I made a phone call today, and was asked to wait on hold. I had to wait for about 30 seconds. The company I called had advertising playing on hold. The on hold message that I heard made a classic mistake. It tried to simply list too many different services. It went something like this:
“Are you looking for (and then a list of services) x, y, z, a, b, c, or d?
Or e, f, or g?”
Sounds great, right? Sounds like an opportunity to make sure that your telephone caller on hold knows about everything you do. So you can expect them to buy more and more from you when they hear this stuff on hold. Right? Sorry, it doesn’t work.
Laundry lists aren’t for on hold messages.
They’re lists of services only work on at your dry cleaners. They’re order forms, not marketing tools. They don’t sell anything, because they’re not designed to.
If you want to increase sales, you have to get the consumer interested. To raise the interest of your callers, or touch on their most pressing needs (hot buttons), focus on one idea at a time. Just giving a long “laundry list” of services may sound like you’re covering more, but it just doesn’t work. No one will be interested. In trying to accomplish too much, they end up accomplishing nothing. (Ever wonder why most messages on hold don’t work as well as you would have liked?)
What’s the answer on hold?
So what’s the answer to giving telephone callers “on hold” messages that help you sell more? It’s simple. The answer is “don’t be greedy.” Think about what’s most important to your consumers. And the products or services that your marketing plan lead to profitable and loyal customers in the long run. Accomplishing a reasonable amount is better than trying to hit a “home run” only to “strike out.”
Are you ready for messages on hold that work for you? Start with the script. The most important part of using hold messages is to think about your customer first. Think about your callers and why they’re calling you, and how you can solve their problems, then offer several short messages, each about a different product or service, and each with a message that shows how you can help. Short messages are more effective on hold because most callers’ attention span is short. But that works to your advantage: you can talk about lots of products in a short time if your messages on hold are shorter. And you’ll be surprised at how much more effective they’ll be.
And leave the laundry list to your dry cleaner.