Modern day thoughts on telemarkerters accents

[mr awesome]

I am about to launch a UK based telemarketing company.

I have read many comments about overseas operations and can quite readily rule out India, not least from experience.

My question, then, is with regard to UK accents.

Has there been a change in attitude over accents in the UK.

Is it still the case that particular accents are favoured over others?

Is Scottish still disliked? Is the midlands accent still seen as the sound of a depressive?

Where do you base your operation?

Where is the best/worst?

Is the north the best place to be and if so does it matter which side of the pennines?

Any other thoughts?

 

[debbidoo]

I'm rather partial to these accents:

Newcastle and surrounding areas
Liverpool
Scots (or is that Scottish?)
Irish (north or south)
Welsh (north or south)

Quite like:

Posh-ish London/south east (but not too 'hooray Henry')
West country

Not overly enamoured:

Manchester
Cockney (grew up with a cockney accent and still struggling to rid myself of it)
Midlands

My favourite could well be Newcastle - quite hypnotic

Don't actually mind an Indian accent at all; in fact, it's one of the few things I miss about London

Ultimately though, it's not really the caller's accent that persuades/dissuades me. It's approach, tone of voice, things like that. Someone with a Manchester accent who's bubbly and a bit cheeky but not rude will get a sale over a bored-sounding or arrogant Geordie. If that makes sense.

 

[BizGurl]

I would also say that a regional accent doesn't influence me in making decisions etc, though It's nice to hear an accent thats easy to understand.

Naturally, as a north-eastener I find it easier to understand a Geordie/Smoggy/Mackem accent, and some people from other regions struggle to understand a word we say. I think southern accents are easy on the ear due to most media output being based in the south so we hear it constantly.

I don't really know how to rate midlands accents tbh....west midlands is quite distinctive, and often difficult to understand, and I find east midlands accents a mixture of northern & southern, fairly monotone...it's easy to understand but not distinctive at all. (N/O)

 

[MASSEY]

Avoid newcastle and scouse.

I hate people that sound happy all the time. It makes me think too much.

And cockny make me think they are bull shittin me.

Go for brummy ;-)

 

[yooneeq]

I don't think it makes a difference as the telemarketer listens to the person they are calling )

We provide a 24/7 call answering service, all of our agents are uk based with no strong regional accent. With outbound it would depend on what you were promoting, and as long as they have a good grasp of the products and services then you wouldn't have a problem.

I personally, do find the Geordie accent more friendly though.)

 

[BizGurl]

I personally, do find the Geordie accent more friendly though.)

Of course

 

[3 MORE YEARS]

We use telemarketing as tool. I am in favour of "english" south east accent. Although I have no issues with any of the other regions. I don't think it really makes a difference, so long as you can understand them.

Recently I have noticed more and more people calling with Irish accents...but there are a lot of technology companies with call centres in Dublin now (I think).

 

Don't matter what accent as long as they are crystal clear to the punters,very important in my opinion and if the language is ENglish make sure they understand humor.

probably queens English is preferably,any sign of a strong accent and you are in trouble on many fronts.IMHO

Earl

 

[3 MORE YEARS]

Agree with Earl. Most people understand queens English. Also it makes you sound a bit more professional ...a bit of a stereotype but it's true.

 

[Naughty Vend]

Simple rule in business, follow the bigger boys with the money to spend upon finding out the hard way before you waste your own time and money...

Research has shown that North East England and Central Scotland has not only the resources but the most trusted accents on provisio these do not have a strong local sound to the dialect, in other words no slang and words spoken clearly in the Queen of England's language. ( Formerly German ) Second to that is the neutral London accent although it can be rather soft and difficult to hear at times, however the image is "London Based" which works well with most products or services.

Both Sky and Orange are subscribers to this theory, as are the Co-Operative. Just remember that certain words don't sound the same in certain accents, in mine the company name is "Not Event" and on the BBC in America you'll find Eastenders has subtitles.

 

[Ron Mahoney]

As a scouser "calm down - calm down" - (you see that's an example of our legendary witt) I'd agree with the advice above and look at what the big boys do. On the M62 corridor we have dozens of major national call centre operations (Barclays, O2, Carphone Warehouse, British Gas to name a couple).

The question is where are you going to set up - if you're flexible about location I'd be looking at what business support you'd get for locating your company there. Whoever recruits for you should be able to weed out the good, clear communicator from the mono-tone, monosylabic dearth

 

[SusanP]

A lot of research has been done in linguistics on people's attitude to accents (google Matched-guise, which is the technical term).

Broadly speaking, Scottish, Irish and north-east English accents are seen as trustworthy. However, accents go in and out of fashion depending on who is the current media darling. At the moment it's Cheryl Cole, so a Geordie accent is viewed positively these days.

To generalise (which is a rather dangerous thing to do), people tend to attribute the stereotypical characteristics of a particular group to a person with that accent. So, Indian and Asian accents are generally viewed positively as it is assumed that the caller is intelligent and works hard, a Yorkshire accent is trusted as Yorkshire people are seen as traditional and straight-talking.

The product you are selling is relevant. If it is something hi-tech then an Asian or American accent is probably a good idea, if it is a book of songs or poetry then a Welsh accent will rake in the orders.

 

[Ashley_Price]

It would depend on what your client wanted. Sometimes they want telemarketers with certain accents, to have an instant connection with the people in the geographic area they are phoning.

We did a job for a company that wanted us to contact firms in London, so he asked if the telesales people could have "London-sounding" accents. (Not sure whether he meant like the Queen, or like "me ol' China, born in East London")