Maximize Your Hold Music

What do you think of when you hear the words “on hold”?  I’m going to guess that for most people, the connotations are less than positive.  To put a project “on hold” means to postpone it or block its forward progress.  Typical “on hold” experiences for people calling businesses or organizations on the telephone range from the mildly irritating to the outright maddening.  One of my personal pet peeves is the cognitive dissonance I experience when my “listening pleasure” is interrupted with “Your call will be answered in the order in which it was received” as opposed to a more grammatically correct alternative such as, “Calls are answered in the order in which they are received”, prompting me to shout into the phone, “If you’re going to interrupt that stupid music at least use good grammar!”  But I digress.

Because most businesses need to keep their callers “on hold” for so much of the time, strategies have been developed to minimize the negativity.  Simple, often cheesy “hold music” such as what we might think of as “Muzak” ™ has been widely used, while targeted, custom written and produced messages combined with better quality “hold music” have grown in popularity in recent years.  Fortunately, it’s becoming less common to encounter a business or organization that doesn’t have at least some kind of “hold music” instead of empty silence.  At least you know your call is still connected.

The telephone has played a major role in the world of business almost ever since Alexander Graham Bell’s famous, “Mr. Watson–come here—I want to see you” back in 1876.  Today, evolving technology has dramatically modified the way companies use telephone technology, but its importance remains undiminished.  If anything, telephone communications management may be more critical than ever.

“Face-to-face contact between consumers and businesses has decreased in direct relation to the advancement in communication technology.  Establishing and maintaining consumer-business relationships is now heavily dependent on great service, including fast turnaround times and quality phone contact.”  (Wikipedia)

While most sales managers would cut off their right arm if it meant “getting the phone to ring”, simply getting customers to call is not enough.  What happens next is just as important.

“…85% of consumers would stop doing business with a company based entirely on poor experience with their call management… [2] …Using Messages On Hold has been proven to reduce caller hang ups by 79%.” (ibid)

If your “hold music” project is “on hold”, perhaps it’s time you “take it off the back burner” and learn how to leverage this invaluable tool.