The Power of Your Voice for Leading Classes and Growing Your Business

You're listening to the PT Profit Podcast, episode number two. In today's episode, we're talking with Captivate the Room host Tracy Goodwin, and we're discussing the power of the voice. Because it's not just about what you say, it's about how you say it. So stay tuned.

Hi, I'm Beverly Simpson, former fitness manager turned online personal training business owner. And this podcast is where smart fitness professionals, including train and clinicians, discover how to increase client performance in movement, package and position their products and services, and get out of their own way so that they can increase their revenue to live a life that they love without sleazy sales. Welcome to the PT Profit Podcast.

Hello, and welcome back to episode two of the PT Profit Profit podcast. I am so excited for today's episode because we have a very special guest. Her name is Tracy Goodwin. She's part of one of my masterminds, and it is such a pleasure and a privilege to have her here. She is the host of Captivate the Room, and she is also the creator of the Psychology of the Voice. And in today's episode, we're going to be going deep into the power of the voice and how to use the voice, especially for fitness instructors and fitness business owners. And what I'm really excited about this particular episode is that she's going to be talking to us about our number one tool, which is our voice, and how we can use it in a way to communicate and also how we can pay attention to the fact that we are actually communicating all of the time, and we're communicating information that we might not even be present to with our voice. And so today is also very special because most people miss this. She's an expert on how to communicate. Tracy, thank you so much for joining us today.

Oh, my gosh. Thank you so much for that amazing introduction. I'm so excited to be here with you and just delighted that you asked me to come on the show.

You are a master. And so I have committed to my people that I will be bringing the best of the best experts to them so that they can really package and position their products and services and so that they can get their message out to people that need to hear their stuff.

Yeah. And the Voice is definitely the most powerful tool and overlooked, like you mentioned, for them to do that, for them to make a really big impact with their message. Yes, for sure.

So I'd really just love to dive in, if you wouldn't mind. Could you just share a little bit about who you are, where you know, how you Got into this work. Just share a little bit with us.

I probably never would have expected that my career would end up being a voice coach. Strangely enough, I was raised in a family with this extreme. Children are to be seen and not heard. Where we really didn't. I mean, we just really. Me especially, was not allowed to use my voice. So if you would have told me when I was 9 that this is how I would have invested my entire life, I might have found that hard to believe. But because of that, at the age of 12, I actually started winning speaking awards and working as an actor because it gave me a platform to be heard. Now, I went on to college, I went on to be an actor. I went on to be a director. But all these things happened that kept putting me in front of voice coaches, and I studied the craft, and I knew that I had a real knack for it. But I struggled to understand that because of my background. And people kept finding me to coach their voices. I mean, this is yellow pages days. This is not Instagram. This is. We used to look, you know, long time ago, we used to look Yellow pages, right? And I'd be, you know, in Ireland directing a show, and this company would call and say, hey, we work with our team. And so I always did it because I was always gifted with it, and I always enjoyed it. But it escalated, you know, more and more people were finding me. Fortune 500 companies were bringing me in. Mike Nichols brought me to New York to teach. You know, I worked in his conservatory. I taught voice. And at some point, I finally got it that this was my path and purpose. And then I was all in. And I've literally dedicated the last 30 years. I'm fascinated with it. I'm a researcher. I'm a. You know, I created psychology of the voice effect. It's just. It's really been an incredible journey.

That's incredible. So can you share a little bit about what is the psychology of the voice effect? Like, can you tell us a little bit about that?

Absolutely. So the early years of my career were in dialect work. I would teach actors dialects, and I would take dialects away from business people. And I always thought it was very fascinating. Why do the Irish sound Irish? And why does a Texan like myself sound Texan? And what I discovered was sense of belonging. The subconscious wants you to belong. The subconscious actually puts your voice in. Yeah, we have vocal cords. Yeah, we have all of this. But it is the subconscious that determines how your muscles will hold your face to create your dialect. I can shift my muscles and become Irish just like that. And all I did was shift my placement. And I was fascinated by that. And what I discovered after that, as I'm watching people and working with people, is the subconscious does way more in regards to the voice than put in the dialect. I would have somebody come and work with me. They want to sound more confident. They're a business owner. They're talking like this. They're being really quiet. And I say, hey, do you have siblings? And they say, yeah, I have six older sisters. And what I discovered is the six older sisters said one phrase that shut that client's voice down for life. Because the subconscious is trying to protect the heart. The voice is the orchestra of the heart. So the subconscious takes one line in. Hey, Beverly, stop talking. All you do is talk. And the subconscious says, don't worry, Beverly, I've got this. And the next thing you know, Beverly's 30 and she's talking really quiet. And she doesn't really know why, but she wants to be more confident. Now, obviously, you don't really talk that way, but to give an example. And so the subconscious puts the voice in place. What psychology of the voice effect does is not only does it change what the output is, but it rewrites the driver in the head that's saying, nobody wants to hear you. You're getting that wrong. You better get those words right. You sound really dumb. Nobody's going to listen to you. And all that is holding the voice in. Sounds in the voice that might not be serving us might not be the best reveal of who we really are. So that's the body of work in a nutshell. And it's absolutely fascinating. Absolutely fascinating.

