When you work over the phone, all that you have is your voice. Your voice becomes your number one selling point over and above the product or service you offer because, essentially, it is the first thing your potential clients come into contact with. Consider your own first impression of a company when you call it.
If the voice on the other line is gruff and curt, do you feel comfortable even continuing the phone call, let alone doing business with that person? Then again, if the voice is too quiet and timid-sounding, do you feel confident that this is a business you’d like to start working with? If there is one thing about your voice, it should help to convey that your company is a top choice. (Don’t you love it when we rhyme?).
Naturally, we practice what we preach. If you dial up MeloTel (please go ahead and do so, we’d love for you to test us on this), we guarantee that you’ll hear an energetic and welcoming voice on the other end of the line. As always, we enjoy communicating that we are both reliable and really fun to work with.
Now, of course, this may be because we employ some of the best voice talent there is. In our state-of-the-art studio, we are able to produce for you the absolute highest quality voiceover productions. Commercials, narrations and even phone greeting prompts are all services that we happily offer.
Then again, we won’t necessarily be able to directly answer your phones for you. So we figured that we’d throw a few tips your way to help you develop and maintain a friendly tone of voice to continually impress and satisfy your clients. WikiHow.com discusses a number of ways you can work on your friendly speaking voice. We believe each tip can certainly help you when you’re on the phone.
One thing you should do is record your voice and listen back to it. Record just about anything you like – even a paragraph from a local newspaper, or better yet, this blog! Ask yourself if your voice is one you’d like to hear when you call up a company. Secondly, watch yourself speaking by looking into a mirror. Are you smiling? Did you know a smile can be “heard” through the phone?
Look for certain speech patterns when you are speaking. Be sure to use a varying pitch to emphasize certain words as opposed to falling into the trap of being monotone. And be aware of any slang terms you may be used to and avoid them. By the way, don’t forget to do your best to relax while you are speaking.
According to WikiHow.com, “If there is tension in your throat or chest, your voice will sound hoarse and forced, almost as if you have laryngitis. Relax your upper body, including your shoulders, neck and abdominal muscles, and your voice will sound more gentle and pleasant.”