DO YOU NFFD A’ SPEECH COACH? Speech coaching is a growing busmess. In a way, this is sur- prising. As noted carlicr, more and more commimication is electronic, seemingly making the quality of one’s speak- ing skills less important. Although electronic forms of communication clearly have grown exponentially, that doesn’t mean that oral communication no longer matters, especially for some jobs. Consider Michael Sipe, president of Private Equities, a small mergers and acquisitions firm in Silicon Valley. Sipe worked with a communications coach to give him the edge when pitching his company’s services relative to competi- tors, “If a customer can’t determine who is any better or different or worse, Wen they are left with a conversation about price,” says Snipe. “And as a business owner, if you're only in a price conversation, that's a losing conver sation. It 1s really important to paint a picture of why should do business with them in a very compelling way.” Snipe felta speech coach helped him do that. To look at it another way, you can have all the expertise in the world, but if you can’t effectively communicate that expertise, then you're not geting the most from your talents. R.W. Armstrong & Associates, an Indianapolis- based engineering project manugeiment company, has used speech coaches to refine its pitches. Although the investment wasn’t sinall—the Cummpany eatimates it paid $8,000 to $10,000 per day to train 2 employees—the firm believes it helped land several lucrative contracts. Asset manager David Freeman agrees. “We may tly across the country to present for 45 minutes to a pension fund or cousultiug firm that can be worth $25 million, $50 million, or $100 million in the amount of money we are being given to manage,” he says. “You want to increase the probability that you are going to he remembered.” whar do these coaches du? Some of their training is otieuted around speech—how to communicate with excitement, how to use inflection effectively—and body language. One of the big areas is to teach people ta use short sentences, to speak in sound Lites, aud to pause so listeners can absorb what's been said.