Most our interactions, including final business transactions, take place on the phone. Speaking clearly and succinctly is very critical for many reasons. Your tone of voice is important in showing confidence and asking the appropriate questions.

Most importantly, you need to be heard. A good way to practice is by partnering with a colleague so you can both practice a range of voices, tones and pronunciations. Your phone voice is just as important as your visual presence.

Often, talented folks make the mistake of speaking in a voice and using words that are not natural to them. This becomes noticeable when they are asked to explain what they said and they get tangled up in explaining what they mean.

The late Tim Russet of Meet the Press once said that he always knew that if his father understood what he was saying then he was speaking in his own voice and words. His comments would also resonate with the rest of his audience.

To ensure you are speaking in your own voice, begin to practice with folks who don’t know your subject. If they understand your explanation, then you are speaking in your own voice.

The CEO of Redfin, an online real estate site, was interviewed by Glenn Kelman for the Office Corner in Sunday’s August 25th NY Times business section. His thoughts were that if you stay true to yourself even if you are different, that will draw people to you.

Leaders today must prove themselves not only with their performance but their people skills. Being different is important but more critical is relating seamlessly to your audience. However, I have also worked with folks whose quirkiness in an industry that is not creative might work against them. It makes people nervous and not secure.

Your goal is to ensure your audience feels secure with you.

Often, we think honesty is a good thing. However, it is only good if it leads to a solution to the issue. Many times we want situations to improve but we can’t quite pinpoint why. Honesty can be effective if you follow these guidelines:

– The opinion is based on facts not emotions

– Is this fact a new one? If it has been discussed before – what is the purpose of sharing it again?

– If it is a retread issue – do you have a solution this time around?

To help hold these and other types of serious discussions, I highly recommend the book: Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High, Second Edition, Patterson and McMillan.

So many times we forget to ask for what we want without sounding like we don’t deserve it or are entitled to it.

Here are some guidelines to help ensure that an outcome works in your favor:

1. Write down what you want – be specific

2. Get an outside perspective of someone you trust

3. Role play – practice

4. Do not be discouraged if the answer is no – find out why in a non-defensive way

Asking for what you want is critical to success in life. People aren’t mind readers. Often, just asking will help you get what you’re looking for.

Also, when you ask for what you want and the outcome is not what you desired, it could give you an opportunity to go a in different direction and get something better!

If you are constantly being asked to repeat what you say, generally it is because of three things:

1. You are not speaking loud enough. Counteract this by using your voice as if you were speaking to three people in a crowded room. Do not shout – just project your voice to up a level.

2. You are mumbling. Read a paragraph out loud each day with a pencil in your mouth. This will help stretch your mouth muscles. Do this for a month

3. You talk too fast and run your words together. You can slow down by stretching out a word or two in a sentence.

The next time someone asks you to repeat what you just said, ask them if you have one of these three problems. This will help you select the best exercise so you can be heard.

I just finished watching Roger Love onYouTube talking about how to eliminate “ahs and ums” when speaking. These fillers become annoying and distract the listener. My thoughts have always been to stop and breathe. Saying nothing is better than a constant stream of fillers.

These are Roger‘s recommendations:

• Use full sentences.

• Connect your words together.

• Only stop for commons and periods.

• Do not make a sound between sentences.

One of my favorite voice exercises to improve diction is to use the diction pencil. Take a clean pencil, hold it between your teeth — not biting on it, but keeping it at the very edge of the top and bottom front teeth. Read a paragraph twice. Then take the pencil out and read it again. This will help with the s, v, f, and th sounds.

Also, with and without the diction pencil, try these classic tongue twisters:

– Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers

– Sally sells seashells by the seashore.

– I slit the sheet, the sheet I slit, and on the slitted sheet I sit.

– The sixth sheep’s sixth sheep’s sick.

– Round and round the rugged rock the ragged rascal ran.

– Betty Botter bought a bit of bitter butter.

Practice these exercises once a day for a month and you will hear the difference in the clarity of your diction.