But the title got you here, didn’t it? And music works kinda the same way. Distracting you from what you are doing…causing your brain to focus on something else.

It’s especially useful when you’re not doing anything important…like waiting On-Hold or waiting in line. And it’s at that exact moment that retailers, banks, and doctors offices want to distract you from realizing that you’re waiting.

Cracked.com has a recent article in which they explore the 5 weirdest ways music messes with your mind. (Cracked.com…the newest scientific journal, right?)

But seriously, check this out:

#5 It Changes Your Ability to Perceive Time

Hold music — the stuff you hear on the line when you call everyone from the bank to your local bail bond agency — didn’t fall into America’s phone lines by accident. It’s designed specifically to reduce the amount of time you think you’re waiting, so that you’re less likely to hang up in anger. Other places that involve waiting, such as doctors’ offices, use a similar trick. Time shrinkage is also the aim of most retail stores, which is why you’ll rarely enter a mall, supermarket or clothing store without hearing some sort of music in the background.

To understand why exactly music makes it seem like less time has passed, think of the human brain as a mountain lion that is eating a bag of money. It doesn’t matter what the zookeepers distract it with — food, shiny objects or just shouting and yelling. All that matters is that they give another zookeeper the chance to sneak up and retrieve the money while the lion is busy deciding which one of them to eat.

Similarly, when your brain is steadily distracted, you’ll be less likely to notice things around you in detail, and this includes the passage of time. Our brains have limited input capacity, and when something else is using up that capacity, we’re less likely to think things like, “I’ve been standing in line to get Richard Moll’s autograph for three goddamn hours” or “Do I really need this Garfield alarm clock?”

But be careful what you choose for your On-Hold music…

…it can quickly backfire!

In some situations, listening to music can actually expand perceived time. For example, listening to music while performing tasks that require concentration will usually cause us to overestimate the amount of time that has passed. The theory is that as your mind switches back and forth between perception of the music and concentration on the challenging tasks, it forms separate “events,” or distinct memories. When your brain thinks about what you’ve been doing for the past hour, you’ll remember more of these events and recall that the hour was quite long.

Experiments have found that time also expands when we’re listening to familiar music that we dislike.

When we hear the opening chords of a song, our brain remembers the whole thing and immediately skips ahead and plays it mentally. This fake mind-music is extremely vivid, working on exactly the same parts of the brain as actual music does. So the effect is that you take a few moments to vividly imagine that you’re sitting through five minutes of that damn New Radicals song before you come back to reality only to realize that you still actually have to sit through it.

Very cool stuff…that music. But if you want to know the rest, like how it taps into our primal fears, makes us stronger, changes your drinking habits, and makes you a better communicator, your going to have to read more at Cracked.com: http://www.cracked.com/article_19006_the-5-weirdest-ways-music-can-mess-with-human-brain.html#ixzz1Glz95EqJ

We, after all, aren’t interested in making your customers stronger…unless of course you are a gym. Then we need to talk. We’ve got this great soundtrack to play On-Hold…

Greg Truslowhas expertise in the resolution of problems. His goal is to use his experience to define your insurance needs, develop innovative solutions to provide you with the superior protection you require and to do so at the lowest possible cost. Greg values the relationships he has with his clients and works hard to maintain a reputation of fairness, trust and honesty within the community.

Truslow Yost Insurance recognized a need to be able to talk to customers about the many types of insurance they offer. They write insurance for all types of business risk, from general liability to worker’s compensation, key employee insurance and most every risk a business might face, including crop, farm and health insurance. They’re not your typical small-town agency…and they wouldn’t have it any other way.

This On-Hold message works to introduce new areas of the business to callers, to educate potential customers about the agency, and to strengthen the relationship with existing clients.

Prosound has used the customer’s time On-Hold to extend the warm, caring experience of Truslow Yost Insurance to each caller.

Click here to view the embedded video.

