Call Center Management Featured Article
The Value of Voice Training
Words matter. So does tone. Especially when people aren’t interacting face to face.
But we’re only human. So, when we’re busy or stressed or tired, that can come through in our manner and the way we speak.
That’s typically okay if we’re talking to a close friend or family member. But, it’s no good when we’re dealing with customers. Customer-facing employees like call center agents need to sound personable and professional at all times.
In fact, they have to do more than that. They actually need to communicate their eagerness to assist customers. In the process, they must be sure to speak clearly and slowly, maintain their poise even when difficult situations arise and callers are frustrated, and focus on solving customers’ problems.
Doing all that they can for more consistent call center quality, improve efficiency in getting problems addressed more rapidly, and reduce agent churn by increasing their job satisfaction. Perhaps more importantly, it can install confidence in calls that they’re being served by experts, and build brand loyalty with customers by providing them better experiences.
That’s why some leading call centers today provide voice training education for their agents. Voice training can deliver positive results for agents, call centers, and customers.
Preston Ni in an article for Psychology Today wrote “a person with a strong, attractive voice has a big advantage over a person with a weak, unattractive voice. A person with a good voice commands attention, gets interrupted less, and is more likely to be perceived as a promotable leader.”
Employment services company, Kelly Services, has this to say about effective phone communication in customer service: “With more and more business being done over the telephone and the increasing use of 24 hour professional call centers to handle customer inquiries, know how to have both face to face and effective phone communication skills is vitally important.”
Edited by Mandi Nowitz