If you live in Virginia, you’re part of an interesting heritage.  I’m not sure the founder knew it at the time, but when Lloyd Shockley founded On Hold Marketing in 1989,he was one of the very first On Hold companies anywhere.  Ask anybody. In 1989 very few telephone systems even had a way to connect an external audio source, and those that did were playing a radio to callers on hold. (a violation of copyright law)  So Lloyd had surely hit upon a need, a need that fell squarely in the lap of his talents as an ad agency entrepreneur.  (The Shockley Agency had been operating in Richmond since 1982.)

The first true association of On Hold companies, the On Hold Messaging Association, (OHMA) wasn’t even created until the year 2000.  By then, On Hold Marketing was a fully established company serving businesses and practices in over 20 states, Canada,and the U.K.   Lloyd Shockley was recognized as one of the foremost pioneers of our industry and was asked to serve on the OHMA board.

On Hold Marketing has been providing audio studio services, professional copy writing, and telephone equipment support for over 20 years now, but one doesn’t survive this long without going thru some transitions.  Keeping up with the changes in telephone systems is enough to run some on hold companies completely out of business.  The introduction of computer/internet based telephone systems is a perfect example of a new technology introduction that can obsolete a business model to the extent that it simply cannot serve the market. Changes in the audio production process have gone from analog mechanisms and enough outboard processors to fill a building…to a computer running special software, replacing tons of gear. Did I mention doing business over the internet?  This change has not only impacted how sound files are moved around, but also how customers can hear voice talent, music, and productions to make better informed decisions and become comfortable form relationships with us, even though we’re thousands of miles away.

Virginia, even though one of the oldest states, is also among the innovators of what we take for granted…music and messages onhold….which, by the way, is responsible for helping just about every business and practice every day.

Months ago we added a “Live Chat” feature to our web pages to give web site visitors a direct connection to us…and the experience has been surprising.  Yes, we get inquiries from people searching for a better On Hold Marketing provider, but I believe we get more live-chat inquires from customers of OTHER companies that want to complain about the service they’re getting.

We think we know why we receive complaints about other providers.  Customers often think we’re their provider because there are so many on hold companies that have a company name similar to ours…..so, when someone Googles “On Hold Marketing”, they see our listing first (since we have earned the #1 position with the major search engines).

Now don’t me wrong, I’m not complaining.  When the offended customer realizes that we’re not the company that offended them, they often become customers…and the world becomes a better place.

The question is “Why are our competitors receiving so many complaints about lack of service, incomplete productions, not returning phone calls, productions are not being updated, and simply not being visible enough to be found?”  Naturally, we can’t answer this because we’re not them, but we do see that it’s an increasing trend. 

Ok, we do make it easy to find us…which has contributed to us hearing complaints about our competitors.   I guess that’s the point.  We do complete productions on time, do return phone calls, do work hard to get customers to update their audio On Hold programs…and when you need to find us…we’re easy to find.  You’ll find all our contact info on our On Hold player and invoices, or just google “On Hold Marketing”…we’ll be #1.

One might say that every customer has a fear that sometime during their telephone inquiry they won’t be taken care of in a way that meets their expectations. It’s simply a sign of where our customer service experiences have taken us.   Calling customers fear a number of unpleasant outcomes:

- they'll never get to speak with a human being

- they won’t be treated respectfully

- a language barrier will make communication difficult

- the product or service they want won’t be available, or affordable, or payment terms won’t be bearable

- they’ll have to navigate an unfriendly auto attendant

- they’ll be left on hold indefinitely, or simply disconnected 

Unfortunately, these events are common place and repeatedly support our fear of a less-than-stellar calling experience. However, patients calling their Dentist or Doctor have a real and legitimate fear that their visit will include a something even more fearful than poor customer service…and that is…real pain.  It is likely that their upcoming visit will include some pain, the kind that makes you say “ouch” or, may even require sedation or pain reducing medication.  Even if no serious pain is anticipated, the mere call for the appointment can include some built-in anxiety. 

