Clearview National January 2019 - Issue 206 | Page 28

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Your call is
important to us
Mark Williamson, Sales and Marketing
Director at audio branding specialists
PHMG explains how to turn telephone
hold time into a key marketing tool…
» » MOST OPERATORS IN
the UK’s glass and glazing
industry will already have a keen
appreciation of the importance
of both off and online visual
branding, from websites and
videos to newspaper adverts and
exhibition stands.
Yet fewer are leveraging the
power of audio branding and
the creation of their own unique
brand soundtrack to differentiate
themselves from competitors.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
Installer or manufacturer,
business reputation is rooted in
good customer service. As the old
adage says, you never get a second
chance to make a first impression
and this is just as important on
the phone as on the shop floor.
Even in our digital, always
online world, the telephone
is still often a company’s first
interaction with potential
customers and should be treated
as instrumental in attracting new
customers and retaining a loyal
customer base.
From getting a quote for a
new conservatory or confirming
a timeslot for a double glazing
installation to putting in an order
for a new consignment of the
latest PVC-U vertical sliding sash
windows, you want to be your
client’s first port of call.
The basic principles of good
call handling also stand for
smaller firms, who may not
operate a central office and
instead field calls via mobile
phone while out on a job.
This means ensuring staff
provide a good caller experience,
giving their name when they
answer and communicating a
polite and professional tone.
But good call handling doesn’t
end with shaping employee
behaviour.
SILENCE IS NOT
GOLDEN
Sector-specific research shows
that the glass industry puts
customers on hold for an average
of 36.28 seconds per call. That
may not sound like a lot, but in
reality, it is ample time to irritate
and frustrate prospective new
customers, especially if the wait
time is filled with monotonous
beeps, repetitive ‘please hold’
messages or confusing silence.
In fact, independent research
revealed recently that almost
three-quarters of Brits won’t
do repeat business with an
organisation if their first call isn’t
handled to satisfaction.
Yet 38 per cent of firms still
leave customers listening to
nothing but generic music,
while a further 29 per cent leave
callers in silence and 28 per cent
subject them to beeps.
Rather than leaving
customers to wait in silence
or with anodyne pan pipes
or lift music for company, it
benefits businesses to ensure
callers remain engaged by using
on-hold marketing that plays
when callers are put on hold,
transferred or call up outside of
office hours.
28 » JAN 2019 » CL EARVI E W- UK . C O M
There are three key
elements to successful on-hold
marketing - custom-made music
composition, professionally
voiced messages and an
engaging, relevant and punchy
script which boosts the bottom
line both directly (by promoting
glazing products and services)
and indirectly (by reassuring
callers with a confident
demonstration of industry
expertise).
WINDOW OF
OPPORTUNITY
On hold time - even if it is
just a few seconds - represents
a unique opportunity to
market key messages to what is
effectively a sitting target.
Unlike most advertising,
which falls on deaf ears, on-hold
marketing allows businesses to
speak directly to an attentive
audience. By picking up the
phone in the first place, the
caller has already registered an
interest and will immediately
be more receptive to any
information heard over the
phone line.
As long as the messaging is
relevant and well delivered, it
can provide the perfect platform
to cross and upsell products
and services – to tell callers in
an upbeat and engaging way
about seasonal offers, warranties
and guarantees, price match
promises, custom designs and
fast turnaround times.
Customers can be given added
reassurance by reinforcing award
accreditations or by promoting
state-of-the-art equipment like
CNC machinery or CAD/
CAM software. A few seconds
is all it takes to tell prospects
about specialist expertise in
certain sectors or to highlight
environmentally friendly options
to the growing number of
consumers who care about green
issues.
By giving customers
something to maintain their
interest while they wait,
on-hold marketing has been
shown to reduce caller hang-
ups significantly as well cutting
perceived waiting times.
The promotional
opportunities of on-hold
marketing may be endless, but
it’s nevertheless important to
keep the messages fresh and up
to date to avoid message fatigue
and keep bolstering your bottom
line.
www.phmg.com