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Is Accent Important in Today’s Inbound Call Center?
Business owners often overlook accents when looking for a company to outsource their inbound call center service. Businesses outsource their service primarily to save more money.
But aside from cost cutting, here are the other reasons why companies outsource their service:
- Enhancing the quality of the service
- Solving capacity issues
- Focusing on the core business
- Flexibility
- Efficiency
- Freeing Up Internal Resources
- Tax Breaks
Given the reasons above, no goal directly ties agents’ accents as an essential factor. Enhancing the quality of the service could be a close reason, but that could also mean improving the service through the volume of workers.
So how important is the accent in an inbound call center?
Is There a “Right” Accent in Inbound Call Center?
Accent refers to the way groups of people in a particular region speak their language.
There are two categories of accents. The first is your accent when speaking the language you are born with. The English pronunciation in Texas is different from New York’s English accent.
The second category is how we sound while speaking a foreign language and applying the characteristics of our local language.
An example is an Indian speaking English but applying how they talk in their local language and giving it a thick and sometimes hard-to-comprehend English accent.
The accent of agents you outsource for inbound call centers falls under the second category. Being the most used language in the world means your agents must know how to speak English fluently.
Is there such a thing as a “right” accent for a call center agent? As your business grows, so as your target customers. This means having a particular “right” accent is not advisable.
Your customers could come from different places speaking different accents. A neutral accent for your agents is the most beneficial factor if you want quality service.
What is a Neutral Accent for Inbound Service Agent?
Ever wonder why news reporters all have the same tone when reporting live? Because of their global audience, they need to make their way of speaking “universal.” Viewers find it hard to understand an accent they are unfamiliar with.
A neutral accent refers to an accent with no distinct ethnic origin. Through rigorous training, everyone can achieve a neutral accent.
Shifting your tone into a neutral accent is an excellent communication advantage. This allows you to be flexible with your communication style to better suit the target customers, giving you more confidence when talking to your clients.
In communicating with your customers, clarity of the message is essential to achieve customer satisfaction.
Inbound Call Center with a Global Market Means Diverse Clients to Talk to
The world is getting smaller, and communication is becoming more accessible. Everyone can talk to a live person anywhere in the world, anytime.
Your customers could come from different regions. This will create a problem of adapting to their different accents. Hiring other agents to conform to your customers’ accents is hard.
Neutralization of accent for agents also applies to start-up business owners.
If you plan to expand your business, you need to think ahead. Investing in quality agents will help your company’s customer service in the long run. This will help you attract more customers and more sales.
So Is Neutral Accent Important in Incoming Call Center Service?
To answer this question, we need to know the different benefits of having an agent with a neutral accent. And all of these reasons involve the quality of your inbound call center service.
Comfortability of the Customer Communicating with Your Business
Customers like to do business with companies they can easily reach. This is a criterion for whether people want to deal with you. Aside from being easy to reach, it would be best to make the customer service experience great for them.
In a survey, 61% of consumers say they stopped transacting with an organization after experiencing poor customer service. Imagine losing more than half of your clients because they are uncomfortable talking with your people over the phone.
A neutral accent for your agents will increase sales and improve customer satisfaction. It is a great way to profit while expanding your business.
Better Customer Satisfaction Rate
A tremendous inbound call center service means a high probability of returning customers. Studies show that 97% of global consumers say customer service significantly impacts their buying decisions.
One factor of excellent customer service is having an agent who can connect with your customer. Aside from being a good English speaker, clarity of voice and accent is essential in communication.
Keeping 61% of your clients is one thing, but having them return to repurchase your service or product is even better. Not only will you secure sales today but in the future as well.
A Uniform Identity for Your Inbound Call Center
Customers expect an agent from Asia to answer whenever they call an organization. This has become a stereotype in every customer service hotline.
For some, this setup is confusing as they thought they were dealing with a foreign company after purchasing a service or product in the US.
On average, customers take less than 30 seconds to figure out the ethnicity of the agent they are talking to over the phone. That is also when a customer needs to react to the agent’s ethnicity and social and economic background.
Having a neutral accent does not give customers the impression that they are dealing with a foreign organization. This will give you more freedom to establish your identity as an easy-to-access company.
The Philippines: Best English-Speaking Country in Asia with Best Neutral Accent for Your Inbound Service
We already know the advantages of having an agent with a neutral accent. Let us look at the best market to invest in, the Philippines’ inbound call center business.
Diverse Culture
The Philippines is part of the US Commonwealth until the 40s. Filipinos adapted most of the American culture. They can blend easily with Western customers because of this background.
As mentioned, customers are more comfortable with agents who can relate to their situation. This is one of the reasons why the Philippines is the world’s call center capital.
Aside from the Western culture, Filipinos are well-oriented with Australian and European culture. So if you plan to open your company to a bigger market, outsourcing to the Philippines is your best option.
Wide Range of Accent
The Philippines has more than 150 local dialects. Filipinos are also knowledgeable about other languages, such as Chinese, Japanese, Korean, French, and others.
It is also undeniable that Filipinos possess one of the best English accents in the world. The Philippines is also one of the best English speakers in Asia.
Besides having the best English accent, Filipinos are also versatile when adapting to others’ accents. You can hear some Filipinos speaking English in Californian and even British accents.
But the Filipino accent’s best feat is its ability to neutralize it. Inbound call centers, this versatility is a great asset to your company.
Numerous Accent Training for Call Center Agents
Not everyone can instantly adapt or shift into a neutral accent. Fortunately, many facilities offer accent training for aspiring call center agents.
The Philippine Government also provides several programs that help call center agents sharpen their skills. TESDA gives vocational courses to people who want to have a career in the call center industry.
These programs from the government and private sectors produce quality and competitive call center agents and encourage others to try the customer service profession.
Magellan-Solutions Provides Inbound Service Agents Ready for the Global Market
As stated, the quality of the inbound call center is sometimes compromised because of the low-cost service. At Magellan-Solutions, we strive hard to maintain our goal of being a globally competitive BPO company at an affordable price.
We take pride in the quality of work our call center agents provide. Our recruitment process ensures that every person we hire is skillful. We always follow a high standard for our services.
Aside from the rigorous recruitment process, we always have training for our agents to ensure the quality of their work is at par with our standards. This training includes accent training, crisis management, and other topics related to inbound call centers.
We have a variety of services we can offer for your inbound call center services that include:
- 24/7 Call
- Virtual Receptionist
- Phone Answering
- Customer Support
- Tech Support
- Omnichannel Support
- Multilingual Support
We understand the importance of providing the best customer service. We take pride in assisting start-up businesses in their development.
Contact us today for a 60-minute consultation at zero charge. Please fill out the Contact Us form now!
