July 21, 2020
If you don't have the personnel to answer every phone call in a timely manner, the content of your health care organization's on hold messaging better be effective....
May 10, 2020
A customized On Hold Marketing program is, in reality, your best and most reliable employee. It shows up for work every single day (actually, it never goes home), it never has a bad hair day, or a bad attitude, It never skips work to go fishing, play golf or go Christmas shopping. It's there from open to close, and if you're open every day, it works seven days a week. And not only that, a customized On Hold Marketing program is your most cost-effective marketing tool, especially in a slower...
April 17, 2020
Dental offices that have an on hold message will get a more positive response from Baby Boomers and Greatest Generation patients....
March 5, 2020
It’s Monday morning and by 8:30 a.m., the phone lines are lit up at most medical offices. The weekend’s ailments, sniffles, and injuries require an appointment to see the doctor. Maybe 100 patients will call before noon. The problem is, the medical offices are staffed with one or two people to manage the call volume. Hopefully, the practice manager has installed basic call center software on the phone system. The call center software should be designed to queue up callers in the order they were received, instruct them to be...
February 16, 2020
For the past 5-10 years, the phone companies that provided telephone system connectivity, via copper lines, have been eager to start abandoning support of this infrastructure in order reduce their costs associated with maintaining the copper lines they had been installing and maintaining for over 100 years. In order to do so, they needed to provide an alternative, which in the case of Verizon, is fiber (Fios). Now that Fios is so heavily installed and readily available in some areas, Verizon (and other phone companies like them) are announcing that...
January 26, 2020
HVAC Distributors On-Hold programs promote products, training and events, but is only one slice of the total marketing pie. If you’re an HVAC/R distributor, a large portion of your sales come to you via the telephone…and the typical distributor location puts around 30 calls a day on hold…so making sure you handle inbound calls properly isn’t something to ignore. You should have a mini-marketing plan in place for the message-on-hold slice of your marketing. Although HVAC/R distributors serve their own unique markets, they do share a common caller profile: their best...
January 3, 2020
As I write this blog, I hope my competitors (who would love to steal my new sales leads) don’t see it and take me up on my recommendation. The inspiration for this golden nugget of consultancy is that indeed….just last week….I called 5 of my competitors for the sole reason to talk about trends in our industry. Fortunately, we are friends, attend annual association meetings together, call each other from time to time, and get along nicely for the most part. To reach these folks, I located their main phone...
October 8, 2019
Smart Veterinary Practices have a plan to use hold time not only toward their own advantage, but also their caller’s. Your practice benefits because an engaging audio program makes the time on hold seem shorter, resulting in less frustration from the caller. Callers benefit from hearing all the ways your practice can keep their pets healthy and playful. Pet owners also learn how important it is for them to keep regular check-ups for health and dental care. As with most practices, there is an element of competition with other local clinics,...
July 2, 2019
Smart senior care communities have a plan to use hold time not only toward their own advantage, but also the caller’s. Having a few moments of one-on-one time to enhance your professional image with a decision maker or influencer is a rare opportunity. The right on hold messaging is the right communication tool to tell callers your story. What design elements of On Hold Messaging create the right image? The right combination of message content, choice of voices and music will give the caller the right impression, one of a community...
April 24, 2019
Oh,….it may seem like a little thing to mention this, but are you aware of how you ‘sound’ to your callers? As we get busy in life, we sometimes neglect to remember a few very simple ‘rules’ in terms of telephone etiquette. Here are several quick tips and thoughts for consideration. How do team members answer the phone when a customer calls? Do they sound rushed or harried sounding? Do they sound like the young lady that answers the phone at doctor’s office that says….”thank you for calling *&^14%@fb and...