Are you trying to impress a client, get a job, or close a deal?
Then skip the emails and pick up the phone or schedule a meeting.
New research reported in a recent New York Times article shows that “text-based communications may make individuals sound less intelligent and employable than when the same information is communicated orally.”
In other words–the mouth is mightier than the pen or stylus or keyboard.
Nicholas Epley, a professor of behavioral science at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, and his co-author conducted experiments presented in “The Sound of Intellect” in Psychological Science.
Students were asked to prepare a pitch to sell themselves to employers. Researchers asked people to either watch a video of the students, listen to an audio, or read a written transcript.
People who heard the pitches with or without the video rated the students as more intelligent than people who simply read them. The same results were repeated with recruiters for Fortune 500 companies.
Dr. Epley believes these findings add further weight to previous studies that show that a person’s voice helps listeners gauge a person’s thoughts.
As Dr. Epley says, “The closest you ever get to the mind of another person is through their mouth.”
Are you trying to get your next job, close a big deal, connect with people who can help you grow? This research is pretty clear: Speech is better than writing for selling yourself and your ideas.