You can save yourself a lot of time, money, and disappointment if you dont hire people who speak softly, either when they call you about a telephone job, or when they interview. Here are some reasons the soft-spoken should be avoided: (1) Louder voices sell better over the phone. (See my article, dedicated to this topic.) (2) It will be difficult to manage the person by walking around their workstation. You cant correct what you cant hear. (3) By sounding soft, theyll send an inhibited message to their cohorts, who, in turn, will echo the soft tones, and your entire group will under-perform. (4) Theyll seem shy to you, and youll feel youre going to break their hearts by giving them any negative, but corrective feedback. In a word, theyll intimidate YOU! There are exceptions, and its worth a little time to explore them. We know, from the pioneering work on shyness done at Stanford University, that this debilitating malady can be situational, in nature. Some people are shy, face-to-face, when theyre in the presence of only one or perhaps two others, as in an interview. But the same people could be very accomplished actors or public speakers, and feel cozy as can be in front of huge audiences. Ive trained big, burly and outgoing field salespeople who love presenting before people in the flesh, and have a handshake like a vise, but who quiver and break into a cold sweat when asked to pick up a telephone and set an appointment with a stranger they cant see. So, that timid, softly spoken person in the interview could be a TIGER over the phone. It happens, every now and then; we can be fooled, or pleasantly surprised. But its uncommon. Generally, follow this principle: tiny voices make tiny sales, and big ones make big sales! |
