How to Sound Local and Personalised Over the Phone

How to Sound Local and Personalised Over the Phone

Your business may serve customers all over the country, but it’s vital that you still sound like you just live next door to them. Many businesses have already discovered this, and research studies made by call centre companies have confirmed this to be true. This is one of the reasons why such companies spend a lot of money teaching their telephone specialists to sound just like the people they talk to.

Here are some reasons why personalising your voice to sound like a local is crucial:

  1. You’ll be more easily understood. Language is a tool for communication, but you’d be surprised at how an accent can become a barrier to effective communication. Many people have problems whenever they hear a different accent. Even if you speak the same language, when you speak in a different accent the person at the other end of the line may not understand you.

It’s the same thing with word usage. Sounding like a local may also involve using the same colloquialisms and slang. Using such words popular in the local area of your customer over the phone can help you become more easily understood. This can extend to talking about their local sport or news. For example being connected with the rugby can work wonders when speaking to people from Sydney and AFL knowledge can hold better weight when speaking to those in Melbourne.

  1. It makes them more comfortable. Customers simply feel more at ease when they hear that the other person on the line sounds just like them and is on the same page. It’s comforting when they hear a familiar accent.

Part of the reason for this is that people just feel more at ease in familiar surroundings. Having to talk to a person over the phone can already feel discomfiting, since they don’t see who they’re talking to. But a familiar accent can be reassuring.

  1. There’s a certain sense of camaraderie. Man is a social animal, and people like to feel a sense of belonging to a certain group or community. The outsiders are simply treated differently. It’s not really racism or prejudice at all, but more of a preference for a bond that unites people.

And that’s why they will prefer that you sound like them when you talk to a customer. They will assume that you can empathize with them, and that you will feel a greater sense of urgency when providing service. After all, it sounds like you are from the same neighbourhood, and it is part of your duties to be “neighbourly.” You guys belong in the same group, and that gives them the assurance that their needs will be taken care of.

Sounding like a local on the phone entails a lot of training. You or your staff will need to know how to pronounce words the way your customers do. You’ll need to know how to do proper inflection, and which syllables to emphasise when you speak certain words.

Then you will have to compile the words often spoken in the area where your customers live. Each area uses different words and expressions, and you’ll need to match your vocabulary accordingly.

Yes it takes quite a bit of work. But when you do succeed in sounding like your customer, then you succeed in making your customers feel at ease and comfortable when dealing with your company. And that’s a crucial aspect of your business.

Share this post

Scroll to Top