AT&T Music on hold alternative: are you still settling for less?

AT&T Music on hold has been a standard option for 30 years.  After three decades, isn’t it time to stop settling for just music, and give yourself an edge?

On hold marketing gives you the edge that you’ve been looking for: with the right on hold messages, you can sound more professional and accomplish more on every phone call.  They give you the ability to reach your customers and your best prospects in completely unique new way.  While most advertising is designed to say “look at me” and get you noticed, on hold recordings are the proven way to say “welcome” and show your business telephone callers why they should take the next step…on the way to a sale.

Hold messages have a special job to do.  While up to 96% of all marketing efforts are devoted to helping you stand out in a crowd and get you noticed, your messages on hold come into play when consumers are interested enough in you to want to know more.  They’re may not be ready to buy, but they’re ready to listen.

AT&T Music on hold isn’t enough

Think about your business telephone callers: they’re your customers and your best prospects.  They’re not calling to listen to music.  They’ve taken the step to pick up the phone and call you.  You can think of every phone call as “a call for help.”  Now you can start giving them the help they need, even if they have to wait on hold for a while.

And #holdhappens.  According to AT&T Research, up to 69% of business telephone calls are placed on hold. Think about your own experience:  the last time you called a business with a question or problem, you probably had to wait in a “queue” for “the next available representative,” or you were answered by a real person, but later asked to “please hold.” It happens in your business, too.  Its a real problem, but it can be fixed.

You need more than AT&T Music on hold

The first step in developing the most success onhold messages is asking questions: about your business, your products and services, and (most importantly) your customers: how do you help them?  what are their problems?

With this information, we can consider your goals, and develop a strategy to accomplish them.  Don’t worry: we do it all, and it’s part of your Informer Service.  We’ll use this information to write your script, and continue to revise it until it’s perfect.  When your script is approved, our professional voice talents will record your phone messages for your system (we provide a free on hold player for your PBX phone system with our Full Service Options, or format them for your specific VoIP system).  If you help customers in different ways at different times of year, we’ll even keep your messages working hard throughout the year with free updates on a schedule that works best for you and your marketing plan.

Take the first step and find out improving on AT&T Music on hold

Let’s set up a Strategy Session to talk about your business and your goals, and find out how telephone advertising can work for you.  Call us to set up a Free 15-minute session at (800) 862-8896.  In New York call (212) 355-6980.  In Stamford or Norwalk, CT call (203) 655-3920.  Your business is on the line. Call today.

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Best Phone Hold Music : what’s do you want to offer callers?

It’s funny to think that the best phone hold music…really isn’t hold music. But that’s another story.

It all started way back in the 1980s.  That was when AT&T introduced the Merlin Phone System, and for the first time, normal businesses could play music on hold. For years only “Reservations” centers for large airlines, hotels, etc. played music on hold. When call volumes were high, callers were often asked to wait for “the next available agent.”  Calls were answered “in the order in which they were received” while callers waited in the “call queue.”  That’s when callers heard music on hold.

Best music phone hold music becomes an issue

Fast forward to more advanced phone systems: businesses everywhere could play music on hold.  Most businesses had two choices: pay “Muzak” for expensive licensed music, or take their chances by playing the (unlicensed) radio on hold.  (most chose this risky option, and got away with it).

Playing the radio had one advantage: it was free.  The downside was that radios often become staticy, especially in a room loaded with telephone and other electronics.  But radio is filled with commercials and “shock jocks” so you never really know what your customers and prospects are listening to.  Maybe even an ad for your competition!

But back to choosing the best phone hold music

#holdhappens.  We all know it.  Research proves it.  Our own experience calling businesses becomes more frustrating every day.  Hold time is a waste of time.

Today, Muzak is actually gone. (I guess no one really liked “Elevator” or “Dentist” music!)  So how can you choose the best hold music?

The answer is obvious: if you don’t want your caller to sit in silence, wondering if they’ve been cut off, you play something on hold. Radio is no better a choice now than it was 30 years ago.  So what do you give your callers to listen to while waiting?

If you have a VoIP system like Cisco, your callers probably hear infamous music that every has heard…and mocks.  Cloud systems like 8×8, Ring Central, or Grasshopper give you standard music.  But that can be fixed.

When’s the last time you heard your favorite song while you were sitting on hold?  Something you really enjoyed listening to? Probably never.  So what’s your best choice?

Even better than the best phone hold music

Why not give your callers something that they want, and that you want them to have? Customers (and prospects) call you when they want or need something.  When they want help.  Why not start giving it to them? Tell them about how you help your customers, and solve their problems.  Tell them about your newest offerings, and how that’s even better.  Tell them stories about success stories, and how they can be one, too. Tell them with Informer Messages on hold.

Informer Messages replace even the best hold music with information: short messages, each with a purpose to educate your callers or start solving their problems.  Give them “tech tips” or “answers to FAQ.”  Give them breaking news about advances in your industry that could help them.  Tell them about how you’re uniquely positioned to give them what they need.

Informer Messages on hold are custom written with your company, your goals, and your customers in mind.  We write them for you after learning all about you.  We do this by asking “Discovery Questions” that give us insight into your day to day business and long term goals.

When the best phone hold music isn’t good enough…

Call The Informer to find out how others in your industry use this marketing tool, and how you can benefit, too. Call for your Discovery Session today. In New York call 212-355-6980.  In Connecticut call 203-655-3920. Nationwide call 800-862-8896.  And give your callers something better.