Yeah. I mean, that's.

Wow.

I mean, that's incredible. I mean, I know that I've talked a lot, too, about how in terms of, you know, subconscious work, you know, our prefrontal cortex is only taking in where we spend most of our time, all of our mental chatter, where that's. Where that's, you know, processing. It's only taking in a small portion of information. And your subconscious, the right side of your brain, where your. Where your emotions live essentially are, is what really pulls in and processes all that information. And I didn't even realize that it can have such an impact. Impact on our voice and how we communicate.

Well, and. And most people don't. Most people don't realize what's really going down. So let me just add to the mix that we've got this subconscious processing going on that that is saying, nobody wants to hear Us or whatever it is, and that alters the voice. But get this. The subconscious is also processing every single sound as well. And I want to add something. This subconscious plot thickens a little bit around voice. Right. So not only is the subconscious putting the voice in, and this is where it gets really powerful, Beverly, is we process every single sound coming out of a person's mouth subconsciously, and we hear things that people don't even realize are in their voice. And we're processing them, and they are potentially not revealing the best version of themselves because we're processing sounds before we ever process words.

Wow. So then is that also to say that we could potentially be saying something.

That we don't even realize what we're saying 100%? I mean, I can give you an example. Let's say I've got a thinker or somebody analytical that's up in their head trying to get the words right. That will automatically create a hesitation in the voice. And if that happens, I might be feel like I'm 100% confident. But you're going to process, does this person even know what she's talking about? Because you're going to process that hesitation, and you're going to determine who I am from that sound. And so you see the power in understanding this. You're going to process, well, I don't know if she's 100% confident. I don't know if she really knows what she's talking about. And I can know without a doubt what I'm talking about. But if I'm up in my head thinking and I've created a hesitation, you're going to work off of who I am based on what you hear, not who I really am. So we want to move these sounds out to really maximize our impact with our message.

Wow. So, I mean, that's. I say all the time here, like, when we're talking about selling and when I'm, you know, working with clients and I'm teaching trainers how we want to sell. Because people often ask me, you know, how do I. They get all nervous about selling and feeling like I'm going to be sleazy. And I'm always like, we can't. If you even think, think that or have one inclination that you're doing something wrong, then people are gonna hear, no matter what you are saying, they're gonna feel it, because they can feel that in your energy, and they can feel that in your subconscious. So it has to be cold through, in, and throughout what you stand for, what you believe and in how you present. And I never had really thought about it from a vocal perspective. You know, I haven't even realized that it would come out vocally.

Yeah, most people don't. Most people. You know, I jokingly say I'm always the last stop on the train. You know, people go and they do everything, and that's okay. That's no criticism. But people do not understand the power of their voice and its ability to make us feel. So it can make us feel bad or it can make us, you know, what do you. A question I always ask people is, what do you want them to feel? So going back to your selling, if I'm unsure about selling, let's say my. My coach has demanded that I raise my price, and I'm not fully bought in. And you say, well, how much is it for? For two months coaching and. And I'm just making stuff up here. And I say, 6,000. You know, you like. And it's all going down subconsciously. Right. And so this is where people. I hear from people all the time. Well, I. I don't know or I'm not sure. And what I say to them is, yeah, but you still want to vocally commit to not knowing. It's okay to not know. It's okay to be unsure, but fully vocally commit because you're right, we will hear you thinking we will hear. And it's. It's in a disconnect, and people feel it.

Yeah, for sure. And I, I. What I love, too, is that I always ask that question, too. You know, what is it that you want people to feel? Because people buy on emotion. But what I'm recognizing now, even in this conversation, is that I'm usually. And with my clients, we're usually focused on the what to say, not the how to say it. We don't spend the time to really pay attention to. Well, how do I communicate that? How do I use my voice to move emotion not just with what I'm saying, but how I'm saying it.

