You could have a violin on standby, or just have Hold Time Studios install a player for you with an entire band backing up your business. Check out this cool video of the live-musician-on-standby method!
| MOH Industry Buzz Sales “spurty”, says manufacturer MOH equipment manufacturers are one of the last ones to see a recovery in the economy. Why?
Most on-hold vendors, Hold Time Studios, recover equipment from discontinued accounts. If attrition and new sales remain even, they don’t need order any new MOH players, as used players can be redeployed into the field.
One vendor told me:
“I’ve got customers that used to order three players a month from me that haven’t ordered for a year.”
or,
“Sales are spurty at best… we’re down, but fortunately we’ve got other (telecom equipment) product lines that haven’t been hurt too bad.”
How are MOH vendors and studios doing? Frankly, better than the manufacturers. Since MOH is a dynamic market channel, customers opt for several discounted productions uploaded in a minimum one year term. Not as profitable, but more recession-resistant. HOld Time has done better than many, in part because of our excellent customer service. We don’t make the same mistakes as other companies, because we’re serious about doing a good job with on-hold messaging! Check out our blog on “doing right by customer compalints”.
Learn more about on-hold messaging, and Hold Time Studios by contact our owner, Patrick, at 800-521-5570. Thanks!
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As we wrap up writing and recording on-hold paragraphs for our customers, my favorite paragraph so far is from Cornelius Veterinary Clinic. This paragraph totally rocks! It’s informative, relevant, and fun. Here you go:
Speaking of politics….Oh, not again!…. your pet doesn’t need a national health care plan— because you voted for the Cornelius Veterinary Clinic! Thank You! You already chose a plan that will take care of alltheir needs regardless of preexisting conditions, age, sex or breed, religion or party affiliation. If you love them enough to bring them in, we’re non-partisan enough to give them our very best every visit!
Voiceover by Dr. Bullard: “Hi I’m Dr. Bullard. I love my job. I’m not retiring, and I support this message.”
What great paragraph, especially with the Voiceover at the end. Want to hear it? Call them up at 503-357-2525 and ask to get put on hold.
I’ll admit that we have a lot of companies that won’t go that far, they prefer a more “straight-laced approach” to their on-hold messaging… and we can do that music on hold too. (Although, it’s not as fun.)
As we wrap up writing and recording on-hold paragraphs for our customers, my favorite paragraph so far is from Cornelius Veterinary Clinic. This paragraph totally rocks! It’s informative, relevant, and fun. Here you go:
Speaking of politics….Oh, not again!…. your pet doesn’t need a national health care plan— because you voted for the Cornelius Veterinary Clinic! Thank You! You already chose a plan that will take care of alltheir needs regardless of preexisting conditions, age, sex or breed, religion or party affiliation. If you love them enough to bring them in, we’re non-partisan enough to give them our very best every visit!
Voiceover by Dr. Bullard: “Hi I’m Dr. Bullard. I love my job. I’m not retiring, and I support this message.”
What great paragraph, especially with the Voiceover at the end. Want to hear it? Call them up at 503-357-2525 and ask to get put on hold.
I’ll admit that we have a lot of companies that won’t go that far, they prefer a more “straight-laced approach” to their on-hold messaging… and we can do that music on hold too. (Although, it’s not as fun.)
Check out this video that we made that explains how productions are laid out, and installed on your phone system!
The pool in our new home had been unattended for nine months, and the liner was shot. As the kids looked on longlingly at an empty pool in the summer heat, Lisa and I bought and installed a new liner.
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Liners are hard to install. This is mine. |
Then. I fell in clothes and all…great. New Android phone in my pocket all wet. NOT great.
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a watery grave |
I thought I was out a cell phone, but a little marketing done months earlier turned me into a new customer of Gary Mello.
1. Gary cold calls in-person Stuff, one of our on-hold customers.
2. Patrick’s cell phone goes for a swim.
3. Patrick mentions it to Stuff’s owner.
4. Patrick goes to Gary.
5. Gary fixes phone for $40, saving me $450.
Interesting how a little word of mouth can travel so far! The same is true in our businesses. The owner of Stuff once wisely told me, ” Marketing works, you just don’t know which half.”