The patient's pre-existing anxiety is precisely why a customized On Hold program for a medical practice must be different.  Compared to programs created for businesses, the message they hear must be more caring, more soothing, more comforting, & more assuring.  This is what makes “Patients On Hold” programs unique.  The script is crafted in such a way that information is presented in the spirit of sharing…not shoving.  Your voice talent is directed to deliver the informational messages in an especially low-key, assuring & caring tone.  Music selection is made to create a more soothing environment for those few moments of hold time. The duration and spacing of messages is designed to flow smoothly, but interestingly…as opposed to the jarring and interrupting advertising we often experience. 

Today’s Dental or Medical office requires a different, more caring approach their patients' On Hold experience…or they may be creating just another fearful…and painful…customer experience.

If you’re not a student of inbound telephone call statistics, you may not be aware that every business day, many phone calls are terminated before the sale or transaction is made because callers don’t like to wait on hold in silence…and they hang-up!

Ok, there may be other reasons why people hang up early.  Maybe their tea-pot started whistling, or the baby cried, or the dog was eating their homework…but much of the time, it’s because the caller felt like their on hold experience was not up to par with their expectation of customer service. 

That is to say that their perception of the time in waiting was too long…

…and their response is to disconnect or hang-up, terminating the sale or transaction

…and possibly the relationship present and future.

Enter Albert Einstein and his Theory of Relativity, commonly expressed as E=mc² .

Which, thankfully, for the rest of us, has also been expressed like this:

“When you sit with a nice girl for two hours, it seems like two minutes.

             When you sit on a hot stove for two minutes, it seems like two hours.

                         That’s relativity.”

The way your callers perceive their elapsed time On Hold is relative.

- A pleasant On Hold experience will be perceived as a less time than actual

- An unpleasant On Hold experience will be perceived as more time than actual. (Ouch!)                                                                                                  

Making an On Hold experience more painful than it needs to be is simply wrong…and bad for business…especially when there are intelligent, proven, and cost effective methods to cause On Hold time to be perceived as even shorter than it actually is.

Want to create a more pleasant On Hold experience that’s seems shorter than sitting on a hot stove?  Get in touch with a real studio specializing in On Hold message creation, preferably a member of the On Hold Messaging Association.

If the folks that developed Asterisk had approached the companies that create on hold messaging content and asked how the Asterisk platform could best be designed for on hold messaging flexibility, the answer and wish list would have been nearly identical to what is in place today with Asterisk.   

Not all emerging phone system technologies that tout VoIP as a leading benefit have in effect benefitted the on hold messaging industry.  In fact, many hosted IP offerings are a clear step in reverse in terms of providing flexibility for the end user customer.  Some Hosted IP offerings will not offer the end user ANY option for customized on hold content.  They offer canned music only.

So what’s so special about Asterisk?  It’s simple and can be explained in the form of 3 major benefits.  

1. More content choices:  While a clear majority of phone systems offer only one source for providing content, Asterisk supports multiple sources in the form of audio file slots per customer.  This means that the on hold content can vary per customer.  Human Resources, Sales, Customer Support can ALL have their own unique messaging programs playing for their callers.  This greatly improves the effectiveness of how a company can educate callers on products and services by applying the content directly to why the caller is calling in the first place.  Marketing professionals know the value of playing appropriate content to a captive audience (callers on hold are highly captive).  This sort of flexibility allows the phone system to truly function as a value business tool in terms of branding and marketing a company and its capabilities.   Additionally, there are many companies that happen to allow other companies in their multi-tenant building ‘space’ on their phone system.   This can be a huge problem if the phone system only offers one source for messaging content as you may imagine.  With Asterisk, the programmer can easily assign the proper content to the appropriate company and department.

2. Lower Cost:  The Asterisk platform allows for simple loading of audio files, eliminating the requirement for purchasing 3rd party equipment.

3. Ease of Management:  Customers that subscribe to frequent updating of their on hold messaging can do so easily without the intervention of service personnel.  This saves in time and hassle and money in the long haul.

