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Do you cringe when you hear an infomercial guy yelling with rollercoaster inflections in his voice? I know I do. He’s trying so hard to sound enthusiastic, but he just sounds annoying. All that hype-y up and down in his voice comes across as totally phony, doesn’t it?
Enthusiasm Is Not Cool
That 3 AM salesman is contributing to the bad rap given to expressing enthusiasm. Plus, it’s not really cool to sound excited about things. In fact, there’s a current trend in everyday talking (especially for younger women) to speak in a fast kind of monotone.
Regardless of your age or gender, if you’re speaking to clients without enthusiasm, you’re working against yourself in your business. And I know you don’t want to do that. If you don’t sound excited about what you’re doing, how do you expect them to get excited?
You Don’t Have To Fake It
Expressing your excitement about what you’re teaching or offering needs to be genuine. People want to listen to real people speaking in an authentic way. That honesty helps create the relationship essential to doing business with someone. So don’t fake it. That won’t help you either.
You want to activate your own energy and passion when you’re speaking. The word “enthusiasm” comes from the Greek “en theos” meaning “the god within.” So it’s your highest self, your spirit that generates your own deep enthusiasm about what you do. It’s always there in you – not something you need to manufacture or bring in from an outside source. It just hides from you sometimes.
So Fire It Up
I know – some days it’s easier than others to ignite your zeal (don’t you love that word?) for what you do. Here are some tips to help with that:
- Take the time to write down why you’re passionate about what you do and what your vision is for your business. Pull this out and read it to refresh your memory.
- Keep track of your wins in a journal so you can use them as fuel. Include testimonials, sales you’ve made, new subscribers, new clients – you get the idea. Again, keep this wins journal handy to look at when you want a boost.
- If nobody’s around, read these things out loud to your imaginary buddy, saying, “listen to this!”
- Jump up and down. Punch the air. Get your body into the act!
- Think of something else that gets you really excited and raise your overall level of spirits.
- Give yourself an old-school pep talk like you’re your own athletic coach.
- When you’re on the phone, stand up and move around.
People really love enthusiasm, whether it’s trendy or not. It just feels good to be around somebody who’s excited and happy, doesn’t it? And people listen much more deeply to an enthusiastic speaker. They retain more of what they’ve heard because they felt good while they were hearing it. This is a great rapport builder, and raises the know-like-and-trust factor in your listener. So speaking with energy and excitement is a great marketing tool.
Dust off your own enthusiasm when you’re speaking in any business situation. And if you want some outside assitance, I’m here to help you with that. Just contact me.
What are thoughts? What tips do you have? Leave a comment and let us know!