We are very excited to be transforming the caller experience for Virginia Veterinary Specialists in Charlottesville, Virginia with a new Custom On-Hold message! Virginia Veterinary Specialists is the first referral veterinary specialist in Central Virginia.

Virginia Veterinary Specialists provides a very specialized  level of care for pets, while still maintaining a patient’s relationship with their primary care veterinarian. Virgina Veterinary Specialists provides complex veterinary orthopedic, neurologic and soft tissue procedures, as well as ultrasound, chemotherapy, endoscopy, and more.

Dr. Jason Wheeler and Dr. Carrie Miller are delighted to be able to bring their passion for specialty care to the Charlottesville area. Dr. Jason Wheeler has appeared on several episodes of the popular Animal Planet’s TV show, Emergency Vets, and became Board Certified in 2005. Dr. Carrie Miller completed her internship and residency at Wheat Ridge Veterinary Specialists in Wheat Ridge CO, and was board certified in 2003.

The new On-Hold messages works to introduce the practice, as well as Dr Miller and Dr Wheeler, to the area, and seeks to strengthen the referral relationship with primary veterinary care providers. Prior to working with Prosound, callers to Virginia Veterinary Specialist heard “beep-beep” whenever they were placed On-Hold.

Prosound has used the customer’s time On-Hold to extend the warm, caring experience of Virginia Veterinary Specialists to each caller.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Ready to transform your company’s Caller Experience?

1. Your Email Address:(valid email required)
2. Your Phone Number
3. Preferred Method of Contact:
4. Email Phone
5. Your Question(s)

 

On-Hold Message

Now, I was struck by a couple of things, and since Prosound did not produce this On-Hold message, I’m going to break it down for you here.

First of all, it’s not just a “thank you for holding” message. There’s more information in there that does let me know I’ve called a financial institution.

It has holiday closings listed, which is fantastic! (It’s always good to communicate closings and hours changes with your customers as much as possible!)

There are tips for online shopping security, as well as shopping in the “real” world.

And there’s even a reminder to change your clock back to Standard Time on Sunday, November 7th.

So, what’s missing?

Nowhere…not once…ever…is the name of the financial institution listed. Go back and listen again, if you didn’t catch it. It’s alright, I’ll wait.

“So what’s the big deal?” you might ask?

Here’s the thing:

That strategy is quite brilliant, actually. For the On-Hold message production company. They have created a set of messages that is recorded once, and sold over and over again to financial institutions nationwide.

The strategy is not so brilliant for the bank that’s using it, and here’s why.

It doesn’t reinforce the name of the bank to each and every customer.

It doesn’t help strengthen their other marketing and branding efforts outside the bank, like it could if it was part of those efforts.

It lacks a distinct relevance that only a unique On-Hold message can provide. Relevance is created by connecting with the perspective of a listener. The more specific you can be in your messaging, the more believable your message will be.

Every business has a story to tell

Telling the story that is uniquely yours will create stronger relationships with your clients and prospects, making it a much harder choice for them to leave you, or to choose your competition.

I admit, the uncovery process to that unique story is more difficult then simply selecting a few pseudo-customized-for-your-industry messages. But your customers and callers will thank you.

Keep these things in mind as you approve your ad copy…whatever medium it’s in:

• Ads that fail in one medium will usually fail in others.
• The medium is not the message; the message is the message.
• And the message is what matters most.

(thank you Roy Williams)

Meet Jack

First National Bank of the South – On-Hold sample

That’s an example of on On-Hold message that is unique, customized for the specific company, and unusable at any other bank.

It connects deeply with listeners, because it’s a continuation of the branding that this bank is doing on their website.

And it’s relevant to the caller because it invites them into the story (“meet Jack”).

Is it time to customize YOUR On-Hold message?

Then yesterday, as I was just minding my own business, this really interesting thought popped into my mind. And it was about that ad.

“If he stopped using lady-scented body wash, and switched to Old Spice, he could smell like he’s me.”

Stop.

Go back and read that again.

