Speech rate and customer service training

An unfamiliar professional with a strong foreign accent recently called me. He spoke so quickly that his speech was very hard to understand. As a speech expert, I had to ask him to slow down and say each word clearly so I had any idea of why he was calling.

What can a person do to make his or her speech clearer? The first thing to do is to slow down your rate of speech. Simply speaking more slowly helps others understand you a little better. Certain groups of people understand speakers better when they speak more slowly.

To speak slower, remember what counts is what the listener understands, not how fast you can convey your message. After all, if you need to say it again, you have wasted time. If you really cannot slow down, get professional help from a corporate speech pathologist. There may be several reasons why some people cannot slow down on their own.

Second, say the final sounds in a phrase or sentence clearly. In the phrase, "It's the best!", pronounce the "t" correctly, as an example. If you use a script when speaking on the telephone, read it aloud for practice, saying the final sounds well.

Third, make sure you are pronouncing the longer words the way your listeners do, with stress on the correct syllable. Putting stress on the wrong syllable confuses listeners, and they need a few seconds to think about what was said. That means they miss the next comment you made.

Business Speech Improvement provides intensive training in verbal communication. Customized coaching and e-books are available!