Category Archives: Choosing A Vendor

Are All Message On Hold Companies Alike?

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It’s easy to think that all on hold companies are alike… Throw some paragraphs together, have someone read it, add some music, voila, you have an on hold message. That may be the tact of many message on hold producers—hurry up, slap it together, and send it to you. During 1997, Easy On Hold’s first year in business, it became clear that the industry needed something better. On hold messages were already becoming a hated commodity.

Coming from a marketing background, Easy On Hold founders established an approach that has served our clientele well and is still embraced by our entire team. That approach is, every minute on hold really counts.

It’s not enough to grab a few sentences off your site or brochure and call it good. It’s not enough to have a “radio announcer” read your script, add some music, and call it good. It must be treated like the marketing tool is really is, with strategy and care. We work with a scriptwriter who is a former radio news director and broadcaster, so she has an “ear” for how to ferret out interesting details and capturing those details in a way that will be interesting to someone listening (very different than a written piece that is meant for the eyes). After all, it is a conversation we’re having with our callers, right?

Next, the announcers read your script with a tone that matches up with where your callers are emotionally…a script for a tire shop or a cruise line is going to be read differently than a script for a healthcare provider, which needs a caring, compassionate tone. No two companies are alike, no two scripts are alike. I’ve heard on hold scripts that are read the same way regardless of the subject matter—you wonder if they even really knew what they were reading. That just shouldn’t happen.

And finally the music. Our studio engineer, a competent musician himself, takes the music and pulls it all together, and we invest thousands of dollars in our music library so that we can offer our customers just the right piece of music that will bring that emotional final touch to the production.

After the production is created, it travels through our quality control stage, where our production coordinator listens to it for accuracy; our goal is to make sure the client never receives a production with a mistake in it.

This leads us to the second big difference-maker between on hold messaging companies: customer service. Everyone says they have great customer service, right? Here’s what that means at Easy On Hold:

  • We continue to revise your production until you love it. Some companies will give you 2 revisions, for example—ours are unlimited. If you’re not 100% happy with it, you won’t be at peace and you won’t recommend us. Did you really win in that scenario? No, and neither did we if you think about it. So we keep honing it until you say it’s perfect.
  • Another customer service plus is our daily tech help—we have a full time tech director able to help you if you encounter any technical trouble at all.
  • And after the sale, if you bought more than one production, we’ll send you friendly email reminders of how many productions are remaining in your package so that you have the confidence that you’re receiving everything you ordered (some on hold companies hope you’ll forget so that they don’t have to honor them), whether it takes you a year or years to use it up.

Finally, a big difference between message on hold companies is the purchase model. Are you looking for a one-time fee situation, or are you looking for a monthly or annual situation? These are important factors that get missed until it’s too late and you’re stuck in a contract you didn’t expect.

These are aspects of a company you won’t pick up from their website, so if that’s all you see then yes, it can appear we’re ‘all alike.’ It’s important to get a glimpse inside of how your on hold company is wired and structured to make sure you get a quality product and care that makes you feel like you’ve made the best choice.

Below are some recent testimonials that underscore the value of being different here at Easy On Hold.

Simply amazing!  Seriously, the best service from anyone that I have ever worked with! Thank you so much, please personally thank your team from all of us here at Midwest. The staff loved it and the customers asked us questions because of it! I will undoubtedly recommend your service to anyone that I discuss this topic with. The recordings were perfect and with all this service for $950 we could not be more satisfied.  Ken, Midwest Photo Exchange

Shaw’s experience with EasyOnHold has been very positive.  Each time we have worked on detailed projects, there has been a strong commitment to meeting our requirements.  In addition, EasyOnHold has engaged Shaw to understand our business and while providing leadership and best practices for managing our marketing message. EasyOnHold provides a consistent, brand specific voice.  We have been updating messages for several years and the experience for our callers through these changes has remained constant. Pam Holder, Customer Service/Logistics Business Solutions Shaw Industries Group Inc.

Spotlight Pages has used many voice over and on hold companies from around the world. Easy on hold is the best if not the best in the world voice over and on hold music we’ve had the pleasure of working with in years. The employees are very patient, diligent and friendly. We can’t find one problem with their service, it’s an impeccable program. If you need voice over or on hold music, I highly recommend them! Our company and it’s 1600+ employees wants to thank Easy On Hold, we ALL trust you with our business.  Amber Hicks and the Spotlight Pages Team

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7 Tips For Choosing a Music Message On Hold Provider

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You’ve decided to take care of the “hold button problem”–you know, that silence or fuzzy radio that callers endure while waiting for someone to come back on the line. Now you need to choose a music on hold provider. Here are 7 quick tips–things to watch out for when shopping messages on hold.

