Easy On Hold Adds New Music For Hold Messages Backgrounds

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Easy On Hold audio engineer Ian Szarafinski

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Easy On Hold engineer Ian Szarafinski announces that he has made available some great new music at easyonhold.com. Callers placed on hold always appreciate something that sounds “fresh” and current. Here are some samples of our newest tracks. For more music choices, visit: http://easyonhold.com/music-on-hold/music/

New Energetic Tracks From Alt Radio

If you like Mumford and Sons, The Lumineers, Imagine Dragons and Of Monsters And Men, order up some of the new on hold tracks in the Energetic Category.

ENERGETIC: Old Timey Love

ENERGETIC: Mountain Light

ENERGETIC: At The Lakehouse

Lumineers

WORLD: Wandering Heart

The rhythm of a “world beat” mixed with human “ahs”, accordion, acoustic instruments.

LIGHT POP: Waltz Of The Free

Acoustic stringed instruments, hand-claps, violin and a steady 3/4 rhythm fits in with today’s acoustic rock/pop groups.

LIGHT POP: The Long Dream

Why so serious? Quirky and light, you’ll hear toy piano, upright studio piano and a bouncy feel. It’s interesting, light and fun.

LIGHT POP: Rivers Edge

Mandolin, bells, banjo, piano with a medium tempo. Contemporary yet home-spun.

FRIENDLY: When You Go Tomorrow

FRIENDLY: Desert Moonrise

A hopeful, easy feel. Gentle and authentic.

EASY LISTENING: A Child’s Dream

A carefully arranged piano piece that conveys innocence.

 

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6 Reasons Why Companies Want Music On Hold Messages

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Every day, professional, well-established companies (many of them brand names you know) call on Easy On Hold to create custom music on hold messages. It’s interesting to learn why these firms have finally decided to take advantage of time callers spend on hold. There are five major motivators. Here they are.

1. My competitor has on-hold messages, so I have to have something similar.
In competitive analysis, a company attempts to uncover the methods and means behind a successful marketing plan. “What worked for them might also work for us,” is the thought. When you compare your competitor’s on-hold experience to yours, it doesn’t take long to tell the difference.

2. My boss heard our on hold and hates it.
Somewhere, at some time, someone heard the silence or fuzzy radio or simply awful music on hold and declared, “We can do better than this!” And that person was in a position to do something about it. Often this means appointing a team member (marketing, I.T. or office admin) the task of obtaining a music message on hold solution.

3. We want to move products and services through on hold messaging.
As the definition of marketing begins to broaden in the information age, every opportunity is considered. Where can we find our target market? There’s definitely a vibrant marketing channel available through your phone’s hold button. There, callers who are already interested in your products and services are waiting to hear what you can do for them.

4. We’re taking a careful look at our entire image.
It’s an image thing. How is our business perceived? How do we shape those perceptions? How do we build the brand?  A good deal of investment is made into creating, managing and protection your brand. A small investment in a message on hold program will go a long way toward maintaining that good image.

5. Frustrating callers and losing business.
Silence causes people to think they’ve been hung up on, or have lost the cell phone signal. Radio can deliver noise, unpleasant talk and worst of all–advertising (even for your competitors). These frustrations cause a higher rate of call abandonment. Today’s callers quickly go elsewhere when they don’t get what they’re looking for right away. Companies that think they may be losing sales to call abandonment are probably doing so. They need a professional on hold solution.

6. We’ve got a new phone system.
Business telephone technology is getting better and cheaper, allowing small companies to handle calls with “big company” style. As part of upgrading the phone system, companies are looking for good quality voices to use in the ACD/IVR (automated attendant) queues and while callers are waiting on hold. Firms are well-advised to check on the new phone system’s on hold message capabilities. A custom message on hold program can also include the voice mail and attendant messages you’ll also need with that new phone system.

