Your Customers Will Hear More When You Say Less

By Alli Hill

Over the past several years I've developed quite a penchant for crafting supplies. Now I say supplies, rather than the actual art of crafting, because I don't have enough finished masterpieces to justify the copious amounts of paper, glue, paint, fabric, letters, scraps, frames and albums that litter my art room.

I've discovered the reason I find it hard to create something is because I have too many options in front of me.

We see similar situations in the business world. Studies show that buyers who face too many options have a more difficult decision making process, and are more likely to forgo making a choice altogether.

By the same token, the more information you put into your marketing pieces, whether it's cramming text into every inch of available space of a flyer or listing all the technical specs of an a/c unit in your on-hold message, the less your audience will remember.

Now we've all heard this before, but it bears repeating: Less is More.

When you choose to say less in your marketing, it forces you to select only that which will give the biggest impact. That is, you eliminate the "fluff" and focus only on what's important.

You can implement this strategy with your on-hold messaging. When crafting your caller's on-hold experience, keep these tips in mind:

• Each message should focus on only one idea. If you want to emphasize a water heater's efficiency, it's probably best not to mention the 10-year warranty or the easy installation in the same message (even though those are both great features!). If you convolute the message with too many selling points, the listener is less likely to retain any of the information you've given them.
• Keep your messages short and to the point.Throwing in too many technical details makes a simple message lengthy, and can distract from the point you want to make. Stick with the Keep-It-Short-and-Simple method, and save the specifics for the sales conversation.
• Repeat a message to attract more attention to it. Like the 3 L's of real estate (location, location, location), the most important things are often repeated. If you want to attract attention to a particular message, consider playing it multiple times. You could even use different messages for the same product or vendor, each emphasizing a different selling point. In doing this, your callers may hear four or five messages on hold, but only for two or three different products, which may help those messages stand out in their minds.

Winonhold Rated Most Effective Marketing for Business Growth

Win Presidents rated on-hold marketing from winonhold.com (Harris Communications, Inc.) as more effective in growing their business than the internet, television, direct mail, print ads, radio ads, and even the yellow pages, according to a recent third-party on-hold marketing survey. In fact, nearly 100% of Winonhold survey respondents feel their on-hold marketing service serves as a useful tool that adds value to their overall marketing strategy, is nice to have, or is informative to clients.

The survey was commissioned by the On-Hold Messaging Association and conducted by Greystoke Insights in May 2012. The results of the survey come from over 1500 respondents from 27 different on-hold marketing companies (including Winonhold), and reveal three solid advantages of Winonhold's on-hold marketing service:

1. Winonhold members demonstrate a higher satisfaction rating (87%) with on-hold marketing than the average of survey respondents from the other companies surveyed (85%) and are more likely to recommend the service to others. The survey also states why respondents are likely to recommend the service. Some of the reasons they specify include outstanding customer service, the easy-to-use software to update their on-hold messages, quick turnaround time, and the effectiveness of the service. Here's what a few Winonhold members had to say:

• "On hold marketing is the best value I've ever had in advertising my company."
• "I highly recommend using it."
• "Winonhold is a great company to deal with."
• "It has worked well for our company."
• "I have been very pleased with on-hold messaging. On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being best, Winonhold is a 12!"
• "I'm very pleased with our current provider. They do an excellent job and are regularly reminding us to update and review our messages."
• "Very professional, great customer service, productions are completed in a very timely manner."

2. At least 39% of Winonhold members know for a fact their on-hold marketing service has been directly responsible for increasing sales. That's nearly twice as high as the average of the other on-hold marketing companies in the survey. According to the data, one of the primary reasons Winonhold respondents decide to use on-hold marketing is to promote the sale of products and services, and Winonhold has helped a large percentage of survey respondents in achieving this goal.

3. The survey indicates Winonhold members view their on-hold marketing service as being more effective for them than other forms of advertising, and also does much more than just increase sales. As stated earlier, when asked to rank the effectiveness of on-hold marketing and the previously mentioned forms of advertising they use, on-hold marketing sits at the top of that list. Respondents were then asked in what ways on-hold marketing has been effective for them. Survey data shows building image and professionalism to be the biggest benefit, followed by providing value to time on hold, and decreased hang-ups.

High customer satisfaction, increased sales, and so much more - as one survey respondent simply said, "It works!"

If you're already using winonhold.com, then congratulations for making a great decision for your company!

If you're NOT yet using winonhold.com, and would like to find out why more than than 350 Winwholesale Presidents and Managers just like you are, click here to request a callback, or just pick up the phone and call 888.465.3661. It takes about 10 minutes to do a quick analysis of your company and see whether Winonhold's on-hold marketing services might help your company.