Don Haney says:

I love that title “The Gift of the Worst”. That’s definitely what’s happened to me.

I worked as a sales representative for 42 years. During the last 20 years, I had a voice disorder. You would think that having a voice disorder would have been fatal to a career in sales. I think that being able to keep working in sales AFTER developing a voice disorder is the biggest accomplishment in my life.

I never was a smooth-talking, joke-telling type of sales person anyway. I always tried to be the helpful, knowledgeable type.

I had to learn to get that out there quickly. “I’m trying to help you.” And people picked up on that. I was able to convey that message that I’m trying to help. They are happy to see me. They ask me questions because they believe that I will know the answer or I will know who to ask to get the answer. They may have to ask me to repeat what I said, but they know that I’ll stay cool and calm even if I’m having to say something more than once. And they move closer to me so they can hear me better.

This extends to other areas as well. When I’m at my alma mater, the head football coach, the head men’s basketball coach, and the head women’s basketball coach walk over to me and get close so they can hear what I’m saying. Because they know that I will ask a good question or make a good comment. They are making millions of dollars a year. Yet, they want to know what I’m saying and they get close to me because they know that my voice doesn’t carry very far.

It’s the same way with the university president and the athletic director. They are glad to see me and walk up to me so they can hear what I have to say.

It’s the same with assistant coaches, players, parents of players, staff that work at the venues, alumni, and fans.

I don’t look at it as a negative that people have to get close to me to understand what I’m saying and have to ask me to repeat what I’m saying. I feel encouraged that they WANT to find out what I’m saying even though it’s hard to understand me.

People are actually listening to me more now than they did when I had a decent voice.

We’re using email more now than ever before in sales. I had to learn to put more personality in my emails and convey that message that I’m trying to help. I learned from females emailing me. Females are better at putting emotion and sincere efforts to help in emails.

Do I wish that I still had a decent voice? Yes, that would be easier. But I’ve learned so much more about communicating with people in person and in emails because it’s a struggle for me to talk. I wish I knew what I know now back when I had a decent voice.

So, I’ve written an eBook on what I’ve learned. I need to get that eBook out there because there are so many people that are going to have to reinvent themselves when this pandemic is over. There are jobs that won’t be coming back. There are businesses that won’t be coming back. People that still have jobs have had to change the way they work.

I wish that I would have been able to learn all of this without developing a voice disorder. But I think that developing a voice disorder is the best thing that’s happened in my life. And learning to live with it and do better at communicating is my biggest accomplishment.