YOU have a solution; And if someone is looking for it a little marketing can go a long way! Hold Time doesn’t promise to solve all your marketing problems, but we can guarantee that your best customers (the one’s who are calling you) will GET that message!
Chris Casteel, the owner of www.prestigeportlandlimousines.com, knows how to polish up his fleet - and his phone system. Hold Time appreciate Chris as a fine customer, and his callers appreciate not getting “dropped off” in music on hold dead space: the radio.
So, Hal at ilikestuff.com is one of my favorite customers because he let’s us do pretty much whatever we want. Here’s a testimonial:
Apples to Apples with Muzak
Hold Time Music is delighted to take on another multi-location client who was using Muzak. The sale was easy - local in-person service, creative scripting, and 40% less (hello!) than what they were current paying Muzak for the same on-hold messaging service.
This was also one of our first installations in the local market using an internet appliance from Premier Technologies. By digitally uploading productions to an on-site player, customers get
- CD quality playback
- on-the-fly changes, broad across multiple locations in as little as 10 minutes
- one less device on their auxiliary fax line.
Although we’re 40% less on price, Hold Time Studios is 200% better on customer service and quality. Learn more about us here, and read our testimonials from customers who have great on-hold!
Welcome to Automax!
What they do:
Automax is Frank’s automotive repair shop in Canby, Oregon. A couple of bays, and small enough so that Frank is involved with every vehicle, and so his on-hold productions include a lot of info on who he is, and encouraging the consumer to come back again… because repeat business is key to his sustainability. Not unlike another Hold Time customer, Just Right Automotive in Frank started as a mechanic himself: first at a dealer, then in his garage, and when his garage got too small, at his current business location.
Marketing Challenges:
Many of our automotive clients have the same problem: getting the customer back for maintenance. Come to think of it, dental offices have the same issue!
“Maintenance is always cheaper than repair,” mechanics say again and again. To illustrate their point, they’ll tell you that most transmissions fail because of a lack of fluid maintenance, a simple change for under $100 could keep you from a transmission repair that costs $1000’s.
Here’s a good script we wrote for Automax:
IGNORING LIGHTS
YOUR VEHICLE IS TWO TO FIVE THOUSAND POUNDS, AND THE BRAKES ARE THE ONLY THING BETWEEN YOU AND A MAJOR CATASTROPHE… SO IF BRAKE LIGHT IS ON, PLEASE PAY ATTENTION… EVEN IF THE CAR IS STOPPING OKAY. SOMEWHERE, THE SYSTEM IS FAILING, AND IT’S MOST LIKELY TO STOP WORKING AT ALL WHEN YOU REALLY STOMP ON IT IN AN EMERGENCY. THE SAME GOES FOR A SOLID CHECK ENGINE LIGHT. WITH OVER FIFTY SENSORS REPORTING IN YOUR VEHICLE RIGHT NOW, AUTOMAX OF OREGON IS READY TO DIAGNOSE AND GET YOU SAFELY ON YOUR WAY
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These phones are terrible. |
. WE’LL BE RIGHT WITH YOU!
Equipment:
The chronic on-hold beep on his 4-line RCA Executive phone system was driving Frank crazy, and there is no way to turn it off. Hold Time installed a special adapter and player to enable the hold option on this RCA system which masked the “beep”, but it wasn’t good enough. And I really hate these systems anyway. Automax eventually purchased a newer, nicer phone system.
Automax found Hold Time by way of direct referral from another Hold Time music on hold customer: CHS Machine, a machine shop in Portland that remanufactures old engines.
Hold Time Music and Marketing started as an idea in a business research class, and then - armed with a graduate degree in Music and an M.B.A., we've found our way into hundreds of phone systems around the country - almost exclusively by referrals. We're very proud of our company, and grateful for our clients.