In summary, Asterisk is about as flexible as it gets for the ability to cost effectively create an effective marketing and branding tool for a company.   This flexibility is most likely overlooked during the sales process, as the audience that benefits from this flexibility is not typically the telecom or IT professional as much as it is the executive or marketing group! 

One of the beauties of a customized On Hold program is the ability to tell callers about products and services you offer that they may not know about. But be careful of trying to include everything you do in your On Hold program. 

Remember when the Yankees beat the Phillies in the 2009 World Series? Joe Girardi opted for a three-man rotation, even though he mostly used a five-man rotation during the regular season. Part of his thinking was “why use my fourth or fifth best pitchers in the games that matter the most, against the best team in the other league.” 

You can apply this concept to your On Hold program.  

Sure, you can include 15 or 18 topics/messages. But unless you have extraordinarily long hold times like the phone company, cable company, tech support or notorious long hold queues, you don’t really need an extremely long program. In fact, more messages can actually dilute the effectiveness of the messages you do wish to feature.  If your callers are on hold long enough to only hear one or two messages at a time, and you’ve got 15 messages in your program, how many messages are they NOT hearing? Or to put it another way, if you’ve got 15 messages, the odds are 15 to 1 that any message in particular is not being heard. Now, if you can identify your 6 or 8 most important topics, and just include messages on those topics, it’s 8 to 1 that your most important message is being heard. Better odds.  

Not unlike using your three best starters in the World Series. Ask Charlie Manuel how his #4 starter did in Game 4. 

Call us to talk about the most effective number of messages for your On Hold program.

On Hold Marketing is celebrating its 20th year in business. Established in 1989 as a regional company operating from their Richmond studios, On Hold Marketing has been helping businesses and practices turn “telephone hold time” into a better experience for their callers. Their music and voiced productions provide an entertaining and informative atmosphere causing callers to ask questions about the company’s products and services. Added benefits include reduced caller frustration, and fewer hang-ups.

On Hold Marketing has earned their stability by keeping their customers’ marketing messages current and engaging, earning them a 96% repeat business rate as well as their industry’s “Holdie Award” for production value and creativity. Growth has been fueled by niche internet marketing and an acquisition resulting in a significant new presence in several vertical markets and new customers in nearly every US state, Canada, and the U.K.

In 2006 a local competitor, SalesMaker On Hold Systems, was acquired. Rich Moncure, On Hold Marketing’s President, stated, “The acquisition just made sense, the overlap in target markets was minimal and merging operations was seamless since we were producing in similar digital formats”.  This added more experienced people and several hundred new customer sites across the country.

On Hold Marketing helps their customers address their captive audiences with branding and information in several environments:

• Telephone On Hold with music and messaging
• In-store & lobby areas with music and messaging  
• Gas pumps with music and messaging

On Hold Marketing is guided by President, Rich Moncure, a 15 year veteran of the telecom industry.  Customers are supported with a staff of 5 with combined 60 years experience in music, marketing, telecom, copywriting, & audio production.

For more information about On Hold Marketing, please visit www.onholdmarketing.com.

Contact Information:
Dan Bryant/VP-Business Development
(804) 273-6900 danbryant@onholdmarketing.com

Richmond, Virginia-January 12, 2010

On Hold Marketing was awarded an endorsement of services by Virginia Banker’s Association to the association’s member banks and association members to provide telephone on hold messaging, digital signage solutions, and web audio services.

As an endorsed provider, On Hold Marketing will help member banks increase brand awareness and messaging to its existing and prospective clients, with a focus on ‘attentive audience’ marketing.  ‘Attentive Audiences’ are those customers that are in line or in queue for a service under a variety of conditions.  They could be ‘in line’ on the telephone (on hold), at a teller window, in a lobby, or visiting a website.   On Hold Marketing President Rich Moncure stated, “As a Virginia based company, we are happy to have received the endorsement by the VBA.  The banking industry in this state has historically been focused on providing outstanding personal service and value to it customers, and we look forward to doing the same for the VBA and its members.”

