We’ll be honest: your hold music is terrible.

Don’t worry, it’s not (entirely) your fault. We’ve all come to expect the inevitably long hold times and the even more awful selection of hold music.

Do not fear! There is something you can do about it. In our years and years of phone service experience, we’ve gotten pretty creative with hold music alternatives that delight customers instead of leaving them with minutes, if not hours, of regret from calling into the company.

Here’s the top five hold music alternatives, as told by FluentStream Technologies:

1. Shower them with compliments.  What better way to show your customers how much you love them than by providing a continual stream of compliments? Even when you have no foundation to do so. Try some of these:
   • “You are the smartest person I know!”
   • “Your laugh is absolutely contagious!”
   • “How did you get your hair to look SO great?!”
2. Take them back to an old time. We’re not talking about playing an audio clip of their childhood memories but perhaps use a recording of a masterfully delivered speech from history. John F. Kennedy anybody?
3. Make them laugh. Waiting on hold is painful enough. Lighten the mood by playing a recording of a comedian telling jokes while they wait to speak to one of your team members.
4. Play less awful music. Okay, okay. This isn’t “replacing” hold music but you can certainly make an effort to provide them with music that doesn’t make them want to run away screaming from your company. When selecting hold music, be sure you’re using properly licensed music.
5. Teach them something. Hold time is an opportune chance to educate your customers about new features, product announcements, or use cases that tell them how to use your product in new and interesting ways.

Bonus! A monologue from your CEO, a book on tape, or an all-inclusive list of the ingredients of Cheez Whiz. Seriously, look it up.

Just kidding. If you’re doing any of these things you need to seriously reevaluate your contact center operations.

Of course, the best way to delight customers is to have no (or significantly shorter) hold times. This is possible by implementing a phone service that supports your support team. Contact FluentStream Technologies to find out more.