Watch the video if you have to, I’ll wait.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Did you catch it?

Here is what is what is so amusing to me:

You have no idea what Isaiah Mustafa smells like in that commercial!

I’m kind of surprised that this hasn’t jumped out at me sooner. Old Spice has done an excellent job of triggering one sense (your sense of smell)…without even using scent! They are ONLY using visual and aural senses to sell a smell.

Whoa! That’s some powerful engagement there! And I’ve seen that ad countless times, without realizing that was what was happening! (It also helps that I know what Old Spice body wash smells like!)

Now, what’s the point, and why would I want to make it here?

You don’t have to USE all five senses to fully engage your prospect’s five senses.

Did you know the body needs ‘just’ 100 million sensory receptors to experience the physical universe around you?

By contrast, your mental and emotional universe is so complex, that your brain requires 10,000 Billion synapses to experience the world inside your head! (You don’t have to take my word for it. Learn about the 12 languages of the mind)

We are much more prepared to experience the world of imagination and dream, then we are the physical world.

Words, sounds, images, and more are what transport us into those worlds. And you can use that same transport to take your customer there.

The caller experience that a customer has when phoning your business sets them up for how they are going to experience your product or service. Are you providing a great experience?

Here’s some complaints that business have gotten, that have caused them to talk to us lately:

“The voice just wasn’t warm and fuzzy”

“Your receptionist hung up on me in the middle of my saying goodbye!”

“I hear our receptionist saying: ‘I don’t know…that’s not my job’, rather then “I can find out and get back with you”

How your phone is answered gives people a glimpse inside your company. And just like Isaiah and Old Spice, they don’t have to see with their physical eyes to imagine with their mind’s eye!

Thinking about the possibilities? Think about this.

What does it sound like when you push that little red “Hold” button on your phone? Does your caller get dumped into a black cavern of silence, wandering around looking for daylight, sometimes for long periods of time?

Do they hear the same generic music your competitors have, with constant reminders to “please stay on the line….please! We’re begging you!”?

Or do you transport them to a magical place, where you engaged their senses in a way that was interesting, fun, and still relevant to your business?

Like we did here, for Southern States. They wanted to highlight their chicken feed, and what better way then to…well, I’ll let the chickens speak for themselves:

Chicken Feed from Southern States

You can engage their mind, and draw them into your business, or you can leave them in silence to contemplate the myriad other thoughts they’re faced with each day.

Your choice…what does your phone sound like?

First, you may have noticed some pretty big numbers….a drop of 66% in productivity in open-plan office environments and a sales drop of up to 28% in a retail environment when inappropriate sound is present.

I especially liked his observation that we, “…move away from unpleasant sound and toward comfortable sounds.”

Telephone Sound is one of 8 types of commercial sound that Treasure talks about. If you haven’t thought about the rest of your soundscape, your phone sound signature is a good place to start. A Caller Experience expert can help craft your phone sound to be a reflection of your business goals. You can go from there into more purposeful and directed tactics for every other element of sound in the business.

If you already have a unique soundscape in your advertising, in-store experience, products and services, you’ve made that expert’s job easier, but no less urgent.

Crafting and producing an on-hold message is not good territory for Do It Yourself business marketers. As a business owner, you’re likely to only mention info that’s important to YOU, while failing to take a customer-centric view. You risk falling into instruction mode instead of taking an informative and (if appropriate) entertaining strategy.

Warning signs that you’ve got a bad on-hold message company:

• They offer “canned” pre-produced, or fill-in-the-blank message.
• They expect the business owner to write the scripts.
• They offer little choice in voice talent, music and production.
• Make no attempt to customize your message to match the sound signature of your business and other marketing efforts

A great on-hold message provider will:

• Thoroughly uncover the key values of the business
• Dig deep enough to find the important facts for the message
• Match up the business with the appropriate voice talent and music
• Provide turn-key support and quick response for updating messages

I liked Treasure’s first three golden rules of commercial sound:

1. Make it congruent (with the core values and other sound elements of the business)
2. Make it appropriate (to the intended listeners)
3. Make it Valuable (by offering more than a caller expected to hear)

So, what’s holding you back?

