From People Pleasing to Power Speaking: The Hidden Influence of Your Voice with Tracy Goodwin
Apr 29, 2025
Enjoy this episode & transcript below where Kimberly Spencer, Master NLP Mindset & Communications Coach and CEO of Communication Queens, interviews TEDx speaker researcher and a leadership, sales and communication consultant and the founder of Captivate the Room, Tracy Goodwin,
Is your voice quietly costing you clients? Voice coach and subconscious queen Tracy Goodwin breaks down how hidden vocal habits repel dream clients and crush conversions. From real-time voice coaching to juicy storytelling, this episode is your permission slip to ditch the people-pleaser pitch and reclaim your voice’s power. ๐
FYI Transcripts may contain a few typos. With many episodes lasting 30-minutes, it can be difficult to catch minor errors. Enjoy!
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Podcast Addict, Castbox, Amazon Music, iHeart Radio, Pandora, Youtube, or on your favorite podcast platform.
Communication Queens Podcast: Interview with Tracy Goodwin
๐๏ธ Opening Insight: What NOT to Do with Your Voice
Could tell you how to do it, but I think it might be easier if I tell you what not to do, because the what not to do is creating the first problem, and it's another one of these beliefs. And sometimes people are even teaching this. I feel like they're teaching it the wrong way, but they're teaching. Put on your podcast voice. Put on your performer. Hi.
Oh, hi. I'm so glad to be here. So we feel like we've got to be on. And that creates an automatic block to connection. Okay, Queens, this episode is one of the most impactful on my own personal life that I have ever had. And I've been podcasting for a while because in this episode I am talking with Tracy Goodwin.
๐ค Meet Tracy Goodwin: The Subconscious Speaking Shaman
In my opinion, I would call her the subconscious speaking shaman to unleashing all of the undertones and stories that you have literally stored in the muscle memory of your voice. Now, professionally, she helps leaders and sales teams boost sales performance, drive influence, and communicate across generational ties. She is a TEDx speaker researcher, and she is a leadership, sales and communication consultant and the founder of Captivate the Room. Client list includes the who's who of speakers. And in this interview, we flip the script and she actually coaches me and analyzes my voice for what is lingering underneath and the past stories that I have. And let me just say, she was dead on.
I cannot wait for you to listen to this episode. You are going to love it. Be sure to listen through to the end. Before we dive in, let me tell you about the book that started a podcasting revolution. Make every podcast want you. It is not just a bestseller.
๐ The Book That Started a Podcasting Revolution
It is a two time gold medalist, baby. This book is your ultimate guide to landing dream podcast interviews, building authority authentically and making your voice the one they remember. If you've got a message and a mission, this is your mic drop moment. Grab your copy today in the link below and step into the spotlight that you were born for. Welcome to the Communication Queens podcast for the visionary leaders, speakers, service providers and podcasters who are looking to stand out sharing their story. I'm your host, Kimberly Spencer, former screenwriter turned master communications coach.
On this podcast, I'll be coaching you on how to share your own transformation story so that you increase your visibility, influence, and income on podcast interviews. Let's get your voice heard. Tracy, welcome to the communication Queen podcast. I'm so honored to have someone who combines my love of the subconscious mind with voice. What got you into this mix?
Well, thank you for having me. I'm so excited to have our conversation. And honestly, when people ask me that question, what got you into this? I have to say, kicking and screaming and fighting and rebelling because I couldn't imagine one what I could hear, I thought everybody could hear. But too, because of my upbringing, I could not imagine that this was the work that I was supposed to do. So it literally found me.
๐ Tracy's Origin Story: From Silence to Subconscious Voice Work
It literally in Yellow Pages days. No social media. They're coming for me. That's how I got into it. And I mean, I did dialects in the early years, but the work that I do now, the the subconscious psychology of the voice work, it was it was dragging me. It dragged me to it because I couldn't even wrap my mind around how this was my calling.
This was my purpose. When I had been raised actually in silence, I how in the world you know, it was it was beyond imposter syndrome. It was fraud complex. How in the world is this my calling?
How in the world is this my work? Well, I didn't realize until after the fact that that was the setup. That was the top, that the training ground. That was the most incredible training ground to be able to do the work I do today. Isn't it?
Isn't that so often the case of like, those things that we were most chided for, scolded for told not to do as a child like? For me it was challenging. It was challenging systems, and it was challenging a system of authority. And it was I was seeing, um, a challenging behavioral patterns of the stories that people were telling themselves. That was particularly my parents. And I realized that.
๐ง Voice Masks & Muscle Memory
Five it's not the best to correct your alcoholic father's behavior. Well, he's like, yeah, yes. But at the same time, like that, being able to say like, yes, that that was the total setup for what you're doing now. And, and how did you discover and evolve this modality, seeing the combination of how the unconscious mind just works with the voice?
Yeah, I like I said, the first thing that I did was I worked with dialects, I taught television actors, dialects for movies, and back then we took dialects away from business people. And so I do this. I'm doing this dialect work. I'm not approaching dialect work in the typical sense. And one day I thought, well, you know what?
Why is it the Irish sound Irish and I sound Texan? I want to sound Irish. They sound really cool. And so I'm a researcher. I've got, I've been researching for three decades. Everything I have have uncovered came out of research.
And what I realized when I looked at how I taught dialects, which was from a concept called placement, where a dialect is, we can listen to it and we can mimic it. But to really lock in a dialect, we have to shift what I call placement. So all I have to do is shift replacement and I'm Irish. And I thought, okay, cool, but how does the Irish baby know how to do that?
