How Smiling Impacts a Phone Call

You’ve probably heard that customer service reps should always smile when talking on the phone, but is it all just a gimmick, or does smiling really affect the tone of the call? Here’s how smiling impacts a phone call, and why your employees should be talking with smiling faces.

Smiling affects your vocal tone

When you smile, your tone actually becomes more positive and friendly. You can try this for yourself by smiling and saying something really negative aloud to yourself. You’ll probably notice that, regardless of what you say, your tone is more upbeat and friendly when you say it with a smile.

Body language can be interpreted through vocal patterns. If you are talking on the phone and have a negative posture, frowning face and defensive attitude, it will come across in your voice. Customer service agents should be reminded to smile while they are talking, or begin smiling before they even start to speak.

A positive attitude is infectious

Even if a customer calls and has an angry attitude, if they are greeted with a smiling voice, it can be contagious, and diffuse the negative emotions. Positivity is contagious, and if your employees maintain a good attitude, they have a much better chance of making your customers happy, too.

Smiling is a great mood booster

Studies have shown that even forced smiles can boost your mood. This means that employees who are having a bad day don’t have to keep a negative attitude. If they smile, they can boost their own moods, leading them to provide better customer service to your customers.

Smiling is a simple, but effective, action that your employees can take to improve their own mood and also improve the experience that your customer receives. If you aren’t already reminding your staff to smile before every call, try it, and see for yourself how powerful the humble smile really is.