While most marketing gurus are trying to get you to hop on the social media band wagon with fans, follwers, likes or tweets, there's another marketing channel that offers many of the same benefits of communication, yet it seems to be the forgotten marketing channel. What is it? On hold media! If you're human and living in a country with telephones, chances are, you've encountered automated voice solutions in the form of auto-attendants, pre-recorded greetings, hold music and reassurances that an agent will be “right with you.”
Many companies take special care to make sure their brand is consistent across a number of marketing media: print advertisements, their Web site, their media kits and product brochures, live call center agent support, white papers, trade shows and a vast array of other marketing vehicles. What they often forget, however, is one of the most basic and important media: the telephone. The phone is still the preferred form of customer contact—and most universally accessible media in the world – and chances are, almost all of your customers will end up not only speaking with your sales or service departments and your contact center, but your auto-attendant. Yes, your auto-attendant: that humble piece of equipment (or solution) that is too often an afterthought for many companies.
The best product in the world with the best live customer service in the world is still going to put customers off if, when they call your company, they are greeted with an obnoxious, amateurish pre-recorded voice on your auto-attendant, plus music on hold (we know you don't like to keep your customers on hold, but sometimes it's necessary) that is essentially a badly-tuned radio station; odd regional music that might not appeal to most of your customer base; or constant, repetitive and ironic comments that “your call is important to us.” (Customers usually stop buying that message when they've been on hold for longer than five minutes.)
So is your telephone on hold messaging material up to snuff? Perhaps you need a “Telephone Image Makeover?” make-over. No, not the kind of make-over that involves a spa. We’re talking for your auto-attendant and other pre-recorded phone material. Do you know what image your current auto-attendant is projecting? Do you even know what it sounds like? Does the image you're presenting to calling customers or customers on hold even match your company image? Does it enhance it, or detract from it? What about your music on hold? How can you do better?
With a “Makeover,” an evaluation of current telephone media and refit your auto attendant and on hold messages, so that they better represent your company and leave callers with the best possible impression. With a custom designed on hold message solution that fits your business and your customers, your customers might actually believe you when you tell them that they're important – and that “you'll be right back.