Answering
Services are not all built the same.
There are many qualities to consider when looking for an answering
service. You may consider qualities such
as; experience in the industry, price, location, technological capabilities, or
simply if the Account Representative you’re working with is responsive and
friendly. A quality that is typically
overlooked when considering an answering service is the quality of the person
answering your phone.
Who the person is that is answering your phone isn’t too
important, however, how the person is
answering your phone and how the person answering your phone utilizes the
correct tone and inflection when communicating with your clients is extremely
important. Inflection which is described
as the modification of vocal speech patterns to express different grammatical
categories such as volume, tone, pitch and/or cadence. These speech patterns are even more important
when dealing with clients or potential customers over the phone where
non-verbal communication doesn’t exist.
Our operators understand that by changing their tones and cadence, they
appear more engaged, excited, and interested in the caller. Also, ending tones in a low pitch can give
your customer the impression that you’re authoritative on a subject, or that
you’re confident in your ability to help solve problems. Voice inflection can be a major factor in how
you and your message come across. A few
examples include:
- Sounding monotone and/or flat can make you seem bored and uninterested in the conversation subject or your customer
- Having a slow cadence can make you seem depressed or unenthusiastic
- Ending tones in a high pitch can make you seem unconfident, or unsure of yourself when speaking to the customer
In closing,
when looking for an answering service, do your homework with how their people sound when answering
the phone. All City Communications
trains our operators to be conscious of how they sound on the other end of the
phone. Even if tonal changes don’t come
naturally, it’s something our operators train and practice to be effective
communicators when dealing with your customers.
It is essential to communication.
