Guide to Hispanic Customer Services In The Call Center

With over 40 million Hispanics in the United States alone, surpassing the entire population of Canada. US Hispanics are not all the same and companies not servicing this diverse population in the call center may be "lost in translation."  

With multiple dialects and cultures from Mexican, Dominican  to Puerto Rican and South American,  never assume that just because someone identifies themselves as a Spanish speaker that someone from Peru calling for customer service understands the call center center representative based in the Dominican Republic.  You may need to drill down and ask the Hispanic consumer or business what language they prefer to speak and and even where they they are from.   Many everyday Spanish words used in one country are actually insulting for some Spanish speakers from a different country.  

Large organzations and US government agencies are setting up call center queues and call centers based in geographic locations to target the local Hispanic communities to service the population not only more effieciently but more accurately.  Sure "Hola" means hello in Spanish, but gather a group of Puerto Ricans, South Americans and Mexicans and ask them to translate words like banana and orange and let the fun begin.

With the combined Hispanic purchasing power in the US nearly 700 billion dollars, that's a "lot of banannas"  that may need to be ordered,  so make sure to confirm that order in the call center with the right representative on the phone speaking with the right dialect.