๐ The 30–90% Impact Loss from Sound Alone
And it was in that moment of that research that I realized it's sense of belonging. The information comes in. The subconscious is trying to protect the heart. The voice is the orchestra of the heart. It's our utmost place of identity. That baby has to fit in.
The subconscious is directing the muscles of the face. To create that dialect. And I thought, okay, this is something. Is it bigger than this?
And about that time I was teaching for Mike Nichols in New York, but I was starting to work beyond actors. I was really starting to work with business people. And a man named Bill came to work with me, and he he people weren't listening to him. He wasn't commanding a presence. And he walked into my office and I stuck out my hand and said, Bill, it's so great to meet you in this little tiny voice. He said, it's really great to meet you, too, Tracy.
And I don't know why, but I asked him in that moment. I said, do you have siblings? And he laughed and said, I have six older sisters. So what I discovered from Bill was they were constantly saying, Bill, you're too loud, get out of our room. Bill subconscious took that in and altered his voice to avoid rejection. So that was that was it was on.
Then it was on. Then I started tracking data, doing massive research and uncovering what I now call psychology of the voice, which is every piece of information that comes into our ears is is sorted and filtered out by the subconscious. And then the subconscious puts in layers of sound I call voice masks that are meant to protect us. So we're really mostly not even talking in our real voice, because the subconscious is calling the shots on what is linked to the muscle memory. That is actually a protection sound. And and so that was probably two decades ago.
๐ฏ Ideal Clients & Subconscious Sound Seeking
So it was all accidental, but it was all driven from obsession with fascination. And then the more I got into it, the more I saw how I could really transform people's lives and really lock them into an internal freedom. That is what I call confidence and true authenticity and true connection, because we're all just many, many, many people are hiding behind sounds. The biggest problem is it's misrepresenting them. It's costing them 30 to 90% of their impact, influence and income. Okay.
How did you how did you stumble upon that ratio of it costing 30 to 90% of their income, influence and, uh, impact? Three different studies that I did. Research studies. The biggest one that affected the numbers was a study I did that I call the voice of version study. And it it was based on actually something somebody said to me at that point in my life, they said, and it was actually about a podcaster. They said, I can't listen to him.
And I thought, huh, that's interesting. I can't listen to him either. And so then all these people showed up in my world and unsolicited, mentioned this person's name. Now, what I found interesting was this person was wildly successful. So I started looking at how much was this wildly successful person leaving behind and started tracking data. And and so that was the first piece of tracking the data.
But what I discovered was a concept called voice aversions. This particular person, while it was good and it's never about good or bad, I mean, this person was great. He was leaving money behind though, because he wasn't playing all the notes, and his voice and the notes that he was playing were actually repellants To me and all the people that couldn't listen to him. I can't handle loud and fast. Based on my together. Consistently.
๐ฆ Childhood Voice Aversion Example
Based on my own stories, my life. Other. So everybody has a voice aversion. So if we don't play all the notes, we're leaving a third or more of our people behind because they can't listen to our sound. Then I did another study that actually I did it on casting directors. I wanted to prove that voice played a role in who they cast.
Well, it does and it doesn't. But that led to a study that I did on entrepreneurs, and this one is a mind bender. People are seeking sounds on the subconscious level. I work in voice on the subconscious level, your subconscious level and how I'm receiving it, and vice versa. And what I was finding was one sounds from wounds that I call voice stories. We're creating misrepresented sounds like let's say I'm I'm confident or I know what I'm talking about, but I have a wound that says I'm too much for you and your listeners.
So now I've got a misrepresented sound. And and so one, we're losing business and influence and impact because our sounds are misrepresenting us. But then this other piece. Ideal clients are seeking sounds. So if I want to hire you, I know how I want to work. I don't want somebody yelling at me.
If you come in and yell at me, I'm like, I don't know. I don't know if she's my girl or. I also know, like, I always give this joke about if I hire a health coach. I don't want somebody yelling at me, making me cry. But I also will manipulate for cupcakes. So you got to have a backbone.
You got to have a backbone or I'm going to I'm going to just shove cupcakes down my throat. Those are sounds. And this body of research yielded that the subconscious is seeking certain sounds being repelled by other sounds. And when I tracked all the numbers, it came down to anywhere from 30 to 90%. And it's different for everybody. It could be you're just not playing all your notes.
๐ฅ Micro Sounds That Sabotage Sales
Some of my people are just wildly successful, but they still were holding back some of their notes. We brought up their notes. They shored up 30% of their influence and impact. And it just sounds the size of a grain of sand. That is fascinating. And I'm just thinking.
I had a conversation with my seven year old, uh, the other day, and I was asking him about the girl that he has a crush on, and I said, what was it that made you attracted to her? Like what? And he said, I just liked the sound of her voice. I and this is, you know, a giant. It's a giant unconscious mind. And he's right.
It was her voice. And I said, what was it about her voice? She said, I just found it really beautiful. And the power of of the resonance and and it's it's a piece that I talk about in my book, make Every Podcast Want You about. You know, there's some times when you can say something, but if you don't say it with the tonality. And according to the Moravian communication model, tonality is 38% of communication.
But I also think tonality, because physiology is 55% of communication. But tonality plays into physiology because sometimes certain vocal tones, like physically impact me. Like my husband and I, when we first started dating, there were certain tones that he would have. Not that he was like. It was a sharp tone, um, and that sharp tone, it would, it would, it would physically, like, hurt me, even though he wasn't saying anything that was to be hurtful. Like he was just very direct.
But it hits these unconscious wounds that I had from childhood. And so I he, I had to ask him, like, you need to like, can you smooth that out just a little bit for me? And because he's a voice actor, he was able to like, recognize that. But I had to realize that it was his vocal tonality that some things that he would say that would just, like, impact me. Unconsciously, but make me feel just. It would just hit that program.
