The Importance of Tone of Voice to Telephone Customer Service

In a telephone customer service interaction the senses that your customers have available to form an opinion of your organization are reduced from five - sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch - to just one – sound. Because of this the tone of voice your team members use is a critical element of a customer’s experience with your organization.

The research of Dr. Albert Mehrabian, professor emeritus at UCLA, underscores the importance of nonverbal communication elements and tone of voice in the formulation of one’s feelings and attitudes towards the individual (or organization that individual represents) one is communicating with.

Dr. Mehrabian’s work has led to the widely quoted 7% - 38% - 55% statistic on the effectiveness of spoken communication that states:

• 7% of spoken communication is comprehended from the words that are actually spoken.

• 38% is comprehended in the way in which the words are spoken (tone of voice).

• 55% is comprehended from one’s facial expressions and body language.

When a customer is forming an attitude or opinion of your organization based on their telephone customer service experience, the largest element of verbal comprehension – one’s facial expressions and body language – is missing. This requires the caller to rely only on the words that are spoken and the way in which they are spoken to form a favorable or unfavorable opinion of your organization.

Dr. Mehrabian’s work would suggest that in the absence of physical contact, one’s tone of voice now plays an even more important role in the formulation of this opinion. Given this information, the tone of voice that your team members use on the phone is one of the most important elements of the telephone customer service experience that your organization creates.

What does the tone of voice your team members use on the phone say about your organization?

The difference is huge and can have an incredible impact on your organization’s bottom line.

How can you tell? Record a sample of the incoming calls your organization receives and pay particular attention to the following:

• Pitch – do your team members vary the pitch of their voice or do they speak in a dull monotone voice?

• Volume – do your team members speak loud and clearly to the caller indicating confidence and commitment to the customer? Or are they soft spoken and uncertain of what they are saying, leaving a customer unsure of their willingness and/or ability to help?

• Emphasis – Are certain words emphasized during the conversation to convey meaning and importance to the caller? Again be alert for a dull, monotone voice that will leave your will leave your customers feeling dull and dreary about your organization.

• Enthusiasm – Your team member’s either have it or they don’t. “Faking it” isn’t a viable long term option.

If you have team members who are using a tone of voice that doesn’t accurately reflect your organization’s commitment to quality customer service, it is imperative that you take steps to improve this immediately.

Certain elements of one’s tone of voice such as pitch, volume, and word emphasis can be improved through awareness, training, and performance coaching. However enthusiasm is a different story. You can’t coach enthusiasm. Your team members either believe in their job and their organization or they don’t - it's that simple.

The key to using proper tone of voice to create a memorable telephone customer service experience is to work with the individuals in your organization to identify opportunities to improve their pitch, volume, and word emphasis and focus on hiring individuals who are a good fit for your organization and will naturally exude the excitement, enthusiasm, and commitment to customer service that your organization demands.

If your organization could use a hand in improving your customer’s telephone experience or is ready to start hiring individuals who are a natural fit for telephone customer service representative positions in your organization, give The Phone Coach a call today at the number below or click the button below to request more information via our online request form. We’re here to help!