The Difference Between Speech and Writing. The Difference Between Speech and Writing Do you write the way you speak? Do you speak the way you write? Probably not. Although talking and writing are forms of communication, they're often very different. Writing is, in general, a more formal pursuit than speaking. When writing, we tend to take our time, add punctuation, re-read sentences, and think about our words. The way we write is just plain different than the way we speak, and that's okay - for the reasons I outlined above, it's supposed to be. But what about when you're writing something that's supposed to be spoken? That's where things get a little tricky.
Interestingly, people frequently use contractions and don't realize it. Here is an example. But if I were to rewrite those statements with some contractions, it would have a more readable flow: Here's an example. As you can see, it's all about balance. 5 Examples of Funny Voicemail Greetings-and why you should avoid them. 5 Examples of Funny Voicemail Greetings & why you should avoid them A funny voicemail greeting is one of those things that seems like a good idea...until you hear it time and time again. For business and professional life, a funny cell phone message just doesn't make sense. Here are 5 examples of funny phone greetings...and why you shouldn't use them on your cell.
The Voicemail Greeting Song Made famous by George Costanza, the answering machine song sometimes seems like a good idea: it's out of the box, unexpected, and definitely a novelty. But unless you're in the music business, it's probably not a good idea. The "Fake Hello" Be honest...you've been fooled by this one before, haven't you? The Rude-Statement-Instead-Of-Nice-Message This is a true story: my friend's voicemail says, "Hi, you've reached Dave, I'm screening your call. " The Cutoff-On-Purpose Voicemail Greeting Using your cell phone to record a voicemail message isn't always easy. The Joker Is your refrigerator running? Multilingual Communication Aids Customer Service. Visual communication is nearly a cultural universal. If you’ve ever bought furniture from IKEA, you’ll know the little white instruction book that comes with your unassembled furniture doesn’t have any words to be read, just pictures and diagrams to help you put everything together.
And if you’ve ever bought furniture from IKEA, you’ll know that this instruction booklet seldom includes enough information for you to confidently assemble your new dining room table, couch, or television stand, because visual communication, employed here as a cost-saving mechanism, is an ineffective tool. People like to be communicated with in their own language, which can make “going multilingual” an important customer service strategy.
On the phone especially, multilingual communication can be essential, as there are no visual clues like body language or lip reading, widening the language gap. Multilingual communication can help you by establishing: Clarity. Your Customers Are Shouting, Are You Listening? Customer service complaints are being pumped out live, and consistently while the these customers are hot and bothered. Twitter has enabled millions to broadcast their negative customer service experiences to all of their “followers” and maybe their followers' followers. No longer is there an opportunity to make it right and take back what was already posted on hundreds, possibly thousands of Twitter account holders' feeds. These comments are searchable, permanent, and powerful.
Gone is the cool down period. When consumers are unhappy, don't be surprised if they shout it from the tops of their smart phones. However, did you ever think about how these comments can help your business? - @bestbuy horrible customer service via phone. should not take 2 hours to order something. - #onhold 45 minutes on the phone to find out where my package is, DHL needs to get it together, your customer service is horrible!! - Absolutely horrible customer service experience with @Airtel_Presence call center. How Special Education Teachers Can Enhance Your eLearning Techniques.
How Special Education Teachers Can Enhance Your eLearning Techniques Research has shown adding audio to multimedia presentations enhances a learner's grasp on the content (image, video, or text) provided. Special Education teachers use audio visual learning techniques to increase attention span, and stimulate auditory and visual senses of learning disabled students. By producing a mixture of sound, dialogue, and music, corresponding with images and videos, the given learners become a more captive audience, absorbing and retaining what is being communicated to them. Just as attention deficit students respond better to audio visual learning techniques, your audience will too.
Using speech, sounds effects, and music, you are creating depth and bringing presentations to life. Message On Hold is Your First Impression. Message On Hold is Your First Impression Today Customer Service battles are being fought virtually instead of face to face. From social media sites to consumer affairs call centers, presenting the right image can mean the difference between winning or losing a customer. As the playing field has shifted from complaint departments to the ever-expanding ether of the internet, control of your image has also shifted.