If you’re abusing your customers by delivering a bad phone experience, this is one of the easiest marketing touchpoints to fix.

If you’re not sure what kind of experience you’re delivering, get it evaluated.

If you currently offer flat, dead silence, that’s the best place to start.

Dave Young is a marketing/branding consultant who works exclusively with owner-operated businesses like ProsoundUSA to help them grow. He blogs at BrandingBlog.com and teaches at OnYourMarket.com.

This is a screenshot from bank’s website Contact page. At the very least I’d recommend they update their address for Customer Service. I’m pretty sure that’s not the message they intend to send!

Are you going to be different?

And speaking of different…are you going to sound different? Or like most banks, will your callers hear silence while On-Hold? Do you know what they hear right now? You could check out our Caller Experience Evaluation service and know. Today.

It was a beautiful day, and as we drove through small-town USA, it struck me how a business’ presentation to passers-by was critical to it’s surviving! If they had a good sign, a clear presentation, and was the type of place I was interested in stopping, I would be a customer.
But poor signage, a bad presentation, or no clear idea of what I would find inside, and I would keep on driving (maybe to never pass that way again!).

While this may seem an obvious concept to you, there’s a parallel here for your business.
You’ve run your ads on radio, TV, Billboards, and the internet. You’ve spruced up your front entrance to make it appealing and inviting. You’ve educated your staff on how to ask the right questions of customers, without being pushy. Now you’re waiting for customers to come pouring in your door.

Have you overlooked anything? I think you’ll be surprised!

About 50% of people in the US are Introverted and about 50% are Extroverted. Which means that 50% of your customers will be more inclined to do their research, pick out the product they want, then pick up the phone and call you, to see if you have what they want at a price they want to pay.

Have you test-driven your phones lately?

Your Caller Experience is a critical link to convincing new customers they should buy from you, and reinforcing that fact to existing customers.

And just like the road signs I was watching as I traveled through small towns, you have but a few seconds to make (or break) that experience over the phone. Callers will put up with bad experiences only so long.

So what makes a bad experience?

Poor phone skills – staff that doesn’t properly answer the phone, and place an importance on handling the phone call with clarity and promptness.

Silence On-Hold (or just music) – callers don’t know if they’ve been disconnected, or simply put on “forget”. You wouldn’t have an empty showroom when they walk in…don’t have “empty” On-Hold time. Nobody likes it.

Long waits – being On-Hold at some point is a fact of life. But don’t forget about your caller On-hold. Try to get back to them as quickly as possible!

Transferred to the wrong person – make sure when you transfer a caller, you stay on the line to make sure they get to the right person or department. Your caller will really appreciate it.

Transforming your Caller Experience

Those are just a few of the things we measure with our Secret Caller service. It’s amazing how just a few small things can make a huge difference in how customers experience your business. Those few seconds over the phone are critical to whether they choose to do business with you…or go on to your competition.

What do YOUR phones say about your company?

