How many times have you contacted a business and were placed on hold only to hear dead silence? The first thing people normally say is, “Hello?” “Hello?” It’s human nature for them to think their call was disconnected when that happens and they may even hang up. They may call back… they may not.

When calling a business, the majority of people assume when they’re on hold that they will hear music or maybe some messages with information about that business. When they here nothing though, it can make the hold time seem like a lifetime as they wait for someone to come back to the line.

If this is you’re business, consider breaking the silence and using the phone on hold time to your advantage by providing your callers informational and promotional on hold messaging that may help increase your sales. For example, with music playing in the background, a professional voice talent can talk about your products and/or services, plus mention your website. Think about how powerful that is… prospects on hold also getting an immediate visual of your offerings because you provided them with your website address.

Image is everything and quality hold music with on hold messaging, allows you to present your company as a true professional in the eyes of your clients. In addition, a scripted presentation on hold, lets your customer know you value their time and the reason they called. Afterall, no one enjoys being put on hold, but customized messages and music thoughtfully prepared for your customers makes that time a little more pleasant.

When customers and prospective customers call your business and you need to put them on hold, do you leave them hanging there in silence or listening to radio static? You may think your callers do not care for or even notice the phone hold music, but the truth is, they do… and they are listening.

It is important to remember that callers to your company are a captive audience, for when they inquire about your product or service, they are already interested and their mind is open to any message you send because they are looking for your product or service to fill a need or solve a problem. If they are motivated to call you, they want more information, not less, so the form of delivering information is irrelevant to the opportunity to present that information.

A quality customized on hold message and music program is crucial to presenting a polished image and allows you to control what your callers hear and how they perceive your business. Like it or not, your company brand exists. You can control how that brand is seen by your customers or (by doing nothing) have it controlled for you.

Don’t underestimate the value of on hold messages as an important component of your customer service efforts.

With custom on hold messages, you can quickly and conveniently offer information about your business to callers waiting on hold or in a queue. As you may know, a caller is already interested in your product (the reason they are calling) so you already have a targeted prospect on the phone.