Customer Service Wizardry: Your Voice Tone

"'You may be right,' said Gandalf; 'but this snake had still one tooth left, I think. He had the poison of his voice...'"

In J.R.R. Tolkein's The Lord of the Rings, the fallen Wizard Saruman was a master at using his voice to persuade others towards his evil ways. Stripped of all his other powers, the cunning antagonist was still able to use his voice as a tool for his dark purposes.

Most of us allow our voices to be a slave to our emotions. If we're having a bad day, our voice reflects it. If we're angry, or tired, or happy, or serene - our voices change with the mood like the colors on a mood ring (yes, I'm a child of the 70's!). But it doesn't have to.

Your voice is a tool. Your voice tone, your inflection, your pace, and your volume can all be adjusted at your will, and can be manipulated to communicate any desired emotion. You most likely use your voice as a tool without even thinking about it. As the fictional wizard in Tolkein's masterwork used his voice for evil purposes, you can use your voice for good - good service.

Great Customer Service Representatives learn, or instinctively know, how to use this powerful tool of voice. They might be having a terrible day, but you'd never know it. They inflect their words, adjust their volume and match the customer's pace in order to put the customer at ease and reflect a friendly, courteous attitude.

I know that there are many times that I must "choose in" to providing great service. I have to consciously make my voice serve the customer and not reflect whatever blah mood I might be feeling at the moment. The amazing thing is that when I use my voice as a tool to deliver great service, the emotional reward for making someone's day provides a much needed lift to my own.