On Hold Messages For Businesses Increase Sales By 20%

When it comes to marketing, being a Johnny-one-note is a bad idea, because a single tactic is rarely sufficient. The best marketing programs reach prospects with a smart mix of tactics, but very few all-in-one marketing techniques include that perfect mix with the exception of message on-hold marketing. Why you might ask? Because every business has three types of prospects: cold, warm and hot.

• Cold prospects know little or nothing about your business and need to be educated.
• Warm prospects are familiar with your company but have yet to pull the trigger and need some motivation.
• Hot prospects are those closest to closing or who’ve purchased from you in the past.

On hold advertising offers several invaluable opportunities to increase an organization’s sales through its highly targeted marketing techniques to all three of these types of audiences.

According to research from CX Act Inc. a customer experience improvement firm, a recent survey shows that while consumers have been happy to replace the traditional with the digital in so many aspects of their lives, the e-love doesn’t seem to extend to their interactions with companies. The survey concluded that the good old-fashioned telephone often trumps the Web and social media as the most satisfying way to talk to firms with 59% of respondents indicating that calling is their preferred method of communication with a business, versus less than 30% via email or other communication methods.

And, since we now know that the telephone is the first point of contact, then it shouldn’t come as huge surprise to learn that AT&T research shows that businesses who utilize message on hold advertising, experience 25-30% of callers who purchase additional products or services based on an on-hold sales suggestion. However, an even more staggering statistic to consider is that you could you be turning away as much as 60% of your incoming calls without a an effective music on hold messaging system in place.

Here are just a few of the basic ways on hold marketing helps to improve your sales performance, reduce your cost of selling, strengthening customer relationships and generate more revenues.

• Inform callers of your most “profitable” products and services.

• Suggest a teaser discount, or promote specials that you may offer from time to time

• Motivate your prospects to take action

• Cross-sell related products/services

• Raise awareness to other divisions or related business areas of your company.

What is the purpose and reason for your business? The purpose for business owners is to create customers in some way by offering a solution to a particular problem, or improving upon a product or service. But, what’s the reason why “any” business exists? It’s simple. To Make MONEY! So, how does a business make money? By having a quality marketing strategy in place, that’s how! Without it, organizations are challenged to achieve market penetration, growth or brand recognition. So, marketing is a must-have component for any successful business plan to attract customers and produce profits.

To be successful, your marketing strategy must be continually focusing on your customer and on what they want today and also on what they will want tomorrow. A well-planned on hold marketing program helps you build sales year-round, is easy to manage, and provides for greater customer education, better customer relationships, and increased sales.