So you’ve had someone contact you recently about a telephone message on hold program, and well you’re just not quite sold. I mean why would you need a telephone message on hold system when you have staff answering your phone lines? Here are the top 4 bad excuses we hear from companies about why they don’t need telephone messages on hold.

1. We don’t put customers on hold
Really? Come on, think about it … you never have to transfer your callers to another staff member, or ask them to wait while you go and find out the answer to their question? Seriously guys, we all at some point need to put our customers on hold, and why not use this valuable air time to promote your business, even if it has to be done in a subtle way. If you were smart, you could leave them on hold slightly longer, just so they do hear your message.

2. Our callers don’t want to be sold to
Really? Then why are they calling you? Potential customers are calling to find out about your products and services, existing customers are calling about your products and services; and suppliers could be potential customers. Australian businesses spend a fortune on external marketing, and it really blows our minds that they don’t continue to do so once the phone has finally rung.

3. Our customers are happy with the radio or chimes?
Your customers might be happy with the radio, but what if you are advertising your competitors and lose out on a sale? Chimes are just extremely annoying, and make you feel like you have been waiting a lot longer than what you actually are – so we just simply don’t believe this argument. Furthermore, if you’re a commercial enterprise, you are expected to pay for the right to use the radio on your phone lines – if you’re going to do this, wouldn’t you prefer promoting your OWN business rather than your competitors?

4. Telephone Messages On Hold is Too Expensive!
At Media Messages, our telephone music and message on hold packages start from a very low $14.95 / week. You wouldn’t even get one radio commercial, print advertisement or a week’s worth of Google AdWords for this; and your message on hold system plays 24 / 7.

If you are serious about promoting your brand and sounding professional, then you must ensure your marketing continues once your phone starts ringing. Music and messages on hold is a relatively inexpensive way to promote yourself to your core customers. As a marketer, I just don’t understand how businesses (both large and small) don’t see the huge benefits in installing one of these packages.