๐ โ๏ธ People Pleasing, Authority, and Gender Voice Dynamics
Yeah. Oh, absolutely. 100%. And that was really the aversion story. If you yell at me, you're now my mother. And that and so. So we all have these wounds.
And the wounds include sense of belonging and fear of rejection and abandonment and judgment. And and all of these things are, are, are playing out in the voice. And the subconscious is picking up every single one of them. And what's really interesting is nobody thinks about voice this way. We think about voice, which is no discredit at all. But slow down, speed up.
I mean, it's a it goes back to the story. What are what are we doing with our voice always goes back to our own voice stories. We'll have to talk fast. Because when I was little, at the dinner table, my dad would look at his watch and give me one minute. So I literally put in the body of the voice. Just like the body keeps the score.
The muscle memory of the voice keeps the wound. So you can have 30 years of therapy. The wound still has to be moved out of the voice, or you're going to just keep talking fast. Because if I don't stop, I know I've got to talk faster. She's going to cut me off. I know she's going to cut me off, my minutes are going to run up.
๐ Reading the Room: Perception vs. Reality
And that's running internally. And we're not people are not even they're not even aware. I mean, you're obviously aware of it. Some people are aware of it. Your husband. But the majority of the masses are going, why am I offer converting?
Why am I not getting the promotion? I did all the things. It can go down to one sound I just worked with a gal once wore the voice mask. I called the sounds voice masks of people pleaser. She was the common one for women. Oh yeah.
I was doing one sound of checking in. We moved that out. Her conversion, she does, uh, in person selling went from 40 to 80% and has stuck one sound. What?
Okay. Can you demonstrate what the difference in the sound and the note was? Yeah. For her. So she shows she's a was a lifelong people pleaser. We were working on that from the internal perspective and the external perspective.
And you know sales sell me something and introduce yourself are the fastest way for me to unravel a voice. And I said, okay, let's have this discovery call, let's do this role play. And, and she would be talking along about her program. And out of nowhere, while she was talking about it, she would just do this little tiny check in and not even say, is this making sense?
Or are we good? She would be saying, yeah, it's an it's an incredible program. So I can hear seven layers of sound, I can. There was a decade of work, a body of work where I can tell you how your sound is being processed in the subconscious of the listener. So this tiny check in, which was a little bit like elongation, a Texan knows elongation quite well. It was this, I said, you're checking in to see if I'm buying into what you're selling.
๐ง The Brain, Movement & Captivation
And she said, yeah, yeah, I don't want to be too much. I said, okay, we've got to smooth that one sound out where now the conversation, instead of being, well, it's a really good program became, well, it's a really good program. And we took that little check at check in out. And this was her her sound, her story 40 to 80%. Mhm. And it's never gone back down.
I mean this was months ago and she's constantly messaging me going closed another one closed another one. She's got a real high ticket offer and it was one sound. And it was because it's high ticket. It's because buyer trust is at an all time low. The subconscious of your listener is processing sound. They heard that one sound and they went, ooh, I don't know.
Why is she asking me? Why is she checking in with me? Is she does she know what she's talking about? Does she know?
So it left this seed of doubt that shouldn't have existed because she's a rock star in her field, but her voice wasn't portraying that are so powerful when it's. Make me think of, uh, one of our clients, I had to just bring to her attention the fact that I would listen to her interviews and I. And there would just be this little, like, pause of. Right. And it's. And it was it.
๐ค Voice in the Age of AI
I was like. It was a buying. And so for some people it was working. I mean, she was doing very, very successful in her field. Yeah. But just that, that one little check in and I'm like, I noticed when because we rank all of our clients and we have the podcasters that they go on for their, for their episodes, they rank like how our clients do in the, in their, in their oratory skill set and their professionalism.
It's basically like an Airbnb review. Um, and she was getting only from men male podcasters, lower ranks than oratory skill set. And I was like, that's interesting. But it was because this I'm thinking it's this like little what is that about women when they're in a sales conversation?
Well, I think it's beyond sales conversation because let me tell you. And you're just going to smile when I say this because you're going to recognize that it happens. There are there are societal implications on men's voices and women. But by the time we're 12, men are taught, and I don't mean anything negative at all by this is just data. Men are taught, get out there and say what you need to say. And women or girls are taught, get out there and say what you need to say.
But be nice and don't upset anybody, okay? And there it is. The subconscious goes right. I know what's going to keep you safe if we're not too threatening, if we're not too confident, if we're not too authoritative. So the subconscious, again, it goes back to that subconscious calling the shots on, oh, I might be too much right now. I better pull it back a little, because I'm sounding really like an authority.
And that might not people might not like that, but I am an authority and let that be okay. So we've got to rewrite those stories. And our, you know, in the subconscious is good. I know, you know, that subconscious will tell every kind of lie in the book like, well, you know, they think you're too much. You know, I call them voice stories. And we're bought into those voice stories because the first one starts playing out before War two is what that was.
๐ Kimberly's Live Voice Analysis with Tracy
One of my earliest research studies was one phrase can determine how we use our voice the rest of our lives. Now imagine how many phrases we get with bosses and relationships and and parents and siblings and doormen and neighbors. And I mean it constantly coming in. Protection, protection, protection. And so there's layer upon layer upon layer of protective sounds. And buried underneath all of it is the authentic voice.
And you have a seven year old. I will always give the example, give me a five year old or a seven year old and listen to the way they use their voice. Give me a 40 year old and tell me if they do that, they don't. And it's these layers of sound that have shoved down the authenticity. I hear it in the seventh layer, but in those first six layers, I hear the voice, stories and the wounds. And I know you believe I'm not going to buy, and I know you believe I can't afford you.