On Hold Marketing specializes in providing a single point of management and service for the various ‘attentive audience’ touch points found within a bank or company.  

On Hold Marketing was founded in 1989 in Richmond, Virginia and provides services nationally, but with considerable focus in Virginia.  

For more information, please contact Rich Moncure or Dan Bryant with On Hold Marketing at 800-342-0098, or visit www.onholdmarketing.com.

"Hi, you've reach Frank at 555-551-5151. Unfortunately, I'm either on the other line, away from desk, or out of the office. Please leave a voicemail after the beep."

We've heard it 1000 times. That generic greeting at the end of a long string of unanswered rings that tells us to do exactly what we already know. We don't think much about it, but how we record this message can significantly impact what happens next. We're going to identify what's wrong with Frank's voicemail greeting and tell you how to leave a more effective one for your business.

Here's what's wrong with Franks message:

1) "Hi, you've reach Frank at 555-551-5151.
If we dialed the number, we already know what it is. There's no reason to restate the number. If the person dialed the number by accident, they will know as soon as they hear the voice and your name

2) Unfortunately, I'm either on the other line, away from desk, or out of the office.
Frank has pretty much run the gamut of why he could be away from his desk. This statement could be accurate, but it doesn't do much for the sake of the caller.

3) Please leave a voicemail after the beep
If in 2009, the person doesn't know what to do after the beep, they're probably not worth the time.

Here are five ways to leave an effective personal voicemail greeting for your voice mailbox using Frank's example.

1. Be willing to change your voicemail greeting regularly.
Your schedule and availability are likely to change frequently, so get into the habit of recording your voicemail message to reflect where you are and how you'd prefer those getting in touch with you to respond. An old, out-of-date greeting can leave a negative impression, especially when it's clearly inaccurate. For example, it's December 18th and your voicemail says you'll be out of town for Thanksgiving. An up-to-date and accurate voicemail greeting leaves the positive impression that you're on top of your schedule and give appropriate attention to your voicemails. For example, "I'm in the office Monday, Tuesday and Thursday of this week leading up to Christmas." Likewise, Frank could also say. "This is Frank Smith. I'm in the office today. Please ..."

2. Leave helpful information

Don't waste time telling callers you're out of the office, away from your desk, or on the other line all in one greeting. This can be assumed considering you didn't pick up the phone. Instead, provide specific and helpful information such as when you'll be back in your office or alternative ways you can be reached, be it by email or through an administrative assistant. For example, "if this is urgent, please dial ## to speak to ______. I can also be reached at frank@email.com, as I check my emails regularly."  If you offer callers an out to reach an assistant, test it on occasion and be sure it works for you.

3. Be specific about what they should include in their message (instructions)
Consider that your callers may be calling from a cell phone.  Perhaps they are calling from a noisy environment, and they also may be in a hurry.  In addition to keeping your greeting short and concise, be sure to speak very clearly and slowly enough to ensure that the caller has 100% confirmation they have reached your mailbox.  Upon recording your greeting, be sure to end your greeting by pressing the appropriate command button within your voice mail system fairly quickly after you have stated your last word.  This creates that ‘beep’ tone that callers hear that triggers them to leave their message.  If you happen to wait for 4-5 seconds after you have concluded your greeting to press your associated ‘end greeting’ command, then your callers will also have to wait those same 4-5 seconds in eager anticipation for the coveted beep tone. 

4. Use discretion when including humor. 

Leaving a memorable voicemail message or voicemail greeting can help you get the call back you're seeking, but only when done correctly. Humor or offbeat material can help you in this cause, but it can easily lead to awkward reactions and misunderstandings. It's a good bet to keep your messages "business casual" at the very least.


