Nine years ago I was on the phone with one of my competitors for our first (and only) phone call. As soon as he started talking, my heart stopped and my stomach dropped. I knew it was going to be a hard, long battle to compete with this guy and his company.
You see, he had a British accent. I knew, from watching too many Disney movies, that British accents trump American accents. Not only did I not have a British accent but I had lived in Idaho for almost 10 years, where I adopted an Idaho farmer accent. My choice of words, pronunciation, and speed of talking was clearly inferior to his slick, refined British accent.
The truth is, over the last nine years we’ve worked on JibberJobber functionality a lot. We’ve done awesome, amazing things. And you have noticed. In the last year we’ve had more annual upgrades than ever, and our users are more engaged and serious about using JibberJobber during and even after their job search. We know this is because of the time and effort we’ve spent designing and developing, and working with customers to get and implement suggestions.
But the presentation we’ve put in front of customers, with my U.S. accent, is clearly holding us back.
Today I am announcing that we are officially on the hunt to translate the entire site, written and audio, to an accented version of English.
Will you please leave a comment and give us your preference of any of the following accents that we should consider translating JibberJobber to? Remember, this is for anything written as well as all radio, podcast and video productions. It will be a big job, but I know that with the right accent we will gain more users, and have more upgrades, and help many more people. We’re just being held back right now.
Here are the top accents we are considering (in no particular order):
- Canadian, eh?
- Southern U.S., y’all
- Austrilian, mate
- British, chap
Other accents that we’ve been encouraged to consider include:
- Cholo, or Mexican-American, vato (I am Mexican-American)
- New Zealand
- Indian (India)
- Irish
- South African
Here are accents we’ve decided accounts:
- Hawaiian Pidgin English
- English with a heavy German accent
- Bostonian
So, what do you think? I’ll make a decision in the next 30 days, and move forward with a firm that will help me translate and re-record everything into one of the above. Which do you vote for?
And, if you want to be the new voice for JibberJobber, please submit an audio demo so we can see if your accent is the right one to take JibberJobber to the next level!
Or Indian (Indea) with a Brit accent for an even broader international draw.
I think an Australian accent would be excellent!
Susan, good thinking… broader international draw…
Liz, I agree, I’d be stricken by an Australian accent…!
I just want to hear your voice, son 🙂
Well mom, I could learn some of those accents 🙂
Hi Jason,
I agree with your Mom…Nothing wrong with your accent. Funny how everything is a matter of perception. We here in Australia like the American accent (secretly and perhaps not publicly).
If your content and service is good (…and I know it is) then nothing else matters. People buy authenticity too 🙂
Just my 2 cents worth. I support whatever you choose to do.
Keep up the good work.
Regards
Rodney
Ps: We have British, Australian and South African accents in our family and they’re all wonderful.