I just had that conversation yesterday. I said, do you think they're not going to believe you? And he went, how do you hear that? And I said, it's they hear it too. It sounds in your voice. But the answer was no.
I don't believe they're going to buy it. Oh, yeah. And then perception. Projection right there. Subconscious mind. Yeah.
Yeah. With now you mentioned seven layers of the voice. So what's the first layer that you start with. So it is a little different for everybody. But the layers that I hear I hear voice stories which I like I can tell and I label them all masks. So it might get confusing as I explain it.
I had to try to nut this out when I wrote my TEDx talk on masks determining, you know, how masks determine our reality. It was it was kind of complex, but the first thing I hear is your voice story's like, oh, you think you're going to bother me? Oh, you are afraid. I'm going to think you don't know what you're talking about. Oh, you think you're too much like I can hear you holding back because you had a story that said. Why are you so much?
๐ Voice & Worth: The Final Layer
So the first thing I hear and label are the stories. And that is that's typical. But it's a little bit different with everybody. But I hear the stories, I hear significant character traits. And here's an example of character trait. Somebody that's outcome driven, problem solver, fantastic qualities.
Except when they're in the voice the way it's processed, it blocks connection because it's like you took the plane off and left me on the runway. So there's a slight disconnect sound that happens with certain character traits. What does that sound like? Let me see if I can do it. I hear it so well, but it's it's it sometimes is equated with speed, but it's like I'm talking to you like this, but I'm not here at all because I'm somewhere else. Because I'm thinking about I wonder what you're thinking about.
And. And I've got to get this over with. Because I gotta hurry up. Because I got stuff to do today. Because I'm important and I need to get stuff done. You know?
Whatever. I'm not saying that literal, but can you hear how I'm somewhere else? Yeah, I'm talking to you, but I'm not. I'm down that I'm already in this. I'm already in the next. I'm already in the next.
Activity I have to do for today is what I try to do. Yeah. And so it's like I'm here, but you can feel it, right? People can feel that. And the data shows me right now, the number one thing that we must be able to do within 2.5 seconds is connect. So you've got this character trait of problem solver, outcome driven.
๐ Final Thoughts & Closing Power
Great. Those are wonderful qualities. But you're talking to me. You're already in the plane, and you didn't even get me on the plane, and I didn't even get a sprite because you left me on the runway because you flew off. And there it is. And so we.
It's missed. Prime real estate is what it is. It's missed opportunity that plays into that 30 to 90%. How do you deepen that connection like that 2.5 since that 2.5 seconds is the most critical in in really demonstrating that connection, how do you lean into creating that, especially for those who are like going on podcast interviews?
And how do you do that? So I could tell you how to do it, but I think it might be easier if I tell you what not to do, because the what not to do is creating the first problem. And it's another one of these beliefs. And and sometimes people are even teaching this. I feel like they're teaching it the wrong way, but they're teaching. Put on your podcast voice.
Put on your performer. Hi. Oh, hi. I'm so glad to be here. So we feel like we've got to be on. And that creates an automatic block to connection.
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I've used it to land aligned interviews that amplified my voice and built my brand. It is literally one of the few services I recommend in my best selling award book, Make Every Podcast Want You. Sign up now at Pod Match.com in the link below. That was a dramatic version, but you may have people that put on their professional voice. And I'm going to be a professional because I want you to think I'm really smart. And I've done a lot of great research.
So I've got my Walter Cronkite voice on now, and you don't know who I am anymore because this is who I am. Yeah. So it's it's more about not doing in my mind because the minute I go, okay, this is what you have to do. What I find people do is feel like they have to do something and that is not authentic, and then it's not authentic. And so, you know, when I work with people, whether they're standing on a stage, whether they're in a boardroom, whether they're an entrepreneur, everything is a conversation. That TEDx talk was a conversation.
In my mind, it's as if I'm talking to Bill and Judy at my kitchen table. And that was what was in my mind's eye when I stood on that. Or, you know, right here. I didn't know you. We've never met or had a conversation, but in my mind's eye, there's a conversation. How lucky am I to get to have a cool conversation with you?
Not, I hope I get this right. I hope she likes me. I hope her audience thinks I'm good. And that's. That's the third thing that I hear is where people are working from and they're never working from the now. They're always working from the past and or the future.
And here's, you know, we've been taught to read the room and, and people get very upset when I come in and say, we're not reading the room anymore. And people are like, what? No, we have to read the room. That's how I'm going to determine if they like me. And I'm like, did you ask them, did you take some data?
Did you get some surveys? Because my data shows me they may be smiling, but they may be going. And I can't wait to get out of here and ride in the convertible. But, you know, we don't know. And so we've given all this power and authority away to something that we think we see. I tested this this was the hardest study I ever did.
And it was on entrepreneurs and selling. And the entrepreneurs would read the room and they would see the person with the kind of the squished up face, the listener. You can't hear it but see that I'm making this like disgusted face and my and the entrepreneur would start altering. Maybe they wouldn't even make the full offer, or maybe they wouldn't because they had decided what the person was thinking. Then when I collected data on the person's making the faces, the answers always came out. Like when I was trying to figure out how I'm going to come up with the money because I know I have to work with her.
And yet my person would make the decision that they don't think that I'm not smart enough. Obviously, she thinks I'm stupid, and I'll just kind of follow the rest of this thing in losing the deal. And this is how much of it is learned behavior. It's I mean, who would have, you know. So I do. I mean, I will let people read the room.
