Knowledgeable. Confident. Friendly. Empathetic. There’s a lot that frontline reps need to convey in a single customer contact. And sometimes only a few brief moments to do it all. One speech pattern that can be a confidence killer is upspeak.
Upspeak or uptalk is a pattern most commonly seen in women. Although many men use it as well. With upspeak there is an upswing in pitch at the end of each sentence, which causes statements to sound like questions.
Customers want to feel they are in competent hands. So make sure your voice sounds confident by reducing upspeak. For example,
“I’ll check on that for you.”
NOT
“I’ll check on that for you?”
“We’ll have that delivered for you tomorrow.”
NOT
“We’ll have that delivered for you tomorrow?”
“I can help with that.”
NOT
“I can help with that?”
More practical service tips appear in the April issue of Customer Communicator newsletter.