| Customer relationship management tools
abound, yet let's hear it for old technology. Your voice is the most multifaceted customer
service tool in your toolkit. Your voice can convey concern, care and compassion. It can
alternately convey boredom, neglect or contempt. Your challenge: to insure your voice
reinforces the service you strive to deliver through your actual words and action.
Customer service is about more than mouthing the words
customers want to hear. You have to sound believable. How do you sound? Try this
experiment. Call your own answering machine and leave yourself a message normally intended
for your customers. Now replay it. Are you convincing? Does sincerity ring from your voice
or are you just mouthing clichés in a disinterested fashion?
Depending your tone of voice you can alternately sound:
- Compassionate or Condescending
- Confident or Insecure
- Knowledgeable or Ignorant
- Attentive or Disinterested
- Focused or Scattered
- Alive or Comatose
Pick one of the following phrases:
“Thank you for calling. We’re excited to serve
you.”
“Welcome back. It’s so nice to see you
again.”
“We’ve missed you. Thank you for coming in
again.”
Mouth it a few times to a colleague next to you or
over the phone to a friend.
- Now ask your listener: "How do I sound?"
- When you’re monotonal you may sound flat and
lifeless.
- How does this sound when you’re tired? Uninspired?
- How does this sound when you’re expressive? Do you
generate good will and energy?
- How does this sound when you’re sincere? Is there a
genuine quality to your voice?
- How does this sound when you’re friendly? Does
warmth emanate from your conversation?
- How does this sound when you are smiling? Does your good
humor come translate?
Mirror Mirror on the Desk
There is a reason many telesales and customer service
representatives have mirrors on their desk. It’s not to admire their beauty or to
insure the proverbial spinach isn’t stuck to their teeth. In this case, the mirror
has two purposes. First, as a reminder to reps to smile while on the phone. Even though
their smile isn’t seen by listeners, it is felt. When we smile it loosens up our jaws
and relaxes us. This is then conveyed through our voice. We sound more relaxed, friendly
and open because we are. The act of smiling activates certain muscles in our face and neck
and actually alters our disposition for the better. The mirror both reminds us to smile
and confirms we are when we glance at it periodically. Not to sound overly Dramatics, but
“What you see is what they get.”
Inflection
When we consider the message our voice sends customers,
don’t forget to consider your inflection. It is important to understand where in a
sentence you put the emphasis. What words do you accentuate? Which words do you emphasize?
Depending on your placement of accent you can send different messages with the same set of
words. Consider the following statement: “It’s all over my friend.”
Depending on the placement of accent and pause, this statement could either lament the end
of a successful run of some sort, or be describing the result of a sick bird flying
overhead of your pal.
Similarly, this statement, based on inflection, may send
two entirely different messages: “What’s that in the road ahead?” or
“What’s that in the road, a head?” You can see how inflections inform.
Let’s make sure the information we convey is supported by our inflections.
Actors often take the Shakespearean phrase “to be or
not to be, that is the question” and repeat it alternately while emphasizing
different words. For instance, one variant might be “To be or NOT, to be THAT is the
question!”
Revisiting our triplet of phrases let’s see
how inflection alters their meaning:
“Thank you for calling. We’re delighted to serve
you.”
We can place the accent on different words to convey
different sentiments. The capital letters indicate the words being accented through our
inflection.
“THANK you for calling. We’re delighted to serve
you.”
“Thank you for CALLING. We’re delighted to serve
you.”
“Thank you for calling. We’re DELIGHTED to serve
you.”
“Thank you for calling. We’re delighted to SERVE
you.”
“Thank YOU for calling. We’re delighted to serve
YOU.”
For yourself, try this same exercise with each of the
statements below, accenting different words within each sentence so as to find the
inflection that best conveys your sentiment.
“Welcome back. It’s so nice to see you
again.”
“We’ve missed you. Thank you for coming in
again.”
Voice Your Concern
Using a pleasant tone, effective intonation, and empathic
emotion your voice can go a long way toward helping customers feel heard, valued and cared
for. Mama was right, it is more than what you say, it's how you say it too. |