I just want it done differently because we give so much power away and we alter who we are, and we alter our voice by what we think we see. But we don't really know why. I mean, we can make an assessment, but we really don't know. And I always tell my people, it's kind of smart alecky, but I say you could ask them. But if they're a people pleaser, they may lie. Not because people pleasers are liars, but because they don't want to rock the boat.
And so we're we're handing a lot of power over. I call it tentacles out. Let me let me reach out. Let me read. Let me see how I am. Let me see who I am.
Let me bring those tentacles back in. And now we stand on a solid rock. That becomes the new foundation where I'm trusting myself. I'm trusting that I know. I'm trusting that I'm going to be able to transform your life and help you, rather than am I going to be able to. I mean, am I doing okay?
Or am I helping, am I good? And so we've really got to bring those tentacles back in to stand in that authority. That's one of the biggest things I meant. How do I stand in authority?
How do I command the space? Well, we've got to bring those tentacles back in. First and foremost, because you're letting the world decide who you are. Mm. And the subconscious wanted to keep you safe. Is going to say they've decided you're an idiot and you're not.
Yeah, man, that it is some powerful work that you're doing in this world. Tracy and I love, you know, the just the study of, you know, the our perceptions and the stories that we tell ourselves and which I say are typically not often true. Yeah, right. The stories that we tell ourselves, especially about other people and what they may be thinking. And for me, anytime I think a story about somebody else, I'm like, okay, well, how is this me?
Like, how is the story actually about me? It's not about if they're thinking if I'm enough. I'm like, I'm obviously not thinking that I'm enough or I'm obviously having these, like, these are my subconscious doubts that are just projecting out into the audience. And that's why I think we we learn and we heal in relationships when people are modifying their voice. What is the difference in modification that you see between men and women in how they modify and adapt their voice to be, to be that people pleaser?
So let me make sure I understand the question. What do men and women do differently when. And they're both people pleasers? Yes, yes. How how do men and women differ in the adjustments of their voice?
Yeah. Based on people pleasing or that, you know, the desire to get the sale or what? You know, men sometimes are taught selling differently than women. Yeah. So in many circumstances, they're similar sounds. They can be similar sounds.
Male people pleaser female. It can be similar. Very specific things that I listen for. I listen for hesitation. I listen for checking in. I listen for convincing and justification.
I listen for all the words. I'm going to say it this way, and I'm going to say it this way, and I'm going to say it this way, and then I'm gonna come back and say it this way. But I'm saying the same thing. Those things can I can consistently see what I see women do more than men, significantly more. It is asking permission a lot like every sentence. That's not a question, okay?
Men don't typically do that. And men can swing the entire other side and go into needing to prove. I'm going to prove to you I'm good enough. Okay, I already know. I already know. I already know.
Yeah, no, I know. I know the answer to this. Okay. And they will swing to needing to prove. And I always tell my my people pleasers. I always say don't worry about them.
They're more insecure. So you're good. It's just a different manifestation of the protection. And then sometimes it's exactly the same. It's this checking in. Or sometimes it's saying nothing at all.
A lot of times, both male and female. I don't want to rock the boat. This is where we run into people who just aren't saying anything. Or they're saying it in such a neutral way that nobody hears it. They they aren't hearing the sail. They aren't engaging in the video.
They aren't noticing what you say in the meeting, but they notice the guy who said it right next to you, and they just went wild because he was so good, and he actually just repeated everything you said. It's this neutralization of sound because I don't want to be too much and I don't want to rock. I've seen people lose million dollar deals over what we're talking about right now, because they literally the people pleaser has this in their mind. I don't want to be too much, and I don't know what they want me to be, so I'm just going to tell them about my work like this. And they're over there going the the buyers over there going, I need some passion up in here. This girl doesn't have it.
And the tragedy is that can be the most passionate human alive. But she's not reflecting it in her voice. 100%. And I have a perfect example. I was at a very large female business owner conference where they were talking about some of the activism work that they were doing, and I looked around the room because I was on my phone because I was bored and I was not engaged. And I looked around the room and I saw 80% of the women were also on. And then I started listening to what they were saying, and I was like, what?
Their the content is actually really empowering and exciting, but the way it was being said would not have sounded like it was like watching paint dry where, you know, for your ears. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And, and, you know, then 30 to 90% right there and it's, it's because the brain is seeking movement and every, every 2.5 seconds the brain seeks movement. So if I'm going banana, banana, banana, banana, banana, your brain, your subconscious goes, okay, we've got it. We know what she's doing. We can go do something else.
Hey, what's on Facebook? And they get their phone and they start scrolling. So, you know, I take a really hard line in the sand on this. It's my job to captivate you. It's really my job to captivate you. And we live in a world where.
And this. I'm not discrediting this at all. The words are the message. But we've been trained to believe if we can get the words right, they will buy. They will listen. Well, your story just was evidence that that's not true.
Yep. And that's unfortunate. And that's it's it's a little bit of a, I'll be honest, a source of frustration for me because because this is important. It's important. And not just to keep your attention. You have a deep understanding of who I am by the sounds you hear in my voice.
You know that I'm intense. You know that I'm passionate. You know that I'm funny. You know that I'm a Texan, you know, and you. And that is authenticity. And and that is huge important right now with buyer trust at an all time low.
I'm not letting you burn me again. I'm leaning in to hear who you are, because the study I'm doing right now shows that retrospectively, we're subconsciously going, I knew I was going to get screwed on that deal. So I'm going to listen a little closer this time because the words are what I wanted to hear, but I ignored the sound. It's really cool times. I mean, it's really cool times for this work. I'm I'm super jazzed about it because people are leaning in more than they ever have before.
