***What Is Your Voicemail Message Saying About You?

You are probably not comfortable hearing your voice on your voicemail or your answering machine and yet you may not realize that if you hear your voice that way, so does everyone else. Because the manner in which you hear yourself is vastly different than what the recording equipment is telling you, might it not be an idea to consider improving your vocal image?

The other day I received a phone call from a man in the New York area who said he had found me through my website. His intention was to sell me on the idea that his company would produce and distribute my video products. Speaking extremely fast, he possesses a voice that is nasal and whiny which makes him sound far too young. Because his reason for calling dealt with my business in voice and presentation skills, I asked him specifically if he knew what my business was about.

He admitted that he did not know even though he assured me he had looked at my website. I then took this opportunity to ask him if he had ever heard himself on voicemail or an answering machine and he said that he had. When prompted further, he agreed that he did not like what he heard. However, when I explained that his speaking voice was nasal and had a whiny quality, he said that, although he didn’t like his voice on his voicemail, he thought he had a good voice. Let me say this as clearly as possible.

What you hear on your voicemail is your vocal image.
What you hear on your voicemail is how everyone else recognizes you.
What you hear in your head is a lie.

You do no have the ability to hear your own voice the way everyone else does because it is sound vibrating in the solid and liquid of your brain – distorted sound. In addition, you probably hear your voice in your head at a deeper pitch than that which is your true sound. This is one of the reasons you may find your voice on recording equipment so shocking, so offensive, or so embarrassing.

If you learn the proper techniques for finding your ‘real’ voice, however, you will hear a deeper, richer, resonant sound on your voicemail or answering machine which will have an ageless quality. You will not sound too young or too old.

You have a better voice inside; it is just a matter of discovering it and improving the vocal image which your voicemail message is currently playing!