According to a survey conducted by Chief Executive Magazine, 96% of chief executives rank their reputation as "very important" to achieving business goals. Kim Harrison commented, "The common term 'reputation' management is misleading because you can't directly manage your own reputation; you can only act to strengthen your standing in the areas that Your upfront announcements and on hold message is one of the first impressions callers will have of your business.
Consider how your competitors are handling their callers? Choosing the Right Message On Hold Equipment. Message On Hold Wisdom From Panel Experts. Message On Hold Wisdom From Panel Experts In 2004 at the New York SOCAP Annual Conference, Holdcom put together a panel represented by some of our major clients – Verizon Wireless, Metropolitan Opera Association, Dannon Company.
Each panelist responded to the central question – how their organization handles placing customers on hold. Recently discovered in our digital archives, Holdcom is in the process of remastering this valuable panel discussion and making it available to you. Here are learned insights from the first speaker, Mike Roby, VP of Customer Care of Customer First Call Centers (and former SOCAP president): Another speaker was Sam Cerami, Customer Care Supervisor at JVC headquarters, who shared personal anecdotes about the benefits of customer care on hold. “When we started using this type of system the parts department was using it for promos…[the] data from last year [showed that] we sold 927 [headphones] just from playing [our] message on hold. Health and Wellness Luncheon at Holdcom. Health and Wellness Luncheon at Holdcom On Tuesday, May 24th, Holdcom participated in a “Health and Wellness Lunch and Learn” sponsored by Event Dango, with a complimentary lunch from Subway.
The event centered on a presentation from Dr. Joe Labriola, founder of the Chiro Health Spa of Ramsey. While we munched on delicious sandwiches, Dr. Labriola discussed the various treatments at his clinic – from chiropractic to acupuncture, the hCG weight loss plan and the unique Physiored exercise routine, which combines cycling and infrared light to increase metabolism. After the informative discussion, Andrew explained our business, to which Dr. Labriola responded, “I wish we had you guys yesterday!” Yet again, proof that many companies forget that your customers are always listening – and if a promotion is going to make the phone ring, make sure you are prepared to handle the business! Holdcom wishes to extend their thanks to Event Dango (1.800.731.9223) and Dr. From Holdcom, Signing Off. From Holdcom, Signing Off September 13th, 2010.
It’s been a wild ride. Straight out of college and into the fast lane, juggling start-up news, gadget tech, and by-the-minute tweets while back of mind threads relevant newsletter articles from the chatter and the traffic. Jumping from marketing meetings to Youtube video shoots, to Webinars on segmentation and ‘going mobile,’ siphoning the influx of information has been hard, but fulfilling, work. 7 months and 14 days ago, I wrote my first blog entry about our morning meetings, titled “Monday Morning Communication.” The style was free-wheeling, words gesticulating like excited hands, like the world outside – now – finally - summer!
But as I’m writing this, the sun yawns, the breeze and yellow-orange of morning absorb each other, slow to a muted gold, refined and solid – a reflection of the experience I have gained. Holdcom now has a corporate Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn profile. Using Message on Hold in a Real Time World. Using Message on Hold in a Real Time World The globalized, plugged in community of today’s world is always looking for a quick fix and fast information. While your customers are on hold, are they forced to wait for a representative who can speak to them, or is your MOH (message on hold) targeted to provide them with timely, frequently requested information? Communicating with customers while they are on hold brings us back to the topic of HTO (hold time optimization), which is the process of making the most of your customers’ time on hold. Here are some problems that professional on hold marketing can solve: A busy client just wants to know your business hours and holiday schedule.
Do they have to listen to all of your voice prompts, or can they get this information right away? A caller on hold is someone who has already reached out to you, wants to speak to you, and likely wants to hear more. Behold, The Power of Real Human Audio. Behold, The Power of Real Human Audio While waiting on hold, most listeners can tell almost instantly if the message on hold program contains human narration or synthetic speech. Granted, artificial speech technology has come a long way in replicating the human voice, but very noticeable differences still exist. Although synthetic speech and natural speech are no longer at completely opposite ends of the spectrum, natural speech comes out on top due to the persistent shortcomings of artificial voice. Unlike synthetic voice and the use of concatenation to assemble a sequence of prerecorded words and phrases, a human speaker has intelligence to interpret context and information.
