(by Raymond Ecke)

Some companies hold their callers in silence, others play the radio, but more companies are realizing the advertising and customer service benefits of an on-hold messages.

The best way to see the benefits of on-hold messages is to look at the alternatives. The most obvious alternative is silence. But, according to an independent study by Tech-Data (Clearwater, FL), silence has an estimated 60% caller abandonment rate - and one-third of those callers don't call back.

"If you have callers waiting and all they hear is silence, you'll have a lot of hang-ups," says Steve Bischel of AdTech (Sand Diego, CA). "If you have an 800 number and they call back several times, it's costing you money each time they call."

Many companies play the radio because they think it's free, but it's not. Radio is a performance of copyrighted material, which means music licensers BMI (Broadcast Music, Inc.) and ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) get paid. Playing the radio and not paying a licensing fee is against the law, and BMI and ASCAP have gone to court and won. The fines range from $250 to $50,000 per song. Obtaining a license means a minimum payment of $220 a year, and that's only for one to ten phone lines. A company with 50 phone lines pays $720. Also with radio, companies risk their customers hearing a competitor's ad. Why give them a reason to call someone else? Of course there's always Muzak, but those benevolent sounds aren't free either. Muzak costs about $60 per month. Instead of giving your customers only music, the same money could pay for a custom-made promotional announcement aimed at a captured audience already interested in your company. No other advertising medium achieves this. "It is the cheapest form of advertising to the most attentive audience you could possible market to - they are already buying something," says Time Walsh of Jingle Phone Productions (Bensenville, IL).

Messages on-hold serve many purposes. They promote products and services, but when used to their fullest extent, messages on-hold effectively cross sells other products and services your customers may not be familiar with. "You may get more revenue from your clients because you're informing them of services that they didn't know you had," adds Walsh. Other companies use on-hold messages for public relations. For example, a company use that information as an excellent on-hold public relations message. Ultimately, the job of an on-hold message is to keep your customers on the line. Or as Steve Bischel says, "use negative time to a positive end." But doing this is often easier said then done. There are questions companies must ask themselves and pitfalls they should be aware of before taking the first step toward purchasing an on-hold message.

1. Check your phone system. Some phone systems are not compatible for an on-hold message.
2. Consider where the message will be played. Is the message going to be played in a call center that handles customer complaints? If it is, don't tell them how great your company is, or your message will fall on deaf ears. Similarly, a strong message is best for calls going directly to your sales reps.
3. Make sure your vendor covers all the music licensing fees. It's usually included in the price, but sometimes it's not. If it isn't, you are responsible for the cost if you're caught, not the vendor. Be certain all music fees are in your contract if you get a call from BMI or ASCAP.
4. Don't use your radio ads in your on-hold message. Most radio ads are too aggressive for an on-hold message, says Time Walsh. A more subtle ad is better received.
5. Ask your vendor for references. Jill Tibshraeny of Please Hold Promotions (Scottisdale, AZ) says there are "fly by night" companies who will send you the initial tape and then disappear. It is acceptable to ask for references and for demos of their previous work. In fact, you won't even have to ask the better companies - they'll offer it.
6. Reassure customers on hold that they will be helped as soon as possible. One way to ruin the effect of your on-hold message is to give callers the impressions that they're on hold only to hear your message. "You're talking a real bad PR deal," says Bischel. The only way to prevent that is to give callers constant reassurance that you are trying your best to help them.
7. Update your ads. If your message is talking about a sale that ended a month ago, your message is doing more harm than good. It tells callers that you don't care. Most vendors will contact you when it is time to change your message, but it can be overlooked.
8. Keep messages short. Although the total tape length is usually between six and 12 minutes, each individual ad shouldn't be more than a minute. Remember, many callers are put on hold in the middle of messages and if the ad is too long they won't get the full impact.