Actors set the right tone with call centre staff

Call centre staff at Mortgages plc are better placed to handle difficult calls after running a Tone of Voice workshop using actors.

Pamela Clements (HR Manager) asked Hendrix The Dog Productions  to run the session after call monitoring revealed several areas in which contact centre employees could improve.

The Hendrix trainers Jay Worthy and Georgina Sutton are both professional actors. They helped staff become more aware of how they come across on the telephone when talking to customers and gave tips on empathetic listening based on proven actor training techniques to help with difficult calls.

“This is the first time I have used actors as a method of training our collections staff as I was keen to try out a different approach to training communication skills,” says Clements.

She adds: “Preparation beforehand meant that the workshop linked directly to real life and the roleplays acted out really hit home to our collectors. It showed them how they come across on the telephone to our customers, sometimes antagonising them with no real reason.

“The techniques that the actors gave them in terms of breathing, posture and delivery have been highly effective in a very short time frame.”

How a person sounds and their tone of voice influences whether a caller has a positive or a negative experience with a company and its brand. Ultimately it can make or break a relationship with an existing or potential customer who needs to feel that the person they are speaking to has empathy with them.

Employees are shown how by improving their breathing, articulation and, like an actor, thinking more deeply about the words they say, they will have more empathy with callers, even if reading off an agreed script.

There was also a session on the importance of body language. You cannot be seen on the phone but people can hear a smile or sense if someone is disinterested.  How a person is sitting will also affect their breathing and this will have an impact on how they come across on the phone.

Hendrix The Dog director, Lucy Morgans, says that, like an actor, the voice is a vital tool for anyone working in a call centre. A person’s voice will influence whether a caller has a positive or negative experience with an organisation.

“When any of us telephones a contact centre or receives a call we want to feel like the representative we are talking to understands us and is interested in what we have to say,” she says.