HIALEAH
The call comes in Spanish. Your voicemail is in English. What the caller does next
A Hialeah homeowner calls about a leak. Your greeting says "Thank you for calling, please leave a message." He hangs up. Not because he cannot understand it; because in Hialeah an English-only greeting means "this is not a company that works here." He calls the next one.
A note on what this is. We are not claiming a share of Hialeah calls come in Spanish; you already know. This is where the language breaks on a typical company's phone and how to fix each spot.
What "wrong company" sounds like
He is not offended. He is efficient. He has four numbers from the same search and about ten minutes. A greeting in the wrong language is a signal that the next call would be a struggle. The next number on the list opens in Spanish, so that is where he books.
The four spots
- The greeting. First words in both languages, or a voice agent that asks in the first sentence.
- The text back after a missed call. Opens in both, follows whichever he answers in.
- The booking page. Days, times and "Confirm" in his language, not just the form fields.
- The confirmation and the reminder. Same language as the booking, every time.
THE LANGUAGE OF THE CALL
Tenant and owner
Hialeah is full of duplexes and efficiencies where the owner speaks one language and the tenant speaks the other. One job card, two contacts, each with his own language. The owner gets the quote in English. The tenant gets "we will be there between 2 and 4" in Spanish. Neither one is asked to translate for the other.
The tech at the door
The card says the resident speaks Spanish. If you have a Spanish-speaking tech, the dispatcher can see it. If you do not, the tech at least knows before he knocks. Small thing. It is the difference between a job and a review that says "nobody could explain what they did."
The Spanish on all four spots starts as a draft. Have someone from Hialeah read it before it goes live. The phrases that sound fine in Bogotá can sound stiff on 49th Street.
Questions we get asked about this
What if my whole team speaks Spanish already?
Then your greeting and texts should say so, in the first sentence. Many companies staffed entirely in Spanish still have an English-only voicemail because that is the default.
Can the owner and the tenant see each other's messages?
No. Two contacts, two threads, one job card. Each sees only what is sent to them.
Does the voice agent handle Cuban Spanish?
It handles Spanish. Accents are fine. Slang is where it asks the caller to repeat, the same as a person from out of town would.
Related
Listen to your greeting
Call your own line and listen to the first five seconds as a Hialeah caller would. Then book a 30-minute call and we record it in both languages.