Absolutely. And that's the biggest trick of the subconscious. You better get those words right. The words are everything. The words matter. If you don't get the words right, they're not going to buy. And I have this saying. The words are everything, and they are nothing. It's how you make me feel with what you say that has the power to change me. We work with a mentor. It was all about the words and all about the message. And I always say, you're the. You're the present, I'm the wrapping paper. You Know, how are we wrapping those beautiful words that you're speaking? Because they both matter. But, yeah, we're taught to give all the power to the words.

Yeah. So that's so powerful. And I think it's a perfect transition to speak a little bit now. So now that we've kind of uncovered the importance of the voice, where, you know, how can a fitness instructor, a fitness business owner, how can we start harnessing and at least, you know, paying attention to the types of voices, you know, where do we even start in this work?

That's such a great question. And, you know, my mind, of course, is racing in a billion different directions, but there's a couple of things that might be, really, might be beneficial. Let me throw a few things out there, and if you want me to talk in a different direction, you just let me know which way to go. But there's a couple of things that we need to look at. And this is in relation to the words, this is in relation to the process. And I'm going to use an analogy, and you correct me if I'm wrong, because you're the expert here on the fitness scenario. I'm certainly not, but I think about the people leading the cycling, or it could really be any type of class or direction. The inner goal, in many, many ways is to inspire and encourage and do the work. And, you know, one more. And motivate. Motivate, that's the word right there. And that's a great word. But if you draw solely on motivate, get it done. Do it now. Come on, one more, or whatever it is. You are going to lean into push elements, and you're going to constantly be doing this and doing this and doing this and doing this, and there's no journey. So when I think about this, I love the. The analogy of the cycling instructor. That's taking us literally on a journey. We're uphill, we're downhill, we're shifting, we're turning. Where? That's how that goes to my understanding. Then why is everything vocally the same? Because it is. What the journey you take me on with your voice as you're running me through these processes, that is going to make me experience the journey on an emotional level. So we have to really look at the push elements and the pull elements and the five elements of vocal variety. And I want to just jump to the. A side note here for a minute. Everybody has a voice aversion. My aversion is loud. If you start yelling at me, I'm going to struggle with that. And so when we get on one note, when we're teaching our class or teaching our cycling any of these experiences, you've got to remember that everybody has an aversion to certain sounds. Everybody has one. And I learned this in the first corporate job I ever did. It was Southerners and they hired me to adjust their dialects because they were being perceived not in the light they wanted to be perceived in. And it was literally because their, their companies they were working with had an aversion to slower. So we've got to. You can't rely on. I'm going to push and I'm going to encourage and I'm going to inspire. Because what if you've got a potential audience that cannot handle loud. You have just lost potential business. And it's all going down subconsciously. So we've got to. Yes, there's room for that. There's a lot of room for that. And as intense an passionate person, that's a place I go to a lot. But I also go here and I go a lot of different places with my voice. Because here's the thing, every seven seconds our brain tells us to check out. So if, if you're staying on the same note, the same note, the same note, and I have an aversion to it or my brain tells me to check out, you've potentially lost me. So that's where people are not maximizing the full orchestra of their voice. They're playing a one or two note band. And if we want to reach the most people, we've got to reach the most people. And then if we have an instrument that has the power to make people feel something, words can't make us feel. Science has proven that it's how we speak the words that makes us feel. So do you see how we've kind of got this incredible untapped resource that maybe we never even thought about there was more to.

Yeah. You know, it's funny because I feel like in some capacity we have heard this because you hear people say no, don't. You know, tone gets lost in translation, you know. So I feel like on a surface level, really analytical way to think about it, we actually have heard that and understand that concept, but we just haven't realized the impact that paying just a little bit of attention to this actually what it actually will do for your business.

Oh yeah. And the statistic, you know, I'm. Like I said, I'm a massive researcher. I'll geek out on this stuff like you can't even believe. And the last two years I Have really been watching to get quantifiable proof of voice and money, and it's all over the place. People, my people, their sales, the length of the sales cycle. Literally, we're talking Beverly, one sound. We shift one sound. Now people feel like you care, and that shortens the sales cycle or whatever because people buy off of feeling.

