How to Work Around Language Barriers to Assist Your Clients

In the world of customer service, it's about delivering products or services and building a personal relationship with the customer. For this reason, it's crucial to understand your customers' needs and backgrounds and connect with them in their preferred language. Why? Because not only does it create a sense of familiarity and comfort, but it also shows that you care about their identity and individuality.

As humans, we all yearn for connection, and language is a powerful tool that helps us bridge the gap. After all, language is the key to a person's identity, and the more you speak their language, the more comfortable they'll be working with you. So, it's not enough to just be where your customers are; you also have to be with them in a way that resonates with them.

Whether offering materials in their preferred language, providing bilingual support, or simply taking the time to understand their unique needs, the key is making that connection and building that relationship. Because when it comes down to it, sales isn't just about the product or service - it's about the people behind it.

How Does the Language Barrier Impact Your Sales?

The sales journey can be a long and winding road, with several hurdles on the way. Unfortunately, one of the biggest sales roadblocks is a language barrier. Here are a few signs that language may be getting in the way of your sales success:

• Miscommunication or misunderstanding: Language barriers can cause misunderstanding and confusion between you and your customer. This could cause delays, frustration, and poor customer experience.
  

• Low customer engagement: Since you cannot communicate with your customers in their preferred language, they may feel undervalued and less likely to engage with your business.
  

• Lack of trust: When there is a language barrier, the customer may feel that you do not understand their needs and may be less likely to trust you and purchase from you.
  

• Limited reach: Language barriers can reduce your potential customer base and limit your sales opportunities. Since you cannot communicate in your customers' language, you may limit your reach to only those who speak your language.
  

• Slow response time: It might hurt your sales if it takes a long time to answer a customer's questions or requests because of a language barrier.
  

How to Address Language Barriers to Assist Your Clients?

There are several quick options for addressing language issues when working with clients who speak a different language than you. Here are a few options to consider:

• Learn key phrases: In the customer space, an effort is all that matters. Learning key phrases can do wonders if you don't speak your client's language. Doing so shows you value their culture and language, and this can go a long way in building trust and rapport.
  

• Use translation apps: Translation apps are saviors for a language barrier. You can use apps such as Google translate and Microsoft translator to help you translate the language and understand your customer.
  

• Hire a professional interpreter: If you have multilingual customers, the best thing to do is hire a professional interpreter. Many interpretation services offer on-demand, remote interpreters who can assist with phone calls, video conferencing, or in-person meetings.
  

• Use visuals: Visuals are also a type of language that can do more wonders than you think. You can use videos, infographics, and slideshow presentations to convey messages and information to your clients.
  

• Use simple words: When dealing with a non-native speaker, try to use simple words and avoid complex sentence structure. Do not use industry terms and short forms that are harder to understand.
  

Botsplash Solution to Deal With Language Barrier

Botsplash understands how language barriers impact sales funnels. To support businesses in communicating more effectively with their Spanish-speaking customers, Botsplash has thoughtfully designed a Spanish translation feature.

For instance, a mortgage company can have many Spanish-speaking leads. It can be challenging for the company to communicate with them due to the language barrier, which may lead to missed opportunities. Translating apps can work for you, but translating every conversation will be time-consuming and frustrating in the rush of responding to multiple leads. So, wouldn't it be great if inbound and outbound messages were automatically translated rather than needing help from a bilingual colleague, translator tool, or hiring an interpreter?

This idea led Botsplash to develop the Spanish feature that automatically translates the message for you so that you don't have to deal with language barriers and seamlessly assist your clients on the go.

With Spanish being the second most spoken language in the USA, this feature not only serves as a practical solution but also as proof of Botsplash's commitment to providing its clients with the tools necessary for success.

To know more about Botsplash's Spanish feature, book a demo with us or browse through these articles.