Description
Customer Service Training in Vocal Skills.
The quality of a service professional’s voice sets the tone for each customer conversation. The well trained voice will sound confident, trustworthy, interested, and likable, and will smooth the way to a positive interaction.
Now you can help your customer service staff hone their vocal skills with this four part training package.
Your training package includes 10 copies of the Training Booklet plus downloadable Leader’s Guide, Quizzes and Certificates.
The Training Booklets may be used on their own for self-study or you may conduct more formal training sessions with the Leader’s Guide, Quizzes, and Certificates.
It’s a complete customer service training package.
Training Booklet
In a quick-reading and engaging tone, the training booklet will show reps how to identify and overcome common speech problems and protect and care for their voices.
The first section focuses on identifying potential speech problems and presents a series of simple exercises for improvement. Reps will learn to modify their rate of speech to better match the customer’s; to avoid mechanical delivery by focusing on the three Ps — Pitch, Pace, and Pause; and to avoid mumbling, slurring, and poor enunciation.
The second section focuses on the physical causes of speech problems and provides tips for warming up and cooling down, caring for the voice, and improving voice tone with good posture.
Read the table of contents and sample below to see how much useful information is packed into this brief booklet.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- Introduction: The voice is a vital business tool
- Identifying and overcoming speech problems
- Set the right speed
- Avoid mechanical delivery
- Stamp out mumbling, slurring, and poor enunciation
- Daily exercises
- Keep your voice in tip top shape
- Warm up and cool down
- Care for your voice
- Practice good posture
- Evaluate your voice and monitor improvement
SAMPLE
Introduction: The voice is a vital business tool
The quality of a service professional’s voice can set the tone for an entire conversation. Your voice quite literally speaks volumes about who you are. It can make others view you as decisive, confident, trustworthy, assured, and likable. Or on the other hand, a problem voice can make you seem insecure, weak, uncaring, and even dishonest.
The importance of voice quality becomes strikingly clear when you consider the components of effective communication. Experts agree that body language accounts for more than half (around 55 percent) of communication; vocal tone is about 38 percent; and words, only about seven percent. So when you are communicating over the phone, you need to convey that you are decisive, confident, trustworthy, assured, and likable all without the aid of body language.
That’s a tall order, but in the following pages, you’ll learn how to improve voice quality by overcoming the most common speech problems and keeping your voice in peak condition.
Leader's Guide
To help you get the most from your training materials, you’ll receive a copy of the Leader’s Guide. It will show you how to introduce the materials to your staff in a positive and motivating way. How to reinforce important points in the booklet. Plus techniques to keep the message fresh long after the booklets have been distributed.
Best of all, you don’t have to be a professional trainer. The Leader’s Guide includes discussion topics, activities, trainer’s tips, and more.
Read the sample below to see how much useful information is packed into a brief section of this Leader’s Guide.
SAMPLE
Activity 3: Regional variations
The section on avoiding mumbling, slurring, and poor enunciation, also mentions that this can be due to regional variations in pronunciation.
Lifelong speech habits can be very difficult to change, and some would argue that our regional differences add to vocal interest. However, it is important that reps be aware of local pronunciations that may be unclear to customers from other areas. For example, the sweet, buttery candy called caramel might be pronounced as “car-ml” (with two syllables) in most of the country while on the east coast and in many southern states it is known as a “carr-a-mel” with three syllables.
There may be words that are used in your industry with similar variations. Discussing these with reps will prepare them when a customer asks them to repeat what they thought they said very clearly.
Activity 4: Warm up and cool down
The booklet also offers a seven step exercise for keeping the “vocal mechanism” relaxed. Ask the entire team to turn to page 7 and to move through the six steps as you read them aloud. Remind your team that this is a good way to keep their vocal mechanism loose and to reduce tension throughout the day.
Certificate
Use these certificates to acknowledge significant learning and development, and to provide motivation to put new skills into action.
Certificates may be downloaded, personalized, and printed.
Quiz
A brief quiz is included to ensure that students have retained the most important information and are ready to put it into action.
Quizzes may be downloaded and printed.
Guarantee
Sounding Great on the Phone is guaranteed. We want you and your reps to use this valuable resource and put its ideas to work in your department. Then, if you are not 100% satisfied, you may return your materials within 30 days for a full refund.
About the Publisher
The Customer Service Group provides ready-to-use tools for customer service training and frontline motivation including a monthly newsletter, training packages, DVDs, and Customer Service Week celebration materials.
