The Voice As A Business Tool With Anne Leatherland

On this episode of Build Better Brands, Danielle Clarke is joined by Anne Leatherland who helps people make a real impact with their voice.
KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Very often, people who use the voices in their businesses don’t realise that they’re a professional voice user, especially if that voice use is quite extensive during the day. Even people using their voices less so will nevertheless depend upon them for when they’re liaising with new clients or colleagues or staff, so it’s relevant to all of us really. The biggest challenge as a voice trainer and personal growth coach is helping people to realise that their voice is something that’s important, that they need to look after and that they can work with to make it better if they want to… and why shouldn’t we want to? Why would I be happy with it just being OK?
• Human beings are very sensitive to even small nuances in a voice (pitch, pace, tone, volume), and sometimes it can even be subliminal. So what they can understand from a voice is going to be important to you, you might be giving out messages that you don’t mean to give out if, in certain situations, the nuances in your voice aren’t the ones that people need to tap into. These can all affect how someone understands us, but also, whether they trust us or feel that they can work with us. Ultimately this will be part of our business success and these are all things we can learn to control and work with.
• People in advertisements or people who are aggressively trying to sell me things and politicians, I can tell at a thousand paces whether they’re A) telling the truth and B) whether they’re genuinely interested in what they’re speaking about. And they can’t help it from leaking through to their face, you can see it in the eyes and you can hear it in the voice. It’s those nuances that give it away. Having a relationship with your own values as a person and what message you want to bring across is absolutely vital if you want to sound believable and speak with integrity.
• The coaching side of my business is important because I have to take people on a journey sometimes. They think it’s their voice and they might lack confidence or they might not like their own voice or they might not get their message across. But, when we actually start chatting, it turns out to be that they’re not very clear on who they are as a person and how they want to get that across to the world. That’s where that lack of confidence, or that inability to speak to a group of people, actually starts.

BEST MOMENTS
‘Our voice is obviously a vital part of our communication along with our facial expression and movement (which both affect our voice as well), so the whole package goes together.’
‘There are certain aspects of voice that some people might find annoying. For some reason they can’t put their finger on it, they just don’t gel with a person and that can be the voice.’
‘I’ve been thinking about Liz Truss for the last couple of days, and she’s doing that thing that female politicians are probably instructed to do, which is to lower the pitch because you sound more serious. But what that does to the voice is that I can’t get any tonal variety down there because I’ve a female voice and it makes it really difficult for me to make those nuances, which is why she sounds a bit robotic, in my view.’
‘I think confidence comes from being secure in who you are as a person, what your own values and beliefs are and your message, and then having the control and skill to express that fully with your voice – as well as being secure in what you have to offer in your business and how your values and beliefs actually show up in your business day to day. If you’re happy with that, the voices will follow and you will sound more authentic.’
ABOUT THE GUEST
Anne Leatherland: I have always been a singer but only came to formal singing training in my late 20s when I was producing a school musical. I simply wanted to know more and explore what my voice could really do. So, whilst training with Coral Gould MBE I gained my singing teaching diploma and left school teaching behind to run my own studio. After about ten successful years of this I was hungry for further training. I undertook the Vocal Process Accreditation programme with Dr Gillyanne Kayes and Jeremy Fisher, becoming their first Accredited Associate Trainer in 2012.
There followed eight years of working with Musical Theatre and Acting Undergraduates at Liverpool Theatre School and LIPA, training them in Singing, Singing Technique and speaking voice for Acting.
I decided eventually to return to developing my own business, VocAL Intuition as I wanted to work more widely with professional voice users of all kinds. It has become obvious to me that voice use depends not only on physical processes, but also on the way we see ourselves. So, as part of my own development I took a training course in Life Coaching, completing this in 2020. I am now passionate about integrating this with my voice training.
In my downtime I love drawing, photography, walking, books, acoustics and going to shows and plays!
Website: https://anneleatherland.co.uk/
Email: anne@vocalintuition.co.uk
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anneleatherland
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Vocalintuition/
ABOUT THE HOST
Danielle Clarke is a Brand and Marketing Consultant, University Lecturer and Business Owner.
Since 2006 Danielle has provided brand design and marketing support for clients including Škoda, Gtech, UK Biocentre, UK Mail and GIRLvsCANCER Danielle is committed to helping brands that want to have a positive impact on people’s lives. She spends her time consulting and working with business owners to help them attract and retain their best customers.
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