What is it with call centres and that irritating and annoying voice many agents have?
At Hendrix the Dog we talk to contact centres about what type of voice training they give their staff. Bearing in mind call centre agents only have their voice (and body) to work with we expect to hear a list of interesting voice techniques and training reeled out to us.
Yet the reality is very few actually take this area as seriously as they should. So much of the training budget is spent on technology that the human aspect of customer interaction is sometimes forgotten.
Consumers tell researchers time and again that they want to talk to a human being when they call a company and they are not happy And, if they are lucky enough to get through to someone, they need to feel that the person they are talking to is listening to them and has empathy with them.
Our actors run Tone of Voice workshops to help call centre agents use their voice more effectively. Actors train for years to perfect their voice, work on inflections, accentuation and tone. They are also experts at listening and responding, and keeping their energy levels up so their 'audience' remains engaged.
The call centre agent's audience is on the other end of the phone. They need to be listened to and responded to and not bombarded with the company's key messages which may not be relevant or may need to be refined to be better targeted.
When you go to the theatre you want the actors to perform as if it is fresh to them. It may be the 100th time they have performed a scene but you don't care...it is the first time you have seen it. Similarly, someone who calls a contact centre at 4.55pm wants to be treated the same as someone who called at 9am. They do not care that the agent has had a bad day and has to rush off to take the dog to the vet.
There are voice tips and energy ideas that actors bring to their voice every time they perform and which call centre agents can use.
The deadliest call centre sin can be to not only read from a script but sound as if you are reading from a script! Is there anything more likely to turn off a consumer?
Actors use a script all the time but know how to use it effectively. They mark out which words to emphasise and where to breathe and pause. Call centre agents who try the same will find their script comes to life and the person they are speaking to is not bored to tears.
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