Smile when you talk on the phone. People can REALLY HEAR IT!

Do you realize that when speak on the phone, the person you are speaking to can tell whether or not you are smiling?

I know it sounds crazy, but study after study shows that it’s true. According to one recent study, people can even tell HOW BIG your smile actually is.

It’s hard to believe social scientists get paid to study this stuff. I will say it’s great that they do because the information is just so valuable to businesses, especially a service based business like the cleaning industry. After all, with all the time we spend on then phone, we can use it to our advantage!

Now in case you haven’t heard, many companies train their customer service representatives to SMILE AND DIAL. The idea is that you need to put a smile on your face then call the person in question. The same goes for when an inbound call is about to be answered. Then it’s SMILE AND ANSWER.

The SCIENCE behind smiling on the phone

How exactly does this work in real life? Well, in a nutshell it’s two fold according to how I understand it. First… smiling affects how we “speak”, and it does so to the point to where the listener can even tell HOW MUCH we are smiling. One study in the UK said listeners can identify THREE TYPES of smiles. A broad “ear to ear” smile, a “half smile” and one that “slightly curled” your lips.

The smile that was EASIEST TO IDENTIFY was the broad “ear to ear” smile. So basically you need to go ALL IN to get rewarded the most. This makes sense, as it’s harder to fake an ear to ear type smile. So if you are going to use this smile technique, then put on a big smile on both inbound and outbound calls, as it provides the best results.

The second part of why smiling is effective is because studies show that 84% of phone conversations are interpreted VIA THE “TONE” that we speak in. And this kind of relates back to the first reason smiling is so effective. Your tone is affected by the smile on your face. So the more you smile, the better the TONE.

I’ll wrap this up by suggesting you place a sticky note next to the phone with a BIG SMILE on it. This will help remind you to put the technique to use regularly. It’s small details like these that help make one company JUST SLIGHTLY BETTER than the next company. And as we all know, every little advantage counts, so you might as well take advantage of it!

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