You’ve seen it, the phone is ringing off the wall and the receptionist is scrambling to answer and direct all the calls. it just can’t be helped, calls must be placed on hold.

What happens when she pushes that hold button? One of three things; Your caller hears silence, your caller hears a radio or your caller hears information about your business while they wait.

Let’s take a quick look at the results of these three options.

1. SILENCE: Today, most of your calls come from cell phones. When you hear silence what do you think? “My call got dropped.” Hopefully your caller doesn’t think you hung up on them! Silence On-Hold is not golden, and it’s sure not green because that missed opportunity could put you in the red.

2. A RADIO: Okay, your caller at least knows they didn’t get disconnected but there are at least two huge consequences to having a radio On-Hold. One is that due to music copyright laws, playing a radio on hold is illegal and the fines can be substantial.

The other unintended consequence of a radio on hold is, if your competitor advertises on the radio, you could be opening the door of opportunity for your caller to hang up and call them.

3. INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR BUSINESS: This solution is really a no-brainer for several reasons. One is it’s very inexpensive. Literally you could give up a Starbucks a week to pay for it.

It’s also very effective. think about it. You have a captive audience of someone who called your business and what they want to know about is your business. So tell them; your locations, your hours, your services, special offers and more. You can tell them anything you want.

Hearing about your business will keep them from hanging up, where silence and a radio won’t.

Your website isn’t blank (silent) or linked to a radio station, why should your hold button be? Make it work FOR you instead of against you!