Want to project a professional spoken image? According to Dr. June Johnson, you need to lose the "fillers".

As with hesitations, fillers create the impression that you either don't have much to say or are not sure of what you're saying. Fillers are the "garbage" words such as:

ya know ya see

like ya unnerstan

really uh

-er um

Filler words clutter speech and fill time without contributing a thing to communication.

One radio station runs a contest in which callers have to talk for 20 seconds about a given topic without using "uh." You might want to try timing yourself, with "uh" or any of the above words.

Place your tape recorder beside your telephone and turn it on whenever you are on the phone. Forget that it's there. You'll not only hear how often you use fillers, but also how you sound to others.

Your speech habits are extremely important when you're on the telephone because there is no body language to help listeners interpret your meaning. They can only hear what you say, and the way you say it.

In Building the Power of Your Voice: How to Improve Your Voice to Command Attention & Move People to Action, Dr. June Johnson provides professionals with additional tips to improve on-the-job communication.
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