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AT&T MS2085: A Big Disappointment In A Small Business Phone

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AT&T MS2085 is a bad ideaAfter praising AT&T for developing the innovative and affordable SYN-J small business phone system (see article here), we’re turning around on the manufacturing arm of the telephony giant due to the puzzling MS2085 phone system.  We’re working with a law firm that just purchased the MS2085 phone system with 2015 desk phones. They just can’t figure out how to change the awful on hold music stuck in the system. The answer? You can’t.

Does Not Work With Music On Hold Devices
Confirming this on several sites, I located a customer who is returning the phone to the retailer for this reason.

“The main reason I needed to return it: I found out it DOESN’T WORK WITH ANY MUSIC-ON-HOLD machine. And besides, stupid music on hold that is built-in CAN_NOT_BE_TURNED_OFF or edited. Are you guys serious??? This is end of 2012, not 1980. You’re selling a business phone and this phone can’t be working with custom business messages, paid music-on-hold solutions, etc? …”

The Wierd Concept
The idea behind this phone is that there is one “base station” or “console” phone to which incoming phone lines (up to 4) are attached. So it looks like this phone system is using your old POTS lines (analog phone lines). Only the main console attaches to the phone lines. Easch deskset connects to your office network (via an Ethernet connection). Now you have a combination of phones that are on the office network (intranet) and using analog lines. This makes little sense when wireless technology would allow desksets to easily connect without wires to the console phone, as with the SynJ system.

Complaints Abound
There is no shortage of complains on the web about this system.

Another dissatisfied buyer writes:

“there are too may deal-breakers for me with this phone system:

1. Hold music can’t be changed or turned off. It’s terrible music and I would not want to subject any of my customers to this bad music.

2. Calls transferred by auto attendant don’t go to voicemail as another reviewer mentioned.

3. System does not recognize a hang-up call so it keeps recording voicemail.

4. When a voicemail is being recorded by one line and another line receives a call, the auto-attendant does not pickup, it just rings and rings.

5. There seems to be a delay in the time the voicemail finishes recording and the time the system “frees up” (see #4 above) and displays the message notification (my tests showed this took several minutes). You can use this phone system without the auto-attendant and the built-in answering system (thereby avoiding issues 2-5 above) by using service-provided voicemail boxes.

6. The speaker, both speakerphone and corded handset speaker, is fuzzy. It sounds like the paper membrane of the speaker is rattling slightly. I’m not sure if this affects the quality the person on the other end of the line hears (we tested with cell phones so it was hard to tell, seemed OK though). But recording the voicemail memos sounded fuzzy no matter what phone you listened to them on – although if you’re using the service-provided voicemail you could record it from another phone.

Ultimately though, the hold music was the biggest deal-breaker. I would not recommend this phone to anyone. ”

Documentation
For detailed information, you can look in the manual.

Professional Installation May Be Required
AT&T promotes this phone system as, “No professional assistance required.” This contradicts reports we have heard from our clients, who say they have needed to bring in expensive hourly network techs to get all of the stations to work properly.

Here’s a review posted at BestBuy.com: “Cons: Design, Performance, Expensive, Difficult to Use. This phone system is useless as a business phone. We have tried to get it to work for several days with no luck. this is the most confusing phone system I have ever worked with as a business owner for the last 30 years. These will be packaged back up and returned ASAP!”

There are better systems for similar money that would make your life at the office easier. Check out our aticles on: X-Blue, TierZero, and the AT&T SynJ. Note: the SynJ SB67158 is just the base console phone; The SB67138 is the base phone with one wireless handset. Also available are wireless desk sets.

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Orthodontic Practice Consultant Recommends Messages On Hold

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Cathy Sundval, Orthodontic Practice Coach, Consultant, Trainer, LecturerGuest blogger Cathy Sundvall, of Kissimmee, Florida,  serves as a consultant, trainer and lecturer for orthodontic practice enhancement. Cathy believes that orthodontic practices should us phone on hold messaging as part of an overall patient communication strategy. For over 34 years, Cathy has immersed herself in techniques, systems and methods to improve the performance of orthodontic practices and their teams.  In this article, she provides tips and ideas for putting an effective message-on-hold program into place.

