You’ll get customers to listen better if you speak to them at the right pace. Here’s why — and how to get the pace right.
Agents who talk at just the right pace will get people to listen and agree with them more often than agents who talk too fast or slow, a University of Michigan study found.
People who speak moderately fast – around 3.5 words per second – were the most persuasive in the study.
Those who talked any faster than that were viewed as the proverbial “fast-talker,” who tries to pull the wool over others’ eyes. People who talked too slow were perceived as “not too bright.”
So how do you check that you’re talking at the right rate? Use this as a guideline: When you’re explaining something to customers, pretend you’re telling it to your mother. When you’re relaying important information, speak as if it’s the boss.
