(Before I continue, let me tell you, this is more of a rant than my typical write ups!)

You’ve heard this line before! You have probably felt like slapping the person who’s said it at times. You may have even said it yourself. What is it that I’m talking about?

The ever annoying – “Can I put you on hold?” they ask…

Before you have a chance to even answer whether you actually want to be on hold or not, you are listening to some sweet elevator music patiently waiting for someone to pick up again. Was that a rhetorical question? Why do they even ask? As if you even had the option to say no… What they should be saying is “Welcome to Anycompany, where we put you on hold” CLICK

Some companies use automated systems to solve this problem. What do you think of these? Would you rather a computerized robot tell you to wait or a person put you on hold? The human voice is almost like a tease! It’s like the give you the feeling of choice, and then they quickly steal that choice from you!

Imagine if customer service was like this in the real world with other customer interactions. You walk up to the grocery store check-out, the cashier says “ I can help you over here”, you excitedly walk up to the cash register, unload your cart and then the next word out of her mouth is “Can I put you on hold?” and then begins to mop the floor next to your isle.

Or what if you walked into your doctors and they ask you to register and then ask you to hold… Ok ok wait that was a joke! We all know what it’s like to hold at a doctor’s office! J But imagine if you were in line at the movies and you bust out your wallet to pay for your ticket, and the ticket person punches in your ticket information, takes your money and then says “Can I put you on hold please?” and then walks away to go serve someone some popcorn?

That probably wouldn’t fly and would cause some serious aggravation! You don’t want to hold! You just want to pay for your things and go. Or you just want to get some information. Of you just want to eat! YOU DON’T WANT TO HOLD!

We all know what “Can I put you on hold?” means… It’s a nice way of saying “Do you want to hold, or just hang up now and try later when we aren’t as busy?” Not sure about you, but I don’t think I have ever met anyone who WANTS to hold. Ask your friends if they would mind calling you if they knew you were going to put them on hold for 15 minutes?

I know this won’t change much, but I just want people to be more honest, don’t ASK if I want to hold, just tell me you will put me on hold and be with you shortly! Or hire enough people during your busy hours so people aren’t sitting waiting on hold for half their life.

Maybe I should ask if I can “hold” my money and keep the product from now on!

END RANT!

To you and your success,

Ryan Smith – Chief Content Creator

www.TheBusinessPrinciples.com