Because I need to know who you are. Connection and authenticity. Number two things we want. I have seen people cut deals right and left. Not about the offer, not about the the end result. Sure, that's a big part of it, but it was because I made an emotional connection with you.
You made me feel something that I wanted to feel. The voice is the instrument to do that. Mhm. I think that that's so necessary for where we're going as a society because I mean, it's not like I was just having a conversation with a coach, um, or a podcaster who's setting up a big coaching website and she was looking for my input and I said, well, like. A lot of people have been burned in the coaching industry because the tactics of 2019 no longer apply in 2024, and the buyer is a lot more discerning as to who they're hiring to coach and guide them. And what I'm curious about is with the advent of AI and how I like the human ear.
So, I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, but so far as I've heard, the human ear cannot discern a 20% difference. And that's really what I can do, is it can just adapt a Morgan Freeman voice to 20% different. We can't tell the difference. How are you seeing your work and with people with building vocal trust compared to, like, with what AI's bringing out?
Yeah, I don't I'm I'm studying this right now and I don't have hardcore definitive long term data, but this is what I'm seeing. One, it's interesting the people that want to work with me. One of the, I would say four out of five say I want to have an authentic voice in an AI world, and I'm worried about it. That's what people are hyper aware of it. Number two, what the data I'm seeing in the in the studies I'm doing right now are showing me is, yeah, you're right. We can't tell the difference.
But we're desperately trying to because we're so afraid of being burned again. So that's part of that leaning in more. And and yeah, I didn't do the studies on the percentages of how we can't tell the difference. They actually were a little distressing to me when I saw the numbers that I was really hoping it would be different, but I think that's part of what's causing people to lean in is because they're so afraid of. Is this real or is this I. Yeah.
And especially because we don't know. We don't know. I mean, do you see, like one of the things that I think is in the future, um, and especially because my husband's a voice actor and, yeah, I've, you know, he just did a video game and his fans were like, oh, I liked him better in the first one. That's because they didn't do the second one. That's because that was the guy that did the second one. Yeah, I didn't get paid a dime.
And that, that, that the I evolution I have a hypothesis that people are going to start trademarking the sound of their authentic voice. Yeah, I think you're right. I think you're right. But I just feel like. And I've just started this studying the I thing. Several months ago, I was doing a big study on trust and buying and where they intersect.
But I think there was a part of me that I didn't I didn't want to I didn't want to study this. I don't like it, I don't, I don't I'm distressed over it, but I, I think you're right. And I think that I think we're sharpening our ear like what you said about they liked the first one and they didn't like the second one. I'm hearing things like that and that. So when I say I think we're leaning in more, I think we're, we're I think we're sharpening our ear and we're going to be able to hear those nuances some how that I've always heard I've always heard the nuances of the stories, of the history, of the wounds, of the things. And I think humans are going to be able to start doing the same.
I can't tell you why right now, but I just feel like that's going to happen, and I. I feel like I get distressed when I see I can teach you how to eye your voice, and you never even have to show up on video again will make you a character. I forgot what they call avatar. Avatar that looks just like you and sounds just like you. And and every morsel of my being goes, no, no, I want you. I don't want your clone.
But you know, and I mean, I'm sure it saves time. And I'm sure all there's there's merits to it that I haven't gotten on board with yet. But do you remember when everybody used to blog? Yep. And then all of a sudden, everybody came into this place where they were like, whoa, hold on a minute. I don't know who's putting this out on Twitter.
I want to see this person. And we had this huge surge of video. Yeah, 2008 29 yeah, I think we're going to have something like that. I don't know how, but people are going to want to know that you're real. Yeah, I'm seeing that in the live event space for sure. Are you?
Yeah. Yeah. I'm seeing like people are wanting especially I think especially after Covid we realize is a is a human collective how deeply we need human to human connection because we were isolated. So because we didn't have that for two years. We like conventions have come back in in spades. But what I also am saying is that there's that realness factor of like, can I actually like, touch, see, feel you as being a human beyond the zoom box, beyond the screen, so that I see that you're a real human and that we actually build a real quality relationship.
Like, I think AI is wonderful as a tool, but my husband and I were joking about just how bad like, like, yes, 90% of the voiceover industry will be replaced by AI, no doubt in the next 5 to 10 years. Um, and like currently the audiobook readings for AI, I'm like, well. Just garbage. Like it's not that good. And, you know, at least in the level of standard that a human reading a book where there there is warmth and variation and tonality to it that just like that. I think can be trained in AI, but I.
I think there's something to be said for us all 100%. And I think of a voice like a thumbprint because a your stories are different than my stories, and your authenticity is different than nuances of yours. It's funny you said that about the AI book. I just recently wanted to listen to this book. I'm doing it more studying on worth, and it was a book about worth and and I bought it and everything before I realized it was AI and it was relatively real. But I'll tell you what drove me nuts about it.
There was a calculated cadence of getting hoarse. You know when you will talk and you talk a lot and you'll kind of get that little spot of a little raspy ness. It was calculated. And, I mean, I chase patterns in this work, and that gives me a lot of my clues. And so I'd be like, here it comes, and there it would go. And then she'd talk some more, and then I go, here comes.
And there it was, just like clockwork, drove me nuts. If it had not been a short book, I would have had to put it down. But you can only get it on audible. You. It wasn't a wasn't a hardback or paperback, I mean nothing you couldn't get the book. But I thought, oh my gosh, this is a disaster.
Oh my goodness. That's so. That's so bananas. Yeah. But it makes sense as to why like people programming the algorithm. You sound more human, but you have to like humans.
We don't have pattern. It's not a reason. It's three thirds and it's. I want to get raspy. Okay?