1. CONTRACT OR NO CONTRACT?
There are services with ongoing contract payments and there are “buyout” message-on-hold providers. If you want to own your equipment and messages, mention this up front. If you simply want to pay a monthly fee for complete service (equipment, message changes, scripting) then remember that there will be a time limit on the use of the messages. At the end of the contract you have silence on hold once again.

Monthly Model
You may look at your messaging on hold as a “utility” or ongoing service, so you’re thinking of paying a simple monthly fee (like you would your cable tv bill). That can be accomplished, but look carefully at what you’re getting. Ask about whether the entire audio production can be changed, or whether just a few paragraphs can be altered. Can you change the music at any time?

Buyout Model
We often hear, “I paid every month and never changed my message”. Buyers who feel trapped by a monthly contract are looking for a pay-once play-forever model. A buyout means you may play the message on hold as long as you like, with no obligation to buy again. If you purchase 4 complete productions, for example, you can use them in 12 months, 20 months, 36 months or more.

2. WHAT IS A MESSAGE?
Some companies call a short paragraph a “message” or “commercial”, then they say you’ll get 8 messages. This means you get one on hold production containing 8 paragraphs of copy. Often a “message” refers to a self-contained 4-minute production that will loop continuously. Ask about word count. How many words will I get in my script? How many unique scripts?

Questions To Ask

  • Are we talking about a 4-minute message?
  • What is the word-count?
  • How many unique 4-minute messages will I get?

3. DO YOU NEED AN EXTERNAL MUSIC ON HOLD PLAYER?
First, do you need equipment? If you have had music-on-hold on your current phone system, state this to your prospective supplier; it may keep you from paying for unnecessary equipment.

Internal/VOIP
Your phone system may allow messages to be entered into an internal memory, in which case you may not need any equipment at all. Most VOIP off-site or “hosted” systems allow you to upload a file to the system.

2-4 Line Ordinary Phones
You might have a 2 or 4 line phone you purchased at an office supply store. These types of phones cannot play music on hold without the help of a special adapter that allows music to be piped into the phone line.

Avoid Consumer Grade Players
We recommend against the use a consumer-grade audio player in place of a professional message on hold player. Lithium batteries should never be plugged in day after day. The idea of a message on hold player is that it repeats 24/7 so any time a caller is placed on hold, your message will play.

MARKETING, GREETINGS OR JUST MUSIC?

Marketing
Consider who is calling. If you are doing business on the phone, then a marketing message may be ideal. You’ve got a captive audience of potential buyers at a critical moment. They’re already connecting with you, so phone on hold is a great time to insert your current specials, announcements, image enhancers, etc.

Greetings
A mostly-music message can include a few short spoken statemetns. For decades, callers have been hearing “thank you for calling” or generic messages on hold. These are predictable, but friendly statements that can add a human voice to the waiting-on-hold experience. Consider a custom greeting that includes your company name, to make the message more personal.

Just Music
Knowing how long your hold times are, and who is calling will help determine what content is appropriate. Companies with callers that are “internal” or “departmental” won’t need a marketing message, so just music will do. Extremely long hold times may call for mostly or all music.

HOW OFTEN WILL YOU CHANGE YOUR MESSAGE?
If you do go with a marketing message, then you will want to consider keeping it fresh over time. The on-hold message industry calls message changes “updates”. If you have a seasonal business, or if you hold monthly webinars, events and shows, you should ask for pricing on a package of custom hold messages. You may also find a plan that allows unlimited message changes over the course of a year. Easy On Hold offers an “Anytime Plan” for a flat annual fee. This can reduce the per-production cost considerably. You may be interested in a smaller package of 2 or 4 unique productions. Easy On Hold offers packages of 2 to 4 on-hold productions that “roll over” (like unused cell phone minutes that never expire).

BEWARE OF UNNECESSARY INSTALLATION AND SETUP FEES
Chances are, you can plug the message on hold equipment in yourself. If you have never had music on hold playing on your phone system, you can place a call to your system installer and ask about the MOH INPUT, which may be as easy as plugging in one cord. Installation may be best handled by your I.T. department, your phone installer or an outsourced technician.

REQUEST A CUSTOM DEMO
Typically, message on hold providers will play an audio sample of messages on hold they’ve produced for other businesses. That’s fine, but it doesn’t really show you what they’ll do for you. Will you get the same voiceover/announcer, script quality, production quality, etc. as the sample? The only way to know for sure is to discuss your business with a music on hold producer. Let them take a couple of days to write up a short script–about your business. (Free music message on hold demo.) Listen to the voiceover for your actual production. Listen to how the music works with the voice. You don’t need to be completely satisfied, as the script can be modified, the music can be changed, etc., but the demo should tell you if the producer “gets” your business. Also, consider how the production process was handled. Were deadlines met? Did the script speak to the caller, or was it all fluff and corporate-speak? Don’t let the script writer get away with using a boring template.

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