A Smile Can Be Heard On The Phone

How would you rate your overall success on the telephone? Of all the prospects you talk to on the phone, what percentage of them agree to meet with you for a face-to-face meeting or consultation? Are you happy with the average response?

You might find this surprising, but your inner state of mind and even your body language while talking with them on the telephone can have a profound effect on your success rate.

Non-Verbal Communication

I’m sure you’ve heard the statement that most of our communication occurs through non-verbal means, and that the actual words we use account contribute a small amount of the meaning the other person discerns from what we’re saying.

This is easy for us to understand in the context of face-to-face communication, but how about conversations where the two parties involved can’t see each other?

As it turns out, yes, even when we’re talking on the telephone to someone who cannot see us, much of our communication is of a non-verbal kind. This is both good and bad new news; good because it means there are ways the conversation can be influenced by non-verbal cues, and bad because it means there are ways the conversation can be influenced by non-verbal cues! A double-edged sword indeed!

A Smile Can Be Heard On The Phone

When we’re talking to a prospect on the telephone, the other person is unconsciously alert for clues to our state of mind, our intentions, motives and agenda. In addition to the words we’re speaking, there are other means by which the listener can glean important information in order to interpret what they think we really mean:

• Our tone of voice – our vocal demeanor
• The volume of our speech
• The speed at which we speak
• Rhythmic variations in sentence structure
• Differences in inflexion
• How long and how often we breathe
• Choice of vocabulary
• Clues to our mood (happy, stressed, hurried, depressed etc.)

It is quite possible for us to tell with good accuracy whether the other person is smiling, smirking, frowning or even emotionless just by listening to them speak.

Normally, this is all done automatically, without us being aware of it, but it feeds directly into how we respond to the other person. For example, the other person might say all the right words to us, but we might not feel that they’re being sincere if the subliminal clues we receive conflict with the words we’re hearing.

Even our body language can have an impact on how we communicate on the telephone! For example, imagine the difference in how we might speak if we’re lounging about on the sofa, compared to pacing energetically around the office because we can hardly contain our excitement. There is definitely a discernible difference that could have a great impact on how our message is received and interpreted.

Smiling (Like Yawning) Is Contagious

The beauty of a smile is that it’s contagious. Smile at someone, even a stranger, and they will instinctively smile back at you. In psychological terms, a smile says, “hi, I’m friendly and no threat to you” – something very useful in the jungle where chance encounters could mean the difference between being someone’s lunch or joining them for lunch!

Even better is that it’s difficult to dislike someone who presents us with a genuine smile. I suspect that this is why children are so good at getting their way much of the time, because they haven’t forgotten how to smile when asking for something.

Finally, the act of smiling also changes the shape of our face in subtle ways that then affect the way we speak, making it possible for someone who can’t see us (i.e. on the other end of the telephone) to know that we’re smiling and to respond accordingly.

Smile And Pass It On

I hope this has been of some use to you. If so, please smile, and pass it on to someone else who might also benefit! What do you think about the ideas presented here? Do you agree? Disagree? Let us know what you think!

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Photography Business Ideas body language, photography sales, telephone sales