Every once in a while, we turn away business. Profitable business.
My inner accountant dies a little each time we do it, but we do it for a good reason.
Over the decades, our agency has earned a good reputation and that drives in-bound leads our way.
A prospect might seek us out. Maybe she was referred to us or found us online. And maybe she liked what she saw and heard, so much so that she calls us to say, “I’d like to give you my business!”
We don’t need to conduct research, send emails or make phone calls just to get her to notice us (and hope she’s interested once she does).
So, why don’t we sign her as a client?
Sometimes, those people who reach out and are excited to work with us request something that we know won’t benefit them in the long run.
Most often, they want us to develop one On Hold Marketing (OHM) production that they’ll use indefinitely.
The rationale often goes like this: “We just need something other than silence or the canned music that comes with our phone system. Our products and services don’t really change.”
But we turn down the work.
While it might temporarily prop up their weak caller experience, delivering just one production would not provide them with long-lasting value.
Here are 3 reasons why.
1) Even if a company’s products and services truly never change, you can bet external factors affecting their target audience do. Callers are more engaged by current information that’s focused on their changing needs. Nike has sold shoes and apparel for a long time, but they don’t do it with the exact same digital, print and TV spots for years at a time.
2) It dooesn’t take long for frequent callers to tune out content that never changes. Forcing your customers to listen to the same information and music negatively affects their perceived wait times and overall caller experience.
3) In-Queue / On Hold Marketing is not a channel that’s typically top-of-mind. So, while a marketer may intend to update their OHM content, our 35+ of experience in this space has shown that, without a dedicated team, those changes rarely happen.
Updating content regularly and proactively ensures the channels we work in are more effective. That makes for happier clients and callers in the long run, even if it means we sacrifice a few dollars along the way.