Maybe You Don’t Have to Sell Anything: Spread Cheer and Earn Customers

‘Tis the season! Everywhere you go, you’re bound to hear holiday tunes: at every store, in the car, and when you’re placed on hold. If you’re a business owner, you likely have unveiled your own holiday mix to get your customers in the spirit. If you’re using on-hold messaging for those customers calling your business, you probably added some holiday specials and other end-of-year marketing tidbits.

But what if you don’t have to sell anything?

Certainly, you can use your on-hold messages to tell callers about your latest offers and specials, but you could also go in a different direction: you could spread a holiday message. No matter what your customers celebrate—or don’t celebrate—the feel of the season is pervasive. What about using that time that they’re on hold to thank them for their business and wish them a happy holiday season?

Sometimes, just acknowledging people and taking time to give can actually get you a lot more. Many businesses do this through holiday specials, freebies, or holiday cards. As part of your larger integrated-marketing campaign, your on-hold messages can support whatever endeavors you have planned. Maybe you plan to add something special to everyone’s offer just as a thank you for waiting on hold a little longer during the busy holiday season. That would be a great message to share.

Remember that everyone wants to buy, but almost no one wants to be sold. Embrace the holiday spirit to give all of your callers a little something extra and say thank you. You may be pleasantly surprised at the results.

If you need to get your on-hold message into high gear, contact us to start: 866-800-HOLD.

Is Your Brand Pervasive?

Sometimes, as we go about running our businesses and just making sure everything is progressing as it should, we forget about our customers’ perception. As focused as we are on customer service and providing the best experience, branding may become something we take for granted. “We have a good brand. Our customers know us and like us.” While that may be your internal perception, what’s the truth in the world of your customers?

Recently, @jongaskill shared on Twitter: “For a company with the ‘industry's best customer service,’ #directv has the WORST hold music.” This clearly illustrates that DirecTV is doing what they need to be doing to score big on customer service, but they are forgetting their overall brand appeal with one vital component: their phone image. Since many customers interact with DirecTV via the phone, this perception is instantly elevated from a “little” thing to the crux of their business identity.

Branding occurs through various outlets: the company website, social media, radio and television advertisements, public relations, direct and e-mail communications, text messaging, and phone interactions. Unfortunately, too many companies forget that branding IS pervasive, and each outlet needs to complement the others. Whether it’s a clear message or just the choice of music that runs while clients are on hold, those impressions add up to create your brand.

So take another look at the overall message you’re sending, no matter how customers are interacting with your company. Is it consistent? Is it professional? Does every component create a similar experience for your customers? If not, you may have some work to do! America On Hold can help you to enhance your overall brand with the RIGHT on-hold messaging and music, so you don’t see a tweet about your company like the one @jongaskill sent.

Don’t Miss an Opportunity!

Have you heard that nearly 60% of business callers who are placed on hold will hang up if they are given dead air? It’s as if they’re put into a black hole; they don’t know if anyone is still around or if you’re even coming back to care for them. That’s where on-hold messaging can make a huge difference.

Marketing and branding happen 24/7/365 — even when your customers are on hold. There’s a golden opportunity here to extend your reach and cement that message when you share value through on-hold messaging. Sure, you could just use music, and that would be something. But what if you could tell your customers and prospects about what’s new in your business or your latest promotions? What if you could share with them value? After all, that’s what everyone is seeking in this economy: more for less. By simply adding a little content to the line for those few seconds or minutes your customers are placed on hold, their perceived value of your company, products, and services will multiply.

The long and short of it is this: If you’re putting your customers on hold to silence, you’re missing an opportunity. Not only will they likely hang up, but you’ve also skipped the chance to share with them something of value. Enhance their experience and add another component to your marketing campaign with a custom on-hold message. You’ll likely see results sooner rather than later.

For information on how to start your on-hold messaging campaign, visit www.americaonhold.com.

Say What? Make Your On-Hold Messages Work Harder

On-hold messaging is an integral part of your overall marketing campaign, but if you’re not sure what to say, it can be wholly ineffective. Where do you start? For some companies, it’s a little more obvious. A car dealership may share the newest cars they have or the ones they most need to get off the lot. But what if you’re not turning products quickly or don’t run regular schedules?

Think about what your callers ask you about…repeatedly. If you’re spending a lot of your time on the phone answering the same thing over and over, that gives you an idea of what you should be sharing with your callers through an on-hold message. Perhaps you’ll use the answers as a lead-in to the message system; that way, by the time you’re back on the phone, the customer can focus on bigger issues rather than those nagging little questions he had.

Once you start answering the questions customers have now, it’s likely that they’ll come up with new questions in the future. The good thing about that is that you’ll then have the opportunity to update your on-hold messaging! You don’t want frequent callers to get bored with your message while they’re on hold, so it’s a good idea to change the message at least every few months. Again, poll your front-line phone staff to see what repeated questions they’re receiving so you can add them to your rotation. And, of course, if you have specials, be sure to mention them in your on-hold message; you’ll notice that callers will skip right over their initial questions and go right to the offer du jour.

Change of Season, Change of Message

No matter where you are in the country, you can feel that the weather is cooling down and know that a new season is upon us: fall. If you are currently using on-hold messaging as part of your marketing mix, a seasonal change is a great reason to update your message and generate new interest.

In the fall, we start to look toward the upcoming holiday season: Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, and even the New Year. Many companies offer season-specific specials, and this is a great time to start planning for them. Perhaps winter is a slower time for you; this would be an opportunity to get customers excited about your brand and what you’re doing.

Fall is a great time to remind those people who started working with you in the summer how you can continue to provide service through the fall. For instance, if you provide heating and air-conditioning support, many may have only thought of you for their AC needs in July and need a reminder that you can help them with their heating issues in October and November. Or car dealerships may run specials to clear out this year’s inventory to make room for newer models.

America On Hold offers a variety of options for updating your on-hold messaging. Perhaps you’re only updating a few times a year; if so, consider following the seasons to make changes to your marketing message. Your audience’s mindset will have also changed with the difference on the thermometer, so this is a great time to reconnect. Contact us to get started on your new message.

Your On-Hold Lobby

Most businesses forget about their "other lobby" we call being on hold. You see, there are two types of impressions we give to our clients and prospective clients. The first impression is how you look in the marketplace. The second is how you sound. It is easy for companies to spend time and resources on things they see and touch everyday like their lobby, office space, website, and even there landscaping. But most companies forget about how they sound. You would never ask someone to wait in your lobby and then turn off the light. This is what we feel companies do when they have nothing but silence on hold. Maybe its your best client or someone who was referred to you calls in and and they are placed on hold for a moment, while they are being transferred they are left wondering if they have been disconnected or worse yet, they feel forgotten. It is a fact that when someone on hold experiences silence, their perception of how long they were on hold is 4 times longer than the actual time on hold.