Using Your Hold Button As A Marketing Tool

Guest Author: Cathy Sundval

HOLD PLEASE, MAKE THE MOST OF THE TIME YOUR PATIENTS SPEND ON HOLD
Your telephone is one of the most effective and least expensive practice marketing tools available – if you are using “on-hold” messaging. It’s pretty safe to say that targeting your practice information to pre-qualified callers will produce the best results for your marketing dollars. It’s crucial to remember that every caller, whether or not they are existing patients or parents, could react to a need for your orthodontic services, either for themselves, their child, a friend or an acquaintance.

In the perfect orthodontic practice, you would never place callers on hold. No practice is perfect, however, so it pays not to overlook the importance of what callers hear when they contact your practice.  Research has proven that, for prospective patients, what happens in those first 60 seconds will mean the difference between requesting your services or hanging up the phone.

THE SOUND OF YOUR PRACTICE
You may know what your practice “looks” like…but ask yourself, “What does my practice “sound” like?”  When you place your callers on hold, what do they hear? Are you advertising for other practices by playing a radio station while on hold or frustrating callers with “dead” silence?  Keep in mind that, with on-hold messaging, you can use on- hold that time productively by creating a “talking newsletter” that provides useful information about your practice, services, staff, and unique image.

Some practices use on-hold messaging because they understand that anything is better than silence. In fact, on-hold messaging (let’s call it educating and marketing to callers) is a under-used tool that enables you to speak to your potential patients and patient family one on one.

WHEN TO HOLD ’EM
Maybe you feel you don’t place patients on hold often enough to consider on-hold messaging. Think again, on average 70% of your calls will be placed on hold. Your patients can and will be placed on-hold for a number of possible reasons:

They are waiting to speak with someone when they first call in, and the receptionist is busy.

  • They are being transferred to the appropriate team member who can answer a financial question.
  • They are waiting to talk to a staff member or orthodontist that maybe with a patient at the chair; and
  • They are waiting while a member of your staff is getting information or pulling their chart .
Never just let patients wait.  Use your on-hold time to speak to them.

 Here are 10 vital pieces of information that you can pass along via on-hold messaging:

  1. Spark their interest in a new innovative treatment modality: Incognito™ Hidden Braces, Invisalign, and aesthetic brackets
  2. Reinforce your branding strategy, “We start treatment at the right time!”
  3. Tell them more about your practice mission and your vision
  4. Inform them about your office hours and days in the office
  5. Present your scheduling and appointment policy
  6. Answer your most frequently asked questions
  7. I them to the doctor, associate or team member of the month
  8. Inform them about upcoming contests, patient events and marketing events, both internal and external
  9. Inform them of employment opportunities
  10. Remind them about your website address

MAKING THE MESSAGE
Once you know what you want your on-hold message to say, you need to focus on how you want to say it.

 Consider both male and female voices for your on-hold messages.
Did you know that choosing either a male or a female voice could radically affect the overall message you intend to send. Male voices are typically used to sell products, while female voices are used to convey emotion. Keep that in mind when choosing both your message and voice, as many times orthodontics is an “emotional choice”.

Music plays an important supporting role in your on hold message.
It should reflect the general tastes of your patient families and represent your practices identity in a positive manner. Keep in mind that long periods of music may make your patient’s mind wander. The purpose of music in any message is to help carry the words to the listener, to help callers more easily understand and accept your message, and to convey the feeling of the type of practice with which they are dealing.

 Use Voice Clips from Patients, Referring Dentists and Your Team Members.
These satisfied patients, referring dentist and team members are an excellent source for on-hold testimonials. Their stories and endorsements are effective-easy on hold marketing messages that should be conveyed to your callers. People relate better to actual voices and believe the endorsements far more than if they were given a brochure to read.

Educate, don’t entertain!
You want to educate and inform the callers about your practice, your services, and especially how you fill their needs. Avoid the bells and whistles, stick to the relevant information and facts, and they will hold longer.

Change your voicemail message daily.
Some patients would prefer to leave a message rather than wait on hold, so change your voicemail message daily. You should include the date, your current status and a turn-around time for your return calls. This greatly reduces phone tag with patients/parents, referring doctors and vendors and lets them know that you are in the office and available to help them.