5. Always listen back to your outgoing message
It may have sounded good when you recorded it, but hearing it back through the phone can sound very different. Listen to it and critique it as though you're listening to someone else's message. Pay attention to your tone. Do you sound enthusiastic, reserved, or even bored? Is it clear to the caller how you'd like them to proceed? Is it up to date? In any creative effort, the second and third takes can be leagues better than the first, so even when you think you've got it, give it another go and see how you can make it better. This attention to detail can lead to very positive impressions, especially for first time callers.  Also, it is a good idea to occasionally call yourself as if you are one of your callers.  Dial the full phone number and listen to the entire experience.  You may be surprised at the result.  Many voice mail services or systems add on those canned and optional phrases after your greeting.  They offer callers the ability to ‘send a page’, ‘enter a callback number’ or perhaps even more fairly worthless and outdated offerings.  They are almost always optional in terms of your ability to offer them.  Pull out your manual and experiment with excluding these lengthy canned options.  They simply create frustration and eye rolling from your callers.  They really just want the coveted beep tone as fast as they can get it.  

So what we end up with can be as simple as the following sample greating. 

“Hi, this is Frank.  For Tuesday, I’ll be out of the office all day, but I am checking this mailbox frequently.  Please leave a message.”  

That’s it. 

Simple, and if Frank pressed ‘#’ or whatever his greeting ‘ender’ is fairly quickly, we’re talking about a very painless greeting that conveyed important information to the caller in less than 7 seconds.  Perhaps stylistically or logistically, Frank needs to say a bit more.  Try this one:

“Hi, this is Frank.  Today is Tuesday and I am traveling all day.  Please leave a message and I’ll return your call by the end of the day, or if your call is urgent, press zero to be transferred.  Thanks for calling!” 

It’s still short, conveys an option and suggest to the caller they will hear back from you (but you MUST adhere to calling back). 

Many services and phone systems allow additional features that include the ability for callers to press a key to ring your cell phone or other device.  You can even have the caller state their name so that you can ‘screen’ the call before taking it.  Be careful with some of these features as they can generate negative impressions if not managed properly.  However, if managed properly, you can also generate the impression and reality that you are highly accessible which can be a very positive impression. 

 

The best on hold messaging programs return anywhere between 0 and 10,000% return on the initial investment.   There may be certainly be weeks, months, or even a year whereby it may be difficult to completely and convincingly attribute transactions and sales to the on hold program.  Most likely, sales ‘happened’, but the sale could not be completely traced or attributed to the program.  Or maybe the program content was more designed to make general branding statements or provide educational content to customers on hold.   And then there are those glorious occasions that make your on hold provider dance for joy and plead for a written testimonial.  That’s the monster $600,000 sale that was easy attributed to the on hold program, because the customer happened to ask somebody to tell them a bit more about a new service or product they heard about while they were on hold. 

 It happens. 

It happened to one of our customers, and they were kind enough to call us up and tell us.  We wonder how often it happens and we don’t get the phone call.  We also wonder how often it happens and our customer is not made aware of what initiated the sale.   Well…..we’ll readily admit it’s somewhat difficult to truly track ROI and sales efforts to an on hold messaging program.  However, even if the answer was 0%, the reality is that a good on hold messaging program pays for itself quickly.  For a buck or two a day, take into consideration the work that the program is doing in terms of just keeping a customer holding instead of hanging up.  If you don’t have an on hold messaging program, “Silence” on hold is not golden.  People hang up on silence, and quickly at that.  Do you return those ‘beep-beep’ tones that are considered a phone system feature?  Beep tones can drive your callers crazy and be confused as being call-waiting.  Playing a radio station on hold?  A radio station may promote your competitor, or a simple music file can get old very quickly.  A ‘hang-up’ caller may very well be an existing customer that calls a competitor.  That’s lost revenue, and it might be big $’s. So……if you can’t seem to measure the ROI of your program, don’t fret.  Your program is always quietly and certainly paying for itself.  In addition to giving you another avenue to build your brand, it is also functioning as a tool to keeps folks holding.  Other forms of advertising (billboards, direct mail, TV / radio advertising) fill no other function other than to simply advertise.  Your low cost on hold messaging program is fulfilling a crucial additional function.   So is your program paying for itself?  Yes.   Can I accurately measure how many sales $’s are generated?  Probably not.