And now… The Hold Button

Posted by Jim Stroud

January 30, 2006

I am not a big fan of the hold button. But hey, who is? When calling a business, any business for that matter, I want instant gratificiation. Is that always possible? Of course not! But - that doesn’t stop me from wanting it any less, especially when the wait time is longer than 10 minutes. I know I am not alone in this, so on behalf of customers everywhere, to every business with a hold button, I want to make a suggestion.

ACTUALLYÃ¢â‚¬Â¦ three suggestions.

Suggestion #1:

Offer your customers something for being on hold. Howzabout this? Create a point system so that the longer a customer is on hold, the more points the customer acrues. After so many points (from being on hold), the customer is given a discount on their next purchase. Hey, if time is money, I think 20 minutes of waiting for you to service me (especially after I’ve bought your product) is worth at least 5% off of the next thing I buy from you.

Suggestion #2:

If your business manages customers through a huge call center and try as you might, cutting down the wait time is just not happenning, do something different. Find out which customer has suffered the hold button the longest (for that month), then buy them a car. That’s right! I said buy them a car. Sound crazy?! Well it is, crazy like a fox. Imagine the positive word-of-mouth and free press you would generate for your company; not to mention capturing the hearts of new customers who now believe you truly value their business and time.

Suggestion #3:

Abolish the hold button completely! Why not use a voice system that allows a customer to simply leave a message describing the issue they are having. When the customer finishes their complaint, they type in their phone number and the system gives them a special code, notification of where they are in the help line and an estimate of when they will be contacted by the company. For example, the recording could say, “Thank you for calling Company X. We appreciate your time and pomise to get back to you as soon as possible. Your customer code for assistance is #32. There are 3 requests for assistance ahead of yours. We estimate calling you back in 20 minutes. Have a nice day.”

Overall, hold buttons and call centers are geared towards lowering costs and managing customer concerns. Not a bad thing, but I think businesses are missing out on an opportunity to generate “customer delight.” For the uninitiated, Customer Delight is that warm and fuzzy feeling a client gets (or should get) after doing business with you. No business should restain themselves from giving their valued customers royal treatment. Using the hold button to give out discounts, fabulous prizes or doing away with it all together is a step in that direction.

Listen, its not a difficult equation to understand… Customers + Tender loving care = Return Customers. Returning customers equals steady revenue. And steady revenue, AhhhÃ¢â‚¬Â¦ What a concept!

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