I Can't Buy if I Can't Understand You

MAJOR PET PEEVE AHEAD!

As many of you know, I specialize in consulting for and training inside sales and customer service personnel . Can anyone tell me why we keep hiring people who do not have clear speaking voices or whose voices are so heavily accented they cannot be understood? That's a rhetorical question, BTW - I do know the answer. Sometimes we are tasked with "filling seats" or our employment offer is so weak, we can't find qualified help.

Phone work requires a clear speaking voice. An accent is fine - it can actually set you apart and make you more memorable - but the average person you are calling must be able to understand you. A clear voice is a requirement for phone work. I'm not just talking accents, either. A soft voice or one that mumbles or even talks too fast is also inappropriate. 

Please, make sure you hear a person's phone voice before you hire them. Sometimes it can be different on the phone than face to face. That's often because the communication dynamics change when you are on the phone and don't have body language or facial expressions to accompany your voice. 

When we haven't hired the correct help, it doesn't save us any money. We lose money through lost sales. Plus it costs us with a poor or even negative brand image.

Hiring managers need to make sure that they've hired appropriate voices. They will have more sales in less time. After all, if I can't easily understand you, how can I make a purchasing decision?