Does your message on hold service have you flying coach while you’re paying for first class? If there’s a boring “thank you for holding script” on your hold program, you’re sitting in the back by the lavatory. If there’s elevator music playing on your program, you’re sitting next to a baby who skipped nap time.
What’s worse is that for the same investment you could be getting free drinks and extra leg room. Your message on hold service should be one of your most effective marketing tools, custom produced specifically for your brand’s messaging. Are you getting your money’s worth?
If not, good news: you’re eligible for an upgrade. Here are four ways to get first class message on hold service on an economy budget:
Don’t go it alone. Writing on hold messages is not your business’ specialty, but it should be your provider’s. Don’t make writing a script another item on your to-do list. It should be a collaborative effort between you and your flight attendants — err, your production partners.
Recording a voice over for your telephone message is only part of the game. Creating a strategy and a script that gets response is the real challenge. Premier Companies’ creative team has crafted thousands of hold programs, and with the help of a few key points from a brand, Premier can turn a couple boring bullets into a creative and compelling HOLD PLUS program.
Question the questionnaires. Answering a brief series of generic questions is an ineffective way to give your marketing partner what they need to create your brand’s messaging. If a service company asks you to fill one out when you sign on, you’ve received your first red flag – turbulence ahead.
There is no one-size-fits-all marketing message. Brands need the ability to customize their messages and a personal discovery session geared toward creating customized communications is a must. Hold programs that relay your specific message deliver better results.
Update often. Itineraries change, and so does your business. New products, special promotions, additional locations, and flexible hours are all par for the course with a growing business. The messaging you began the year with is likely not what you’ll end the year with.
Communicating with your customers means updating your hold program on a regular basis. Just because you sign up with a service who provides updates doesn’t mean you’ll get a partner who’s paying attention. If they’re not proactively contacting you to remind you to update, to ask you questions about what’s new at your business, and to give you interesting ideas, you’re not getting what you paid for.
Don’t get locked in. A long term relationship with your message on hold provider makes good business sense. Getting locked in to a long term contract with a provider who’s not making your business a top priority does not. Research before you select a partner and once you find a good one, lock in and start piling up the miles.
The team at Premier Companies developed the HOLD PLUS concept in 1984. Since then we’ve produced tens of thousands of programs for clients in every state and several other countries. We’ve also been asked to use our talents to produce Auto Attendant greetings, Information voice mailbox messages, VoIP messaging, IVR phone prompt messages, custom voicemail greetings and call center greetings.
Our skilled and creative writing team has written scripting for thousands of animated characters, virtual real estate tours, podcast productions, radio jingles, web video presentations, video commercials and documentaries.