So I want to I want to circle back to what you said about your studying between the voice and worth. Yeah. What are you noticing in your research? So I hear the sound and then I hear, I start to hear what is behind the sound. And it's never about the sound. The sound is the manifestation of the problem.
It creates the problem for us. But this is why I don't believe in typical voice coaching. Because after I did dialects, I did start coaching voices. But I was afraid to do it the way that I do it now. And so I taught typical voice coaching and but I was hyper aware that results weren't sticking. Then they could go away and they could do it, but they had to warm up and they had to practice and they had to, you know, like stand on their head with a banana in between their toe.
And then it could work. Right? And I thought, okay, I'm going to have to, you know, ultimately I started doing it the way that I do it, which is we've got to get to the why, behind the why, behind the why, behind the why of that sound. Yeah. The sound is you're talking too fast. But I've got to get to the very back end of the why.
And sometimes we have to go through several layers of that. But what I see, every single voice is the why behind the why, behind the why. All roads end and worth. In relation to voice?
Sure. We deal with judgment and rejection and abandonment and sense of belonging and all these other factors that are are always consistently there. But everything ends in worth. Am I worthy enough to reveal my sound?
Because it is my identity, and this is the core problem, and why I have to pick up the sound that doesn't represent who I am is because I don't think I'm worthy enough to have it, or get it, or be in this room, or be in this space, or say these things, or even show up every single time. Wow. So I'm curious, I want to I've never done this before, so I want to flip the script before we get to the rest of the juiciness inside of this episode, I want you to imagine this. You open your inbox and Bam! A fresh list of podcasts looking for someone just like you. No cold pitches, no chasing.
Just a line. Visibility served on a silver platter like only Royals receive. That's what you get with podcast guests. So if you're ready to magnetize opportunities, effortlessly attract aligned audiences, and finally, speak your truth on stages that convert, then go sign up now and claim your free profile. Now let's get back to the episode. What?
And just be like, hey, audience like, this is me getting very vulnerable. I want people do this to me on the air because then they'll. Then sometimes then they never roll the episode out because, oh, no, I'll roll the episode. I'm very transparent with my audience. So I'm curious, what have you noticed about my voice?
That is one of the layers. So I will tell you, I can't do an interview and listen at the same time, so I would have to. Yeah, well, I couldn't survive in the world, I would. I figured that out about ten years ago when I taught at a company. I taught a group, and there was a lot of anger in the room, and I ran 105 fever for a week after I got off that call and I went, whoa, okay, I've got I can't keep I can't stay tapped in. So I have to tap in.
And so I just have to listen to you talk. So we just have to talk for a minute. And it only takes me seconds really to, to tell you what I hear. But I have to listen from that perspective rather than listen like typical listening. So maybe just tell me. Tell me whatever you want to talk about.
Or, uh, how you got into this work, or. I mean, anything. Anything you want to tell me? Um, so I got into podcast casting because we were stuck abroad in Australia and we got stuck there during Covid, and I was looking for what is a way that I can generate new leads, new clients, new business for my coaching business. And it was then that I remembered a interview that had actually resulted in a $10,000 sale, and that was when I was like, well, what about if we tried podcast Garstang and I asked my team. We started reaching out to 100 podcasts a week to start, and then we went.
After that, I got ended up getting about 50 interviews and generated $70,000 of new business revenue, which I was like, we're on to something, because that those 50 hours of interviews was only 50 hours of my time, spread over the course of a year that generated 70,000in new business, and that also generated recurring revenue from those clients. So that was how I got into podcast guesting. Okay. All right, I got it. All right. So the and I think I said this earlier, but a lot of times I will hear that a wound has been healed, but I still hear it in the voice.
So people will sometimes get mad at me. They'll be like, why did you say that? I worked on that for 15 years and tell me that you hear that? Are you recovering perfectionist. Oh yeah. Okay, so that was the first.
That was the first thing I wrote was trying to get it right. Perfectionism. But I could hear it from the perspective of you're not necessarily that anymore, but you were. Is that accurate?
That's accurate. Yeah. Okay. There's something that I kept going back to, and I and I, I don't think it's the it's not the mask of needing to prove, but there's something I feel like there's a voice story or there was an experience in the work world or something where you had to convince people you knew what you were talking about. That's true. Okay.
I could hear it. I wrote, why are you needing to convince me? Now, don't get paranoid about this, because it's. Yeah, people are processing these sounds, but I don't know that this is. This could be old. It could.
There could still be. It's remnants in the voice. Okay. Yeah. So those were the first things that I wrote then. And and so the work then becomes, okay, we move them out because I don't want you process.
I want you processed 100% in the subconscious of the listener. So then I shifted. So are you outcome driven? Yeah. Pretty. Yeah, I was pretty outcome driven as I remember.
Yeah. Outcome driven. High achiever. Mm. So there's a tiny sound that I'm not hearing it, major. I've heard it, major, in outcome driven a tight personality.
Women. This is kind of like that outcome driven thing I gave you earlier. Mhm. There was this. And it's the size of a grain of sand. That's how I hear.
Okay. Am I good enough to work with her. Are you as the listener. Good enough as the list. Oh yeah. Which is.
And it's real common. And I hear it in alma. And yours is like. I, like, had to really lean in. Sometimes I don't. Sometimes it's like.
It's obvious. I'm like, okay, your audience is going to think they're not good enough. You don't have that problem, though. I don't think you're going to have that problem. And I'll tell you why. Because your vocal superpower is likeability.
You're very likable. I, I did notice that when I got on the call. That is your vocal superpower. So you are instantly likable. That is going to mitigate this potential of them believing they're not good enough to work with you, but that sometimes is a sound that can manifest in like, let's get it done, let's go. We've got to get the phalanges.
