List the languages your staff speak on the website: beside the phone number, on the contact page and under each person's name, with the days they work. Add the same line to your listings.

A language nobody mentions

Explaining a toothache, a legal problem, a leak behind a wall or a car stereo that cuts out over bumps takes detail. Plenty of customers in Vancouver would rather give that detail in Cantonese, Mandarin, Punjabi, Korean, Tagalog or French.

Many businesses have someone who speaks one of those languages: a receptionist, a technician, a partner, sometimes the owner.

The website rarely says so. Neither does the Google listing, the Facebook page or the voicemail greeting.

So a customer who would have chosen the business for that reason never finds out, and calls someone who does say it.

Where customers look for it

The first matters most. A customer deciding whether to call is looking at the phone number, and a short line beside it answers the question before they dial.

Why customers do not just ask

To ask whether anyone speaks Punjabi, a customer has to make the call in English first. For someone who would rather not, that call is the barrier.

Many will pick a business that says so rather than ring three to find out. Some bring a relative to translate, or put the appointment off.

A line on the website removes the barrier. The customer calls already knowing they can use their own language.

Searches in English for a language

Not every customer searches in their own language. Many type English searches that name it: Cantonese speaking dentist, Punjabi speaking lawyer, a Mandarin speaking contractor in Burnaby.

A page that says in English which languages your staff speak can match those searches. A page that does not say it cannot.

Put that sentence in the text of the page itself, not inside an image or a graphic, where search engines cannot read it.

Name each language specifically. Chinese is not enough: a customer who speaks Cantonese wants to know it is Cantonese, not Mandarin.

Name who speaks it, and when

A general line, such as we speak several languages, only invites the question of which ones, and who.

Be exact instead: which languages, which person speaks each, and the days they work. A customer who calls on a Monday for someone who works Tuesday to Saturday hangs up disappointed.

A photo beside each name helps too, so a customer who walks in can find the right person at the counter without having to ask.

Write each language's name in its own script as well as in English, where the site can display it. A reader scanning the page recognises it at once.

And be honest about depth. Fluent enough to explain treatment options is different from able to book an appointment, and either is worth stating accurately.

A worked example

A car audio installer with two bays behind a suburban strip mall fits stereos, speakers, amplifiers and remote starters, and tracks down buzzes and dropouts in systems other shops installed.

One of its three technicians speaks Cantonese and Mandarin. Regulars who knew asked for him by name, but nothing on the website said so.

Some customers arrived with a relative to explain what they wanted. Others struggled on the phone to describe a crackle that came and went, or which wires an earlier installer had cut into.

The shop added a line under the phone number on every page naming the languages spoken, put the technician's days on the contact page, and listed his languages under his photo on the about page.

The contact form gained a choice of language for the reply, and the same line went into the shop's directory listings and onto the sign above its bay doors.

The contact form and the reply

Add a question to the contact form asking which language the customer would prefer for the reply. Then make sure the right person sees those enquiries.

Reply in that language whenever you can. An answer in English to a form that offered Cantonese breaks the promise the form made.

The same applies to the voicemail greeting. A sentence in each language you offer, saying when that person will call back, tells callers they have reached the right place.

Keep it short. A greeting that runs through every option in every language before the beep loses callers in all of them.

Listings and directories

Use the same line in every listing that leaves room for text: the introduction on your Google+ page, the about section of your Facebook page, and any directory that allows a sentence.

Some professional directories let the public search by language. If yours does, check that your entry lists every language your practice can offer.

Ask the staff first

Before putting anyone's name beside a language, ask them. Some are glad to be known for it; others do not want to become the office's translator for everything.

Agree what they will handle in that language, whether bookings, explanations or the whole job, and make room in their day for it, since those customers will ask for them.

And when someone who speaks a language leaves, take the line off the website the same week.

The counter-case

A business whose customers almost all speak English gains less from listing languages, though it costs nothing to mention one that a staff member speaks fluently.

Translating the website itself is a bigger, separate decision, involving professional translation and pages to keep current in two languages. Listing the languages spoken is the first, small step, not a substitute for it.

And a language spoken only a little is better left off than overpromised.

Where your staff can genuinely serve customers in another language, though, say so plainly and by name, next to your phone number and again on the contact page.

This week

  1. Ask staff which languages they speak, and how well.
  2. Agree what each will handle in that language.
  3. Add a line beside the phone number.
  4. List names and days on the contact page.
  5. Add a language choice to the contact form.
  6. Update every listing with the same line.
  7. Remove the line when someone leaves.

Step three is the one customers see first. Everything else supports it, but the line beside the phone number answers the question at the moment a customer decides whether to call.

Making the call itself easy to complete is covered in an automated phone menu for a five-person office.

Frequently asked questions

Where should we mention the languages we speak?

Beside the phone number on every page, on the contact page with the days each language is available, under each person on the team page, and in listings.

Is writing Chinese specific enough?

No. Name Cantonese or Mandarin, or both. A customer who speaks one of them wants to know it is that one before they pick up the phone.

Do people search in English for languages?

Many do, typing searches such as Cantonese speaking dentist. A page that names the languages your staff speak, in English, can match those searches.

Should we name the staff who speak them?

Yes, with their agreement, and with the days they work, so customers ask for the right person and call when that person is in.

Should we translate the whole website?

That is a bigger, separate decision. Listing the languages spoken is the first step, and it needs no translation, only an accurate line in English.

What if someone speaks only a little?

Leave it off, or describe it honestly, such as enough to book an appointment. A language overpromised on the website disappoints the customer who called because of it.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

Staff who speak another language?

Tell us which languages and who speaks them. We will add them where customers look before they call.

Start a Conversation