In the English language especially, texts are frequent in heteronyms, abbreviations and numbers which are difficult for the speech synthesizing programs to interpret . Here are some frequent disadvantages of synthetic speech. A Message on Hold Nightmare, from a Message On Hold Blogger. A Message on Hold Nightmare, from a Message On Hold Blogger Frustration, confusion, impatience and irritation. These are all negative, yet common feelings toward bad hold time experiences among customers and clients. Its a relatively small yet imperative category of a business to have a well managed, up-to-date, professionally recorded message on hold and call processing system.
Many times companies don't even give a second thought to their call flow or utilizing hold time as a communications tool. I decided to blog about "on-hold nightmares" because I had an extremely irritating on hold experience from the same company these past few days. Upon dialing the number given on the company website to verify an account I made, my on hold nightmare began with a random 3 second dial tone...
Wait, what?... Then, a female narrated message comes up saying "Your call is important to us. Breaking the silence dull, repetitive music started to play, beneath annoying static. Managing Your On Hold Space. Managing Your On Hold Space Strategic Healthcare Communications is an online healthcare resource that “since 1984 has been supplying marketing, communications, and business development information of vital concern to healthcare organizations.” One of their key publications, Strategic Health Care Marketing, featured an article about “[Emergency Departments]…must adapt their emergency services to meet the unique needs of the over-65 population.”
According to William Thomas, MD, “the culture of the emergency department is built on fast medicine. The needs of frail older people are founded on the virtues of slow medicine.” The “basic standards,” according to Sue Penoza, Director of Planning of Trinity Health system, “has fewer units, natural lighting, non-skid flooring, soothing colors, and amenities such as warm blankets and fresh flowers…” Hospitals that offer these specialized services will increase their reputation, as well as their patient community.
What do you think? "What's Your Address?" Ask Holdcom! "What's Your Address? " Ask Holdcom! The following blog is contributed by our Senior Script Consultant, Rob LeFever Professional voice talent take training courses that teach accents and various pronunciations. Having a professional voice for your Message on Hold program, or to represent your company, will assure that you are reaching your target audience with the proper "address. " Speaking of "address," it’s amazing how many words in the English language can be pronounced multiple ways. For example, the next time you ask someone, “What’s your address?”
And speaking of geographical locations, think about the numerous ways people pronounce certain towns, street names, or even US States. Take the infamous city of “New Orleans” for example. And think about this city in Mississippi – “Tupelo,” the birthplace of Elvis Presley. Despite some of this variety in pronunciation being considered “acceptable,” there are certain places that must be pronounced one way and one way only. Caribbean Oregon.
3D Audio While Waiting On Hold - Soon? [VIDEO] 3D Audio While Waiting On Hold - Soon? [VIDEO] Back in March, Holdcom featured a breakthrough mobile game that redefined the power of audio: in Papa Sangre there are no visuals, only sound to guide the player through the various “three dimensional” environments. In the video below, Professor Edward Choueiri from Princeton University’s Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering demonstrates his experiments with 3D acoustics. Though he doesn’t knock surround sound, the “immersive experience” is dependent on the listener’s relative position to the multiple speakers. Choueiri’s mission is to create the illusion of audio depth – for example, a “fly circling around your head” – from only two laptop speakers. Humans can determine the directional origin of sounds through several factors, such as calculating the time difference of one ear receivingthe stimulus compared to the other.
What if Message on Hold programs had 3D audio capabilities? How Message On Hold Can Increase Call Tolerance. Marketing On Hold Services Via Mobile Medium. Inside Professional Virtual Greeting Messages. Only Audio - A Revolution in Mobile Gaming. Urban Exploration. Internal Segmentation. Remembering Voice: Martin Luther King Jr. What Google Instant Preview and Message On Hold Share.
On Hold Magic. Traveling with On Hold Voices.