Editor's note: Anndel Hodges is president of Opinions Unlimited, Amarillo, Texas.

No doubt about it, telephone interviewing is a tough job. Researchers are subject to respondent naiveté about the goals of research and the difference between research and telemarketing. Additionally, once we find a qualified respondent, we are subject to that person's whims regarding whether or not they believe they have time and choose to participate.

Respondent cooperation in a telephone interviewing project is largely dependent on the skill, confidence, credibility and telephone personality of the interviewer. While many factors, including training and experience, contribute to these attributes, it's often the "little things" which effect the most significant increases in respondent cooperation.

One such change occurred in 1989 when, based on my belief that great interviewers must often be "made," our company developed a full-time personnel program. Having worked with a local broadcaster to minimize my own North Texas twang, I had experienced first-hand the credibility and confidence boosting benefits of speaking clearly and being understood correctly the first time. One of the first personnel programs we put in place was regular linguistic training for all telephone interviewers.

The goal of this interactive program, conducted by former broadcaster Paul Matney, chairman of the Language, Communication and Fine Arts Department at Amarillo College, is to control an interviewer's twang, not to get rid of it altogether. A controlled regional accent may actually be an asset when viewed by respondents as "charming" or on sensitive topics when the respondent knows by the accent that the call is not being placed by a friend or associate.

At the same time, many reasons exist to control a strong regional accent, and they extend far beyond ease of understanding by respondents. We have seen a marked improvement in respondent cooperation the very first interviewing shift following the training. This increase in respondent cooperation is naturally reflected in faster turnaround and lower costs to clients.

We've also found benefits to our company. Where our phone room used to squawk, it now hums. Less surrounding noise means less job stress, allowing interviewers to stay focused on the respondent with whom they are dealing. Interviewer confidence, job performance and job satisfaction have increased.

Additionally, interviewers are learning from a "celebrity" a valuable skill which they can take with them into other areas of their lives. This greatly enhances not only their motivation, but also their loyalty. Consequently, turnover and its associated costs have decreased sufficiently to more than cover the costs of the program.

In implementing a linguistic training program for our staff, we considered the following guidelines important:

  • Select an expert - The person you select to train your staff should be experienced, not just in teaching communications, but also be an effective practitioner. Again, celebrities add excitement to the training.
  • Train your expert -Take the time to explain the nature of marketing research and what is expected of your interviewers. A good trainer, properly educated, will incorporate a research survey into the training through example and interaction.
  • Be specific - It is perfectly appropriate to specify the types of issues in which you'd like your interviewers trained. One area which we've found particularly beneficial is training in conversational telephone delivery, for example, how to read thought patterns, not individual word units.
  • Limit class size - This type of training is most effective when it is interactive. To allow for sufficient interaction with the instructor, we've found that 12 is the maximum class size. However, because we have so many requests by former students to re-take the course, we've discovered that up to 25 can be accommodated if the repeaters are positioned as observers around the periphery of the group.
  • Follow-up - It is not enough to simply have interviewers attend the class. Through experience, we've discovered that interviewers are most successful when they go directly from the class into the phone room for their shift. There, our personnel director monitors their calling and works with them one- on-one to help them apply the principles they've just learned.

While telephone interviewing is still a difficult job, interviewers" confidence, credibility and telephone personalities are significantly enhanced through professional linguistic training. Truly beneficial for all parties, a program of this type enhances client satisfaction, interviewer motivation and employer/employee relations.