Pulling back the curtain just a wee bit…

HOT POINTS for The Week of August 30, 2010 Blaine Parker www.slowburnmarketing.com TELLING CREATIVE FROM SHINOLA… The inspiration for this somewhat snarky little headline comes from a recent conversation about the unfortunates who are saddled with the title “Creative Director.” What happens to the unfortunates is that they often have little or no experience being Creative Directors–but they approach their job with a zeal befitting William Wallace sacking York. And the entire time, of course, they’re focused on being “creative.” As they should. After all, that’s why they were hired. Right? NOT SO FAST… Despite the obvious (and unfortunate) wording, the job of a Creative Director is not to “be creative.” The job of a Creative Director is to be strategic. Now, in advertising agencies (at least, in the good ones) there’s an understanding of this. But in many other environments where people generate creative product, there isn’t a whole lot of comprehension about this. The question being asked is, “How can I be creative now?” But the real question should be, “How can I bring a new creative slant to this strategy?” ADVERTISING LIVES AND DIES BY STRATEGY It doesn’t matter how creative you are. If you have no strategy, if you don’t have the finger on the pulse of your target audience, you’re whistling into the wind. Once upon a time, I was asked why a very, very creative commercial wasn’t working. The message was aimed at CPAP users. In case you don’t know, that stands for Continuous Positive Airway Pressure. A CPAP is a machine with a hose and a mask worn by people with sleep apnea. Without the CPAP, side effects can be brain damage and death. YAY, VEGETABLES & CORPSES! The commercial in question was loaded with bad comedy. It wasn’t generating many phone calls, but boy was it creatively comic. Just what someone who wears a machine to prevent brain damage and death wants to hear. My solution was to throw out all the creative comedy and say simply this: “You have a CPAP and you hate it.” Boy,that is not creative in any way. But it sure is strategic. It resulted in a 400% increase in call volume overnight. THE OLD CREATIVE WAS MERELY “CREATIVE…” But the new creative was strategic. It certainly wouldn’t win any awards. But then, was that really the goal? Or was the goal to generate calls from people in the target demo, who happened to be suffering from a potentially fatal condition? And if they have a potentially fatal condition, do they really want to hear jokes about it? Based on the anecdotal evidence (i.e., call volume), the answer was absolutely, unequivocally, No. Know to whom you’re speaking, and know what’s important to them. For a potent example, look at the single most “creative” campaign around right now. IS IT THE ADVERTISING YOUR ADVERTISING COULD SMELL LIKE? Sales of Old Spice Body Wash are up 107%. And that Isaiah Mustafa “I’m On A Horse” campaign, despite being enormously creative and amusing, is also incredibly strategic. (Body wash does not come with potential brain damage or death. One has license to entertain.) The writers from Wieden + Kennedy knew exactly to whom they were speaking, new exactly what was important to that person, and knew exactly how to execute the advertising. All of it. That campaign is insanely strategic. It was a couple of years in the making. Since the original spot launched in February of this year, there have been over 100 viral videos created as part of the campaign, often responding to emails about the advertising. Merely being “creative” is not what Old Spice is about. Applying creativity using a relevant and strategic methodology is paramount. AND IT ALL BOILS DOWN TO ONE, SINGLE INDIVIDUAL… The customer. If you’re writing CPAP advertising, you have to know what’s important to the CPAP user–who could possibly be facing death. If you’re writing body wash advertising, you have to know what’s important to the body wash buyer–and WHO the body wash buyer is. Old Spice Body Wash is made for men, but the advertising is targeted at women–because women make the vast majority of body wash purchases. And–this is key–the men are still able to laugh at the commercials right along with the women. If you’re imaging a rock station, you need to know what’s important to the rock listener–who’s listening at least for fun, possibly as a lifestyle choice, and possibly even as a way to define himself. Those imaging promos need to be ABOUT that listener. If you’re writing advertising for an evangelical Christian women’s conference, you need to know what’s important to evangelical Christian women. This all sounds obvious, right? You’d be amazed how frequently the customer is overlooked. I AM DEFINITELY NOT AN EVANGELICAL CHRISTIAN WOMAN If you must know, I’m a wayward Episcopalian male of a certain age. I also happen to have an uncle with an engineering degree from MIT who’s a Benedictine monk. Go figure. (This is about as theological as we’re going to get here.) And when tasked with writing advertising for a conference for that evangelical Christian woman, I had to crawl inside her psyche. Which is why, 15 minutes after I submitted the copy for approval, my phone rang. It was the client (who DOES happen to be an evangelical Christian woman). She said, “Blaine, I don’t know how you did this, but it’s amazing. We’re all in tears over here.” That’s one of the single best compliments I’ve ever had on my writing: women crying. (For the right reason.) And frankly, it’s easy–once you push your creative ego out of the way and become the customer. All it takes is being strategically creative. I didn’t just pull some stupid comedy out of a hole in MY head. I considered where the CUSTOMER’S head was at and what mattered to her as regards the conference. Then, I pushed the Episcopalian adult male out of the way, and wrote from that woman’s perspective. That’s just one element of strategic creativity. BEING STRATEGIC IS KEY–AND SO IS CARING ABOUT THE PROSPECT Screenwriting guru Robert McKee has a list of 10 Commandments he distributes to all his writing students. McKee’s Commandment #6 is: “Thou shalt respect your audience.” This is what he calls “the anti-hack commandment.” His assertion is that hack writers are cynics who do not respect the people for whom they are writing. (I personally believe that “hack writing” is much more complex than this, and have proudly referred to myself as a hack from time to time. But in the interests of discussing Creative Strategy, we’re sticking with McKee’s definition for now.) So, if you don’t know what your audience cares about, you don’t care that you don’t know what they care about, and you don’t try to write in any way that respects them, you basically just whack down words on a page and walk away…you’re a hack. Yep. That’s contemporary cynicism all right. And if you don’t know your audience, if you don’t respect them, you can’t be strategically creative on their behalf. CALL ME A COCKEYED OPTIMIST, BUT I DO BELIEVE THE BEST SELLING COMES FROM A PLACE OF LOVE. Love your customer, and do what it takes to do the right thing for him or her. And that includes understanding him or her, knowing what he or she wants, knowing what matters to him or her, and knowing what will make him or her respond. That’s why, as advertising people, it is incumbent upon us to pay attention to the zeitgeist. What our customers know and care about is out there. All we have to do is lose our egos, listen to reality, and pay attention to what it says. As always, Blaine Parker Your Lean, Mean Creative Director in Park City