We've got to do the thing where you got. Come on, let's go. And and we're not feeling that way at all. We're not meaning that at all. But that's balanced out with this. There's a real likeability.
You have a great vocal energy, but like, likability is your vocal superpower and you're leading with it, which is very good when we lead with our vocal superpower. A lot of people lose a lot of money because they're not leading with their vocal superpower. I think the opportunity. Let me see. What. Let me see what I wrote here.
Yeah, okay. I basically said that you're good at playing moments, but you're missing opportunities to play moments and the and the. And so when I talk about a moment, I'm talking about I want to share this moment with you. I'm going to make you feel something. And then we're just going to hold it here for a minute. And you did that.
But but you know what? Honestly, everybody is it's prime real estate that everybody's missing is I want you to maximize your moments because you are authentic. You are authentically showing up. I can connect with you. So that just becomes this next level and we go back to that 30%. Well, yeah, you're making eight figures.
That's great. Or nine figures or whatever you're doing. But hold on a minute. There's more. There's another level of let me take your goodness, your amazingness, and let's just make it even better where your lips are. Because what happens in this, in the sales from a sales perspective, is the more moments I share with you, the more emotional connection I build with you.
And what the data shows me is that before I ever even make the offer, you're like, where's the link? Where's the link? And it's because we shared so many moments. You you share moments. But just like everybody else. And I'm so relentless on this, I'm like, more moments, give me more moments.
I need more moments. So that's probably tracks. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I was just on a podcast interview. Uh, like literally right before this one, um, where I was being interviewed and the podcast host started crying because I was sharing a very, very deep, vulnerable story. And there was a moment that I was like, I could pause here, and I didn't, um, yeah, but I yeah, but I like that that holding that space for that moment and being in that space of the pause like that's that's wonderful feedback. But I've seen that as well with many other storytellers as they go on.
Like because I can hear that kind of from a storytelling perspective as people are sharing your stories on podcasts when they're not holding that space. Yeah. Sometimes you teach what you most need to learn, right? Oh, I just the, the there's a there's some questions that I saw sometimes you'll ask. And I think one of them was something about what is the, what is the thing that people would be shocked to know about you and, and what they might be shocked to know is I have to walk my talk every day that I was raised in silence, that I created this from a deficit, that I didn't come out of the womb sounding captivating. Note every single day I've had to learn how to use my voice in a multitude of ways.
So I think 100%, you know, and I used to fight that. I used to be like, you know, that my, my insecurities used to make me defensive about that. But then it became this really cool thing. Like, cool. I get to learn this every day because I need to teach it, and that makes me a better teacher. Are so powerful.
And thank you for playing that game with me, because there there's the. I mean, I talk about it in, in my book, um, that showing rather than telling. Yes. You you you have such a powerful talk. You have so much research and data, and you have been doing this for so long, like 34 years, right?
Yeah. About like a little over 30, 30 years like that. You have the level of mastery. And I think sometimes it just when you show it like, I am so excited for our audience to hear what you picked up from just my little 10s of talking. Um, because that was so you nailed it. Nailed it.
Yeah, I do. And that was honestly, you'll laugh at the study for a decade I tested is what I just called out, what the audience is processing or what the person is knowing to be true. And I did that study literally from an insecurity perspective, almost wanting to be wrong, almost hoping that because I felt such responsibility about it, I take this work so seriously that if I'm going to say to somebody, are you a recovering perfectionist, I better be right. And if I'm going to say, this is what concerns me, I'm afraid they're going to. I don't want them thinking they're not good enough. Are they hearing the ooey gooey goodness?
Are they just hearing that lead sound? I have to have both. I'm going to say that to people. Have better, better be able to get it right. I take it real serious. So it was a decade of research to make sure that I was nailing it.
I literally see this as a gift that I was given, whether it was a learned gift in the way that I grew up or whether it was embedded in me before I got here. That's my queendom, because that's how I'm going to be able to touch so many lives. Tracy, you are such a badass at what you do. I thank you for the demonstration. I think that that was so worthwhile for our audience and just being able to hear your work in practice and the value that you provide and the decades of research that you have been doing. And I am so excited to see you just evolve with this work and what this work has the power to do in our very fast evolving technological world, and the good that you're doing for raising the consciousness of the voice, for the masses and for the for the people.
Well thank you. Thank you so much. Go to bathroom and remember your story has the power to save at least one life. Go out there and let your voice be heard. Queen, if what you just heard stirred something in you. If you are imagining how your voice, your story, your genius could be positioned with the same clarity and magnetism.
Then it's time. Book your visibility consultation with me today. I will guide you personally through a seven step communication queen strategy. Personalized connections to podcasts that need your voice and an implementation plan that makes you ignorable. But this isn't for everyone. It's for the visionary who is ready to be seen.
If that is you, click the link in the description to book your visibility consultation now. Thank you so much for listening. If you love this episode, subscribe! Leave us a review and share it with your friends. For more tips on guest podcasting, storytelling and communication strategies. Follow us on social media at Communication Queens Agency and visit us at Communication queens.com.
I look forward to seeing you in the next episode. And in the meantime, remember your story has the power to save one life. Let your story and your voice be heard.
Ranked No.55 in the United States by Apple Podcasts for Marketing, within just one week of launching, and over 33,000 downloads in the first 5 months, the Communication Queen Podcast with Kimberly Spencer is on the fasttrack to becoming an industry GAMECHANGER, in supporting listeners to tell better stories, enhance their communication skills, and learn how to leverage getting booked on podcasts to grow their business.
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