You mentioned a vocal characteristic. I think you've called it push. So would you mind just sharing with us a couple? Like, do I know that it's different for each person. Person. But could you share with us some of the. The vocal archetypes that you have and use?

Yeah. So there's five elements of vocal variety. This is all my methodology, right. This is what my research shows me, and this is how I teach it, is that there's five elements of vocal variety. Oh, look, there's five senses, right? The senses trigger the emotions. So we use these five elements to affect the senses, to then trigger the emotions, and then an emotional connection is built, and the words no longer even matter. Now, within the five elements, some are push and some are what I call pull. Now, part of this is also vocal masks. So I'm going to circle back to that in just a minute. But the world tells us, not just the fitness world, but the world tells us be louder and faster and louder and faster and louder. Loud and fast. Loud and fast. Loud and fast. Those are useful tools, but they are not the most powerful tool. Because pull, soft, quiet, and pause. We process as you care about us. So we've got to have both. I know your people might be sitting there thinking, this woman has never taught a class. She doesn't understand that we've got to be loud and fast to motivate our people. People. But I want to talk about playing moments. If everything is this and everything is this, and then I switch to this, and then I switch to this, and then I go back to that. Do you see how there's more impact in both places? Because when you stay on that one note, I already know what the expectation is. I can let up. I already know where we're going, I can check out. But when I never know where you're going, I have to stay with you. So people get the pull elements. They get a little flipped out about it because they think initially what I'm saying is, you know, inspire them like this. Come on, do one more. Do one more. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. The vocal energy remains the same. The intensity remains the same. The passion remains the same. The journey changes. So push is loud and fast. And we want that. We need that. But we also need some flutes and some trombones and some other instruments coming in occasionally, because, one, it goes back to that aversion. We don't know who's averse to what, and we want to maximize our full potential of people we can serve. But two, we want to take people on a full journey. What? It goes back to that question. What do you want them to feel? I want them to feel inspired, but I want them to feel that I care. Well, if you are pushing and pushing and pushing and pushing, they may not subconsciously get that you care. Now into the pull elements plays some of the voice masks, like needing to prove. Do you know anybody that needs to prove they got something to prove? Okay. Needing to prove is a voice mask that we've put in place to get a result, but it will always lend itself to push elements. So in psychology of the voice, we would look at. Okay, what. Let's talk about this needing to prove. What's that about? We want to crack that mask so that you can play the full range, because if you're locked into anything, you will play one note. And we want to broaden that. I'm not saying in any way, okay, fitness instructors, never raise your voice again. You know, don't take it like that at all. But what is the full range of the experience? We've got to have push and pull.

So if you're listening to this right now in June of 2020, which is when this podcast is going to be published, I think that this pull element that you bring up is so imperative in our current state circumstances, because I have been, you know, right now there's this huge call to listen. There's a huge call for people, for the world to listen. And basically, as I'm listening to you teach this and this element of, you know, the voice, something you said, is that when you create that space for people to feel heard, essentially when you create that space or that pause, that's when you show people that you care. That is our opportunity to show that we care. And I heard someone say in one of the most impactful pieces I have heard to date, where they said, listening is like, is as close to loving. Essentially, when you can listen, you're essentially telling someone you love them. And in order to listen, you need to create that space. And masters and music is heard in the space. It is heard in the silence. And masters take, teach in the silence.

100% the most powerful of the five tools. As a voice coach, it feels just crazy to me. To say this, but the most powerful tool I can give you is to pause. It's just, it's critical. And we don't like to pause because we get uncomfortable in the pause. And what we have to have the mastery of is, is one, being comfortable in the uncomfortable and two, stop. We fill because we feel bad and we have to stop because we're not maximizing that most valuable tool. And you're absolutely right. If I can make it clear to you that I care about you, everything is going to change in the dynamic. Another thing about push is that push almost always equates to I'm talking at you, I'm talking at you. And when I'm talking at you, there's no room for me to care what you think, feel, want, believe, etc. Right. I can still be the master instructor. I can still be the master instructor and talk to you, not at you. And we can do both. Like I say, we need push and we need pull. But if you want to talk about the two most powerful voice tools, it is pause and it is quiet. The weakest two are loud and fast because of how they make people feel.

It's so powerful. That's so powerful. And now I definitely want to be mindful of your time, so I'll leave you with this last question, which is if someone, you know, one of the things that you did say, and it does circle back to a little bit of what we were talking about, is that most people miss this and they don't understand based on what it is that they're saying. They don't understand necessarily what it is that they are communicating. So how would you recommend to someone to get present to that? How can we start paying attention to our voice as a means to change it?

