The Psychology of Verbal Mirroring

After my last post about the psychology of body language mirroring, my old high school friend Sidney commented that since most of his sales calls are over the phone, he uses a technique called verbal mirroring (or vocal mirroring). You use this technique to match the tone, intensity and jargon of the person you are speaking with over the phone. I had learned about the psychology of vocal mirroring from my mom, who is a public relations expert, so I told a few people about it. They couldn’t believe that something like this existed, so I decided to make a video about it.

In this video, I also describe a disarming technique that allows you to take a frustrated or aggressive caller and get them to be more friendly and open with you. Basically, you calmly yet forcefully ask the person to explain what they want. Simply by venting, they will calm down a bit and you can then use the vocal mirroring technique to make them feel more comfortable. In fact, I used this just the other day, and the woman who called me and was super aggressive ended up being one of the nicest people I’ve spoken with in a long time!

Also, I screwed up in the video. Turns out that the woman from the non-profit organization who called me the other day is named Angie (not Alice), and she works with the Children of Promise Mentoring Program here in Iowa City. It’s a really great organization, and I’m happy that in the end I am able to help them out.

So, what do you think about these new videos I’m making? If you like ‘em, love ‘em or hate ‘em, let me know! Also, please Leave a comment and let me know when you use these vocal mirroring techniques or how you’ve used them in the past because I’ll use your feedback for future content. Thanks!