WHAT YOU HEAR IS WHAT YOU GET
One of the major benefits I have seen of having ON-HOLD MUSIC AND MESSAGES is how much it enhances the image of a practice.   When I call a practice, I often asked to be placed on-hold to learn more about them,  When I hear a high quality, on-hold production with music and a great voice talent, I automatically assume the practice is established, professional, and likely puts patients first. In the orthodontic practice perception and image is everything.

The bottom line is that placing a caller on hold is an opportunity to start an exchange of ideas.  On-hold messaging is one of the most cost-efficient and targeted methods of driving your message home to your patients and potential patients.  Plus, an on-hold message program is like having a marketing department working in your office 24/7 for pennies.  What a bargain.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Cathy Sundval is an experienced orthodontic practice coach and trainer, based in Kissimmee, Florida USA. Cathy’s goal in working with practices is to contribute to the overall enhancement of the practices health, improve productivity and quality of the team members, and increase profitability of the operations. As a result, the practice and team members increase the excellence of service to their patients.

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The 4 Things Your Customers Want to Know About You and Your Small Business

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Guest author Tom Borg, a business consultant in Canton, Michigan,  provides tips on how your business can build lifetime customer satisfaction.

Among the many things that people want to know about the people who serve them, research shows that four specific items are at the top of the list. Here is what the studies have identified.  Your small business customers want to know the answers to four questions. They are:

1. Do you like me?

2. Do you care about me?

3. Can I trust you?

4. Do you know what you are talking about?

The first thing they want to know is if they are sincerely liked by the person serving them. Your customers will know this from how the representative interacts with them. Does your employee use their name, does he or she really listen, and do they have sincere empathy in their voice?

The second thing your customers want to know about your employee who serves them is, does the representative really care about them. The customer can sense this from the questions they are asked, the tone of their voice, how helpful they are and all the little things your employee says or does that shows they really do care.

The third question your customer wants to know the answer to is, can they trust your employee. Indications of trust can be seen in how confident the representative is and does he or she follow through as promised. One example of how trust can be lost by a small business owner or employee is by how promptly a phone call or email is returned to the customer. When there is a long period of time that elapses between the time the customer contacts your small business and is followed up with, or worse yet, not followed up, trust diminishes rapidly. A good rule of thumb is to have all phone calls and emails returned within 24 hours or less.

Finally, the fourth thing people want to know about the employee who serves them is whether or not the person serving them is knowledgeable and competent. Indications of these qualities are demonstrated by how familiar your employee is with the particular situation the customer is experiencing or the product or service they are purchasing. Customers want to know if this employee has solved similar types of problems for other customers in the past. If they have, it builds confidence in their  buying experience.

In summary, to build lifetime customer satisfaction with the customers you serve, make sure your small business is able to provide the right kind of customer service training that teaches the proper customer service skills. These skills should empower all of your managers and staff to treat your customers in such a way that consistently answers their four most common questions they have about your small business.

Tom Borg is president of Tom Borg Consulting, LLC. He is a business consultant, trainer and author of the book Making Service Count-Leveraging Customer Satisfaction to Make Your Small Business More Profitable. He can be reached at 734.404-5909 or tomborg@tomborgconsulting.comt, or visit his website, www.tomborgconsulting.com.

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CISCO Describes Its Own On Hold Messaging Audio Format As “Marginal” Quality

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On hold message audio uploaded to a CISCO CallManager phone system will result in poor quality audio, says CISCO in their online document, CallManager MoH uses G.711 Codec while Voice Calls use G.729 Codec Configuration Example.

The report says, “In typical Cisco CallManager configurations, voice calls and Music on Hold (MoH) streams that must traverse a low-speed WAN link use the G.729 codec in order to save bandwidth. The use of the G.729 codec for voice or MoH traffic over a WAN link is still recommended. However, in some situations G.729 does not provide adequate quality for MoH streams. This is due to the fact that G.729 codec is optimized for speech. Therefore, it typically provides only marginal audio fidelity for MoH.

