By The Ohvo Team Marketing • Phone Voiceovers for Business • • • • • • 0 Comments

3 very important reasons why you need to update your on hold messaging

Many business owners treat on hold messaging as a set and forget task. Updating messaging regularly is yet another job in the hectic life of a business owner, and one that can feel fruitless if not done well.
For those of you who find this task falls into the ‘too hard’ basket, take a look at the following 3 facts.

  • 70% of callers to businesses are put on hold.

That’s right, an astonishing seventy percent of your callers first impressions of your company or service is via on hold messaging. That is way too many potential sales to make, new customers to impress and old customers to retain to leave in the hands of sub-standard hold programs.

  • On average a person spends 15 minutes a day on hold = 60 hours a year.

That’s a lot of time for customers to get bored, irritated or hang up in. The more our customers experience holding the less they like it, you need to make sure your on hold music and messages are tailored to reduce burnout, this is even more important if they are repeat callers.

  • Advertisements played over hold messaging have a sales success rate of 15-20%.

You have a captive audience when it comes to on hold messaging; a well-crafted message could see your sales boosted during a waiting period many business owners consider ‘dead’ time. In addition using hold messages can put sales deal right in front of the customer, leaving your frontline team free to focus on customer service.

Laid out in such plain terms it’s hard to avoid the necessity of frequently updating your on hold messaging.  Update to reflect seasonal changes, specials and deals, or simply to avoid your hold music becoming stagnant for repeat callers. Be sure to personally check what your hold program is playing on a monthly basis and freshen it up as often is needed.

Still sound too hard? Consult with a professional on hold and voice over company to develop creative on hold messaging schedule your customers will respond to.

 

Telephone Branding
By The Ohvo Team Customer Service • Marketing • Phone Voiceovers for Business 0 Comments

Converting On-hold Telephone Messages into a Branding opportunity 

With the invention of the telephone, communication became incredibly easier for people across the world. Besides, even with the existence of highly sophisticated internet, telephones still retain its reputation as a reliable communication mode. That is why all the businesses across the globe, despite the scale or the industry, maintain telephone lines providing solid communication path for customers.

Regardless of all the plus facts pertaining to telephones, vast majority, if not all, people are reluctant to be on hold for long periods, considering it as a waste of time. Avoiding potential frustration for callers, companies tend to play on-hold music or messages. Apart from eliminating silence, this is a great opportunity for companies to convert an annoying situation into a branding tool and make the best use of it.

In fact, if a business receives inquiries over the phone; that is a clear indication of the success of their marketing campaign. Companies generally invest large amounts of money to build brand name and promote products they offer. It is simply a huge waste of money for a business to lose a potential customer (who came that far to make an inquiry over the phone) just because of the silence or tiring music loops during the on-hold situation. It is a wise entrepreneur’s move to identify this on-hold situation as a potential branding tool and make the best use of it.

People call your business because they are already curious about your products or the services. As a business owner, you have two options; either to make the communication process very rapid and never let your customers to be on hold at all (which is impractical) or make the best use of the on-hold time. This short period can be utilized to promote other products, services or special offers that your customers may not aware of. In fact, such move will be a great assistance for the marketing process.

Mentioned below are some steps you can take to convert on-hold messages into branding.

 

Select the equipment wisely

In the market, there are various products to broadcast on-hold messages. Do some research and see what sort of equipment matches your existing telephone system. See if they feature easy-to-update characteristics. More importantly, check for the quality of the sound they broadcast over the phone.

TIP: Its common these days for companies to have a VOIP Cloud Based phone solutions, which support the easy uploading of professionally produced On Hold Messages and simple customization.

 

Select the message

What do you wish to play on-hold; an oldschool elevator style music loop or a professional voice / on hold music promoting your products? If you go for the second option (which is the best by far), find a professional on hold messaging company with professional voice talents (such as Ohvo.co.nz). Remember, via these messages, you directly speak to a high-potential customer. Treat the customer professionally and lively with the message you play.

 

Use a short script

Use a short, clear and concise script that conveys an easy-to-understand message for the customers. Avoid too many sound effects and quirky voiceovers. Be professional, but maintain a friendly approach throughout the message. Speak to your customer as if they are in front of you.

staff-training-phone
By The Ohvo Team Customer Service • Marketing • • • • • • • • • • • • 0 Comments

Staff Training

If you don’t already take the time to regularly stop and listen to your staff answer the phone, then you need to pencil it in your schedule. Set time aside to listen to the way they interact with customers from greeting to call end to be sure every member of staff is representing your company properly.

Staff training isn’t a one-time set and forget lesson at a new staff members induction. Staff must be periodically monitored to ensure consistency – even for the long term employees who feel they know it all – they are sometimes the worst offenders, so relaxed in their jobs that thy start slipping, or doing things their own way.

By making yourself aware of how your staff answers the phone and providing on-going support and training you can avoid many customer service no-no’s including the following two common customer service phrases that turn customers off.

  • ‘It’s not my problem’

These words should never be uttered, along with the even more abrasive ’What do you want me to do about it?’ It is not your customers job to find the answers, even if the answer is not anything to do with your company. Sound confusing? All your service team has to do is use their sense of empathy and common sense. IE: A customer rings your games company with a complaint that is clearly a fault of their computer or ISP. Instead of sending them on their way with a ‘not our problem’, a quick Google search may enable you to troubleshoot a simple problem or to equip them with the correct number they need to call.

  • ‘Sorry, it’s our company policy’

This rage inducing phrase is commonly used but does nothing to help the customer or endear them to your business. It should never be uttered by anyone on your team, so if you catch someone saying it it’s definitely time to get them in for a little re-training. There is almost always a way to keep your customer satisfied within your company guidelines. One sure-fire way to avoid saying those five dreaded words is to eliminate the ‘no’ answers by letting the customer know what you CAN do in a situation, preferably with some choices.
IE: A customer wants a refund on an unwanted gift, instead of saying no, say ‘what we can do is exchange it for something else or give your store credit to use as you wish.’ This gives the customer the control, but within your policy.

It costs so much more to capture new customers than retain old ones, keep that in mind when you next listen to your staff take calls, train them often, train them right and you’ll have happy staff helping happy customers