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Different Ways Messages on Hold Play: Two Key Distinctions

There are two different ways messages on hold play:  on a PBX telephone system, they play  an “on hold player.” This music on hold device is an add-on option to the phone system that plugs into a MOH (music on hold) jack (or port), and will “loop” or continually play your messages.  The on hold recording plays continually, 24/7 so there’s no real “beginning” or “end.”  The second method is different: your on hold message plays on VoIP phones: your messages play in the cloud, and usually start from the very beginning each time a phone caller is placed on hold.

Different ways messages on hold play means…

The systems that they play on are different.  Neither is better or worse if you plan in advance.  Writing effective messages on hold for the different kinds of systems means planning ahead for the best effect.

When your messages “loop” each messages stands on its own.  You can use this to your advantage: develop a script of 6, or 8, or 10 different messages, each on a different subject: you can give helpful hints, offer solutions to your customers’ common problems, or talk about the features and benefits of your other products and services.  Telling several different short stories lets you educate your caller about more of the ways that you help them, and can help you build your business.

In spite of the different ways messages on hold play…

Their job is the same, whether your messages play from the beginning of the recording or start at a random message: they’re there to help you sound more professional and to make every phone call more productive.

What would you like to accomplish today?  On hold advertising helps you reach more of your goals.  Think about it: marketing’s goal is to get your prospects interested, educate them interested in how you can help them, and help them make the best choice: buying from you.

Your phone recordings aren’t supposed to work all alone: they’re a part of your overall marketing plan.  Properly designed, they reinforce your other advertising, brochures, website and email blasts.  They can remind your customers about your promotions, product introductions, and services that they might be interested in. And they can do it in the time that your telephone callers now waste waiting on hold, in dead silence, or listening to music on hold.

What would you…

…like to accomplish today?  What would you like your customers and your best prospects to know about you so you can help them better, and stand out from your competition. Find out how you can accomplish more in a Free Strategy Session by calling (800) 862-8896.  In New York call (212) 355-6980.  In Connecticut call (203) 655-3920.  Call today and start accomplishing more tomorrow.

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How Long Should an On Hold Script Be? Are you making this mistake?

How long should an on hold script be?  More is better, right?  If my “on hold” messages help me sell, giving my callers more information will increase sales, right?

It’s not that simple.

How Long Should an On Hold Script Be?

There are a few things that we know about businesses that get telephone calls:

• The more calls they receive, the more phone callers will have to wait “on hold.” AT&T research showed that in the past about 69% of your business telephone calls had to wait on hold.  And that number is only increasing
• A professional on hold message can give your callers information about where to find information on your website, educate them about your products and services, mention specials and incentives, and keep callers interested
• The time that customers spend on hold can either work for you, or against you.

How long does your average phone caller spend on hold?  In most businesses the estimates range from 30 seconds to 1 minute.  In “call centers” where hundreds of callers talk with telemarketing representatives, we’ve all been stuck waiting much longer.

You can make the time that telephone callers have to wait more interesting and more productive by giving them information that they want, and that you want them to have, with messages on hold.  The best messages on hold

• Start with a strategy, because it’s the most important part of the process (as you’ll see later): what do you want to accomplish? What are your callers interested in?  Why are they calling?
• Use that information to create well written script
• The script should be conversational, written with language that your customer typically uses (not overly technical: that won’t impress anyone!)
• Use a series of short messages, up to about 30 seconds each. Longer than that and your caller will actually retain (remember) less.  Keep it short and to the point
• Don’t try to overwhelm the caller: after each message include at least 10 seconds of music so the caller can actually think about what they’ve heard.
• Are planned considering your average hold time: the longer it is, the longer the pause between messages.

Use the information and you’ll see how long should an on hold script be

How many messages should you include in your script?  While your caller waits they’ll hear each phone advertisement.  If you have “normal hold time” of about a minute, your typical caller will hear one or two voice messages.  If your message script contains 10 messages, that’s 10-20% of the ideas you are promoting.  But if your on hold advertising includes 20 messages, they’ll hear only 5-10% of your messages.  There’s only a 5-10% chance that your typical caller will hear your most important message.

The real problem with how long should an on hold script be

If you have one really important message…the one that helps you make the sale…or the one that makes the sale most profitable…you want your caller to hear it, right?  But if you have 10 onhold messages in your script, then you only have a 10% chance that your typical caller will hear it!

What should you do?

Go back to your strategy.  What do you want to accomplish?  You’ve got the choice: quantity or quality.  And if you have lots of messages you really want to give your callers, consider if there are different times of year your callers are most receptive to each, and how changing messages periodically (with message on hold updates) might be the answer you need.

Not sure if you have good reasons to update your messages?  Take a look at our “76 Reasons To Update Your Messages on hold.”

Questions about how long should an on hold script be?

Call now for a 15-minute strategy session, or click here to register, and answers that you can use today.  In New York call 212-355-6980.  In Connecticut call 203-655-3920.  Nationwide and in Canada call 800-862-8896

 

The Informer develops the most effective on hold systems with custom written on hold scripts, recorded by top voice over professionals, and mixed with telephone hold music in the background. We make giving your callers information easy on hold, with the proactive on hold service that keeps your messages focus, productive, and updated all year long in Connecticut (Stamford, Norwalk Hartford, Bridgeport, Danbury and across the state), New York (New York City, White Plains, Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, and across the state), and nationwide.

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