Have you ever been put on-hold only to hear the same message played over and over? In the perfect world no phone call would be put on-hold but in this world it is just a fact of business life. In fact approximately 70% of all business phone calls are placed on-hold. An average on-hold time is 42 seconds. Yet 50% of the phone calls put on hold routinely wait on-hold for over one minute — 60% of those callers Hang up– and a whopping 34% of those who hang up will NEVER call back!
What if you could turn that 42 seconds into an opportunity to promote your business? That is where Profits On Hold LLC comes into play. Bud Brenneman the director at Profits on Hold Productions LLC began their business in 1998. It seems he was always enthralled by working with a microphone. Bud said, “I started out young like in Jr. High when I would give announcements over the PA. Then I was a grocery store manager and I would get on the microphone and make announcements for specials etc. So I have always enjoyed working on air.”
Profits On Hold LLC can take that 42 seconds and create and produce on hold marketing productions and programming that can maximize your profitability rather than having dead silence or a staticy radio station when people are put on hold. Profits On Hold LLC works with a company to find out about that company and then present how best they can benefit their bottom line. They also make it their business to help companies keep their branding consistent throughout all of their marketing avenues. “We want to have the exact same message they have in their newspaper, radio, television, online, and social media presence”, Bud said.
He also stated, “A company pays all of their marketing dollars to get people to call and then they get put on hold. Our productions are like on-hold insurance”.
Creating on-hold productions is not the only service Profits On Hold LLC can assist a company with. Another service Bud shared was their audio newsletters. He said, “For instance if you sold Chevy trucks for GM, when your customer got their new truck they could pop in a CD and it would have information about the truck or information about GM. That would be an audio newsletter”.
“Another service we have is Web audio”, Bud continued. “Some people want audio for their Web pages rather than just seeing the website. That way potential customers can also experience it with another dimension because when you use two senses; your eyes as well as your ears, your message tends to make more of an impact. This also helps with those people that are more auditory learners”.
Profits On Hold LLC has all types of solutions that clients can take advantage of. Some of their clients use their productions on an as needed basis. These clients usually have businesses that don’t change much. Other clients take advantage of subscription bundles. Those bundles consist of a number of updates per year. Those updates then can be made whenever the client chooses.
One very important time to have a personal message is the holidays. “That’s really important,” Bud shared, “because it’s a time to reach out and foster those relationships with your clients. It is nice to put holiday background music on and a holiday greeting. That’s a way to get that touchy feeling, resulting in fostering the relationship. That’s what I really want to let people know. We give them a personal touch from our company and we give their customers a personal touch from them.”
Turning customers into personal friends is Bud’s favorite part of his business. He said, “I have had so many personal relationships that have developed out of the business and I am very appreciative of that fact”.
Profits On Hold LLC has been a New Haven Chamber of Commerce member for ten years. “One thing I did want to say”, Bud shared, “is that of all the cities New Haven has been the most progressive and embracing of the on-hold marketing concept. When it comes to the companies per capita we’ve got so many. We are very very fortunate to have some very good clients here in New Haven. We really appreciate that and appreciate the Chamber for fostering that.”
When asked, what is the biggest benefit from being a Chamber member Bud replied, “The opening of doors and the legitimacy that Chamber Membership provides you because you are a part of the community. People want to do business locally and know that the person is going to be around and know that if anything should happen that they’ve got accountability; community accountability, and that is what the Chamber is, community accountability.”
Bud continued, “In the perfect world no one would be on hold. That’s what I like to tell people, but in this world it is just a fact of business life, it happens. So we want to be that on-hold insurance that they have.” So when you consider those 42 seconds that your clients are on hold let Profits On-Hold LLC turn “Hold time into Gold time”.
