We talk a lot about the importance of good communication, here at MeloTel. A key ingredient to any successful relationship, strong communication is necessary between a company and its clients in order for long lasting loyalty to occur. There are, of course, numerous methods by which a business owner can secure new customers. But it’s hard to argue that the best way to do that is to impress the customers that you already have.
After all, it’s often said that the best type of promotion is the type that’s done by word-of-mouth. When a happy customer tells others about a business, it goes a long way in securing that business a larger client base. With that said, it’s important to make good impressions every time your customers call. Whether they are new or existing clients, the customer experience needs to be top-notch, time in and time out.
However, as we’ve blogged about recently, it’s not always possible to provide customer service immediately. You may sometimes experience a high call volume (does that sound familiar?) and have to keep callers on hold. Hold time, it needs to be noted, is a very important time for your business. It’s important that you use it as wisely as possible. In other words, it’s important for you to keep your callers interested in doing business with you while they wait for a live person to come on the line.
But how can you do that? Of course, in many cases, businesses simply play music for the holding caller. In other cases, companies choose to run verbal advertisements. This can often help to boost sales if information is passed along that intrigues the caller. The bottom line is that the time your customers are on hold should be regarded as an important opportunity. Here are four reasons why on-hold messages are so important.
1. They keep the caller from hanging up. Naturally, you don’t want your callers to disappear. Retaining your business entails that your customers are encouraged to be patient. With on-hold music, your caller knows that they have not been disconnected. Complete silence may give the impression that they have been hung up on. By playing music or leaving a verbal message, your caller knows that a live person is bound to take the call.
2. They help to market your business. As mentioned, when you have callers on hold, you have the opportunity to advertise your products and services to them. You can take the opportunity to have recorded messages reveal the details of a new sale event or special discount that your company is offering on certain products. Whatever on-hold message you leave, be sure that it’s one that intrigues the caller to ask questions about what you have to offer.
3. They help to provide useful information. In many cases, your callers may be contacting you simply to ask a question that can be answered quickly. It may be wise to provide information in your on-hold messages that can answer some of your more frequently asked questions. If you know what they are (you may want to survey your phone reps to discover them), record those answers in your on-hold messages. This will improve customer satisfaction.
4. They present your company as professional. The more informative your on-hold messages are, the more your company may be respected as a top-of-the-line operation. They should relay information such as how long the callers can expect to be on hold and your web address in the event that they may be able to resolve their issues by jumping online. In some cases, on-hold messages can make or break customer relationships.
Music On Hold just happens to be one of the many great Telephone Features offered by MeloTel. In addition, our Voice Talent Production can team can produce the finest, professional on-hold messages for your company. For more information about these and other services, please don’t hesitate to call us at 1-888-MELOTEL!
