.
4. Use interviewing to boost credibility.  Pay attention to whether any of the businesses in your industry hold telesummits, have youtube shows, or hold podcasts/radio shows.  Find businesses that are a complement to what you do and offer to share information that would interest their clients.  This is a fantastic way to gain free publicity as well as position yourself as an expert.  Even easier is to approach a colleague or business owner you already know and offer to interview them about topics that interest your clients.  Then they may be willing to reciprocate later
5. Create videos!  It’s the next best thing to being with your prospects in person.  They can still see you and hear your voice.  And don’t worry about having them professionally produced.  Some videos are best on the fly using your built-in webcam or iphone.  Include them in your social media posts, website, newsletters and email campaigns.  Your prospects will start to feel that they really know you which builds trust and eventually leads to sales!

And please remember, how your voice sounds and how you use it can mean the difference between getting your message across, landing the client, changing lives or losing interest, losing the sale or losing impact.

There is nothing worse than when I see a speaker who has fabulous content but is lacking the skills to deliver it effectively.  My lifetime of experience speaking and performing is hands down my most powerful marketing tool and the biggest reason my business is now consistently bringing in 5 figures every month!  Investing in these skills is just as important (if not more so) than all of your other marketing tools!

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 If you already know you are ready to use your voice in bigger ways, consider taking my FREE training  7 Steps to Leveraging Your Voice to Sell Webinar.  This will give you the jump start you need to get out there and share your message in a bigger way.