BPA Featured Article

Hopefully, if you've read any of my previous content or heard me speak at conferences, I have planted the seed in your mind that getting your auto-attendant and IVR prompts voiced by a professional not only *might not* be a bad idea – it’s an astute move that will inform your callers of your professionalism and overall image awareness.

The all-too popular line of thinking is: “Let’s just get Janine at the front desk to voice the message. She talks. How hard can it be?”

It’s true, your front-office staffers are probably very capable and even willing to voice the initial prompts – and they may even do a terrific job. Here are the issues that arise when recruiting a staffer (or yourself) over hiring a voice-over pro whose core competency is to voice prompts.

Janine May Not Be Forever.  The staffer that you enlist to voice your auto attendant might move to a different position or leave the company – necessitating replacing her with yet another staffer. I recently called the IVR of the largest cable provider in Canada, and I counted 15 different voices on their IVR. It sounds inconsistent, choppy, and amateurish.

Janine Will Be Recording Directly Into the Phone (News - Alert).  When you hire a voice-over pro, you’re getting clean, clear digital files, recorded in a pro environment. We can convert the files into any format/codec your system requires. We’re also editing out breath noises and any mistakes. If having background noise, extraneous noise created by the mouth speaking directly into the mouthpiece, or audible goof-ups are acceptable to your company image, that’s fine. If you’re looking to project an image of a professional company at the top of their game – hire a pro. (Unless you happened to have a flair for graphic design, you likely wouldn’t attempt to design your own website, either.)

Pros Are Actually More Accessible And Available than Janine.  Chances are – even though a staffer might be on your actual premises – they may not be available for corrections/additions/updates the way a dedicated pro would be. Your staffer was hired for a purpose – and voicing telephone prompts isn’t what they should be busy with. A task like re-doing the phone menu will likely get stuffed down on the list of importance – whereas it’s my wheelhouse and my core competency.

There’s a Reason Why My Husband and I Go Out for Sushi Instead of Making it at Home.  I’m a pretty fair cook, and can actually make my own sushi at home – but not easily and not quickly. It’s a skillset – and if making sushi was all I did, I’d be pretty darn good at it. It’s one of those things that ends up being less expensive (and more delicious!) outsourcing to a pro. So it is with IVR.