Oftentimes we get asked to help companies with their on-hold music or IVR systems. Typically our clients for these types of projects are just getting started or they’ve had a system but it wasn’t customized to their needs. Now they are looking to step up their game, which is good for everyone involved including the customer who calls on our clients.
What sometimes happens is that companies also forget that a voice is needed for these types of projects. This isn’t so much a problem because it’s easy enough to book a professional voice actor or actress to do the job (click the link to visit our friends at Voices.com). However, it seems that it never gets budgeted for or that it gets neglected in some way or another. This is where the problem lies.
Instead of procuring a professional voice over, companies will use someone internally to save costs. I guess the thinking goes, “since we have a couple hundred people on staff surely we can find someone with a nice voice”. In general, this approach never turns out well.
What ends up happening is one of two things and sometimes both. First, the recording will be of low quality, sometimes with audible clicks and pops in the audio. Along with this, the clarity of the speech gets mangled. The other issue with this method is that there is very little opportunity to build brand equity. In order to build an audio identity you need to make sure you use your sound consistently across all sorts of mediums (we’ll be talking about the mediums in an upcoming post). Time and again, we’ve found that this is not possible when you use the voice of an employee as they usually have other responsibilities.
One thing to remember is that your phone system is your first point of contact with customers – you need to present a professional image. After all, you wouldn’t show up to a client meeting in sweatpants, unless of course you’re a personal trainer.
So, make sure you take the time to invest in a professional voice actor for all of your business activities. It’ll save you money and headaches in the long run and will help you build a stronger brand that can withstand the test of time.