IS SOMEONE YOU KNOW LOSING BIG MONEY–OR MAKING YOU CRAZY–BY NOT READING HOT POINTS?

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Now you see the type of reading and studying we do around here. It’s not about just pulling something out of our hat and putting your name on it. The questions we ask, while at times may seem a little strange, are all designed to help us understand your customer, and what’s important to them. Then, and only then, can we write an On-Hold message that will be relevant, interesting, and valuable to your caller. And isn’t that the point?

It’s Friday…go have a great, safe, and fun holiday weekend!

I’ll be you’ve had a similar experience in micro…the last time you called a company and were put On-Hold.  With so many things that need to be done in our busy lives, no one wants to wait, and who could blame us?

Have you been in Best Buy and had to wait in line to checkout? What do you do while you wait? You probably skim the end caps, but I’ll bet you spend most of the wait watching the Best Buy TV program on one of the many screens they have positioned in site. Why do they put those there?
Because when your mind is engaged, it doesn’t think about the amount of time you’ve been waiting. It feels like only a few seconds, when really they’ve been able to play four 1 minute promos for you!

Now back to the On-Hold. If your business is putting people On-Hold, and just having them listen to silence, you’re actually extending the perceived wait time.  How would you like it if Best Buy required you to put on a blindfold while you stood in line? Every second would feel like an hour until you could take that blindfold off!

But if you choose to engage your caller during those inevitable times they have to wait On-Hold, the amount of time they perceive they are waiting will be quite a bit less. Custom On-Hold messaging that is engaging and relevant is just like hanging those screens near the checkout line of Best Buy.

From Adam’s article:

There’s still plenty we don’t understand about how humans perceive time, but one fact is clear: we don’t perceive time the way clocks portray time, one second at a time, with each second passing just as quickly as its earlier and later counterparts.

Sure, nobody likes to wait, but what kind of experience is your company providing for those customers who call in? Is your caller experience a good one? Are you speeding up their clock, or slowing it down?

“…I want to know right now how long you expect me to wait…”

Click here to view the embedded video.