Right. That's a really great and semi loaded question. You learn really quick. Whenever you ask me a question, I have like you know, nine spin offs that I that it's like a big rubber band ball, right? But part of it is we have to understand that the subconscious is always going to trick us because the subconscious, remember, is trying to keep us safe, keep our heart safe. Voices, the orchestra of the heart. So the subconscious is always going to be going, whoa, Buck, you better ease it back or you should do this or you should do that. And 99.9% of the time perception of what we believe that we're doing is not what is being received. So in the moment, I need people to be really, really careful about, you know, get that, get that proof, you know, is what I'm putting out is what I perceive I'm doing, really what is being received.

So, like asking your audience how they feel, essentially, or like recording yourself and listening back and just hearing what you hear.

I think it comes in the proof. I think it comes in the proof, the reaction, the response. That was the best class you ever taught. The different look on the faces, the extra signups. It comes in the proof, right? But here's something else that people can do without thinking about what they're putting out is you can simply get back to the now. We work in the past and the future. What I did an hour ago, what I did yesterday, that time I screwed that class up, or we're even worse in the future, what are they going to think? What are they going to say? How are they going to be? What are they going to act? Are they going to buy? Are they going to do? And all of that is going to affect your voice in a negative way. So we have to operate from the now. I have to operate from a place of I don't have to orchestrate how this whole conversation's going to go down, what you might say and how I'll respond and how I'll say this line and how I'll do that. I have to work from the place of I'm right here with you. What do I want you to feel? What is my message? And I connect to the message and trust that the words will be there. I really need you to know X and I connect to that, and then the words will be there, and I can be right here, present. And when I connect to that message, I'm actually connecting to my heart. I'm grounded in my body. My voice will go to work.

That's so good. You know, Tracy, I don't know if you know this about me or if actually many people in my fitness life actually know this about me, but I have a musical theater background. I went to Cat 21 for my graduate program. I came to New York because I wanted to be a performer. And so when I hear you talk about, like, the dialect classes, I'm laughing to myself because I remember those times. And I also remember, you know, training vocally, singing and also training as an actor. So I remember those times really intimately. And something that actually comes up for me as I reflect back on it and listen to you is that for a long period of time, I had a really hard time listening to my voice. I would have to record, and I think most people feel similar to that, is that, you know, I would have to record my singing, and then I'd have to go back and listen. And it took me a very long time. Even now, as a leader, you know, listening back to these podcasts or listening back to my interviews, I have to really get present. Just like you're saying, get present to the now and really just kind of stay open, open that heart to listen back so that I can hear what it is that I may be communicating that I didn't realize I was communicating at the time. It took a long time to get there, and I'm recognizing now how important that is.

Yeah, that's it. I mean, people, you know, we get on this one track and we create habits. Just somebody said something, I start talking this way, and I talk that way every day for the rest of my life. And then. And we just don't even think about all of these subtle, subtle nuances. And you're right. A lot of people don't like the sound of their voice. And that's. But that's part of the trick of the subconscious. If you don't like your voice, you're going to avoid the bolder, bigger, riskier voice choices that actually reveal the best version of you.

My gosh, that is so good. This has been such a powerful episode. And it is truly. I said this earlier, but it's truly my. My pleasure and my privilege to have you here on this show because your work. Most people don't know about this, and they just do not understand how important it is. You know, they think, oh, that's for actors, that's for singers.

Right.

They don't realize as a fitness owner, as a fitness instructor, this is something you actually need to be paying attention to.

It's your kryptonite, for sure.

So where can I send people? Where's the best place for people who want to learn more, who want to go deeper? Where is the best place that I can send them?

The best place is probably my website, which is Captivate the room dot com. And then, of course, I have a podcast, Captivate the Room. And most of social media I'm on as Captivate the Room on Twitter. I'm Tracy Goodwin. Tracy A. Goodwin. But mostly you can look up Captivate the Room and find me now. YouTube. I have a YouTube channel that is actually under my name as well, Tracy A. Goodwin. So either one Captivate the Room or Tracy A. Goodwin is where you can find me.

Okay, thank you so much. And we'll be sure to link all of the those platforms in our show notes.

Thank you so much for having me. This was such a great conversation.

I loved it.

Thank you Tracy.

You are the best.

Oh thank you.

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