“In situations where it is determined that G.729 MoH is unacceptable, you can force MoH to use G.711 while you still maintain voice calls at G.729. This is done through the use of the ‘region’ configuration in Cisco CallManager. When you place the MoH server in a Cisco CallManager region by itself, you can specify what codecs are used between the MoH server and other regions when a user is placed on hold or during network hold. Consequently, voice calls can still use G.729 while MoH is streamed using G.711.”

View the CISCO document showing how to force the CallManager to use G.711 audio format.

The take-away is that the G.729 audio format, apart from being entirely proprietary to Cisco, provides “only marginal audio fidelity for MoH” (music on hold). So why use it?

To their credit, Cisco has a great deal of documentation available online. Read the Music On Hold FAQ document. This document is rather comprehensive, as you can see from the table of contents:

  • Introduction
  • What is Music On Hold?
  • Which version of Cisco CallManager supports Music On Hold?
  • On what servers is Music On Hold deployed?
  • What are the current capabilities of Music On Hold?
  • How do I make the Music on Hold (MOH) as a ringback tone when using Cisco CallManager with
  • IPCC?
  • Why are remote sites that use Locations−Based Admission Control unable to receive Music On Hold in
  • the initial release of Cisco CallManager 3.x and 4.x?
  • How does Music On Hold work after the Cisco CallManager 3.x and 4.x maintenance release?
  • Do I need to have a sound card?
  • What sound cards can be used with the Music On Hold server?
  • What is a Cisco MoH USB audio sound card (MOH−USB−AUDIO=)?
  • How many unicast streams can a stand−alone Music On Hold server support?
  • How many unicast streams can be supported on a co−located server?
  • When do I need a stand−alone Music On Hold server?
  • If I have co−located a Music On Hold Server, how do I make sure that I do not exceed 30 unicast
  • streams?
  • What happens if I run out of streams?
  • What codecs are supported for Music On Hold?
  • How can I configure Music on Hold to use G.711 while voice calls use G.729?
  • Why do users hear a beep sound (Tone on Hold) instead of Music on Hold?
  • How do I restart the MoH service that runs on Cisco CallManager?
  • How do I disable Music on Hold for conference calls?
  • Why does the IP Media Streaming service cause high CPU utilization?
  • Why is multicast MoH not heard across WAN links or to external users?
  • How to disable Music on Hold?
  • How do I disable Tone on Hold (ToH)?
  • How do I troubleshoot the issue of tone on hold not playing and I hear complete silence when the call is
  • put on hold in spite of the fact that tone on hold is enabled?
  • Why are calls disconnected a few seconds after a call is placed on hold?
  • How do I adjust the volume of the MoH audio source on Cisco CallManager?
  • How do you set up the MoH Live−Feed on Survivable Remote Site Telephony (SRST) gateways?
  • How do you apply the MOH globally in the Cisco CallManager?
  • How to configure Cisco CallManager to make MOH play the music files continuously?
  • Related Information

Of interest is the discussion of the use of an external music on hold player with the Cisco CallManager.  A sound card is needed in this case, referred to as a “fixed audio source”.  The media convergence servers (MCSs) do not ship with sound cards. If you choose to use
a sound card, you need to purchase it separately. The Sound Blaster protocol control information (PCI) 16 sound card has been tested and is recommended for use with the Cisco MCS 7835 and MCS 7835−1000.

At Easy On Hold, we always recommend working with a certified Cisco integrator for music on hold setup. One such provider that has been blogging on the topic of music on hold is Chesapeake Netcraftsmen. They are a Cisco gold partner integrator. This is the type of firm to seek out for your Cisco music on hold integration.

Use of the external (or fixed audio source) music on hold device include the convenience of automatic scheduling and IP connectivity, as offered with the Easy On Hold Anytime Plan. This keeps business owners and marketing managers out of the phone room. You will want to avoid a situation whereby you will need to physically handle uploading or configuring message on hold updates. You will also want to avoid using the same on hold music and message month after month, as you are missing a fantastic opportunity to communicate with customers who are waiting on hold.

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