4 Ways To Improve Service To Your Spanish Speaking Customers
Teresa is directly responsible for making and evaluating any Spanish secret shopper calls we complete for our customers. She has had to learn the nuances of the Spanish language as spoken by Puerto Ricans, Cubans, Mexican Americans, etc. She has learned that a construction dumpster may be called one thing in Puerto Rico, something else in Miami and yet another in Texas! But, the biggest source of frustration for her is what she experiences as a Spanish speaking customer. She has been transferred back and forth as a receptionist frantically tries to find someone who speaks Spanish. CSRs shout at her as if a request for assistance in Spanish means she is hard of hearing, too. If she is lucky enough to be connected to someone who does speak Spanish, he or she often knows little, if anything, about the subject she needs help with.
So, Teresa being Teresa, decided to do some research to see what was really happening in the marketplace when it came to winning and losing the Hispanic customer. She called 50 Hispanic households and asked if they preferred to speak with a customer service representative in English or Spanish. 70% of the individuals she spoke with said that they preferred to speak with someone in Spanish. Additionally, she determined they were more likely to ask friends and family for recommendations when looking for a service provider instead of researching on-line or using the yellow pages. With an estimated 40 million Hispanics living in the U.S. currently, representing about 9% of all consumer spending, maybe it is time for companies to look seriously at the way they treat their prospective and existing Spanish speaking customers.
Evaluating Your Current Service
1) Call into your company and see what happens when someone makes the selection for help in Spanish or asks your attendant for help in Spanish. Are the standards you have in place for the English speaking customers regarding hold time, number of rings and transfers the same standards you adhere to for the Hispanic callers?
2) Conduct some research on the demographics of your service area. If there is a large Hispanic population, you need to have a person or team that can cater to them. Remember that word of mouth advertising is a big factor in how Hispanics choose a service provider.
4 Ways To Improve Service To Your Spanish Speaking Customers
1) Address your customer by proper name and keep small talk on a professional level.
2) Train your bi-lingual agents to be experts in what they are selling or servicing. Many Spanish speaking customers complain that the bi-lingual reps are ill-equipped to help so they must struggle through a conversation in English to get the best service and advice.
3) If you do not have a Spanish speaking representative that is qualified to talk to your customers, search the internet for “telephone interpreter”. Find a service that can translate for you while you are on the phone or speaking to a customer face-to-face.
4) Consider having the name of your bilingual representative on the automated message. Hispanic customers prefer knowing a person’s name. Example: “Si necesita ayuda en Espanol, presione el 2 para hablar con Miguel.”
For more information and a free evaluation, contact Lori Miller, President of Tooty Inc. Tooty Inc. is a creative company devoted to evaluating, training, monitoring and mentoring your customer service and sales teams.
lori@tootyinc.com 708-478-5772
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