News

Having enjoyed close bonds with the AudPro team for many years, the Stockport-based Messaging on Hold provider’s service-led approach and exciting vision for the future have teased industry veteran, Richard Carter, out of retirement.

Joining the award-winning business as Audio Productions’ new Non-Exec Brand Ambassador, Carter is excited to share his vision and empower the AudPro team to realise his mission of making Messaging on Hold the go-to on-hold engagement offering for Resellers across the Channel.

“Audio Productions’ dedication to the Channel, from its partner-first focus to its ability to flex to the needs of its partners is more than just admirable. They are a truly ‘100% Channel’ operation that puts its partners above all else, and I can’t wait to push the experience even further.”

– Richard Carter, Non-Exec Brand Ambassador, Audio Productions

Leveraging decades of insights gained from leading Nimans’ Go-to-Market and sales strategies, Carter’s experience will be invaluable in enhancing Audio Productions’ product proposition, and the support it offers to Reseller Partners.

“The rush to integrate AI and self-service into on-hold solutions has negatively impacted the customer experience. Too much is being asked of the end-customer and reseller unless they spend a disproportionate amount of time and money.

Redressing that balance of value and low-touch customer experience, with a more considered implementation of AI, is how Audio Productions will forge a unique direction, helping resellers maximise margins from on-hold services.”

– Carter

That work has already begun, with efforts behind the scenes to introduce new technologies to reshape the Messaging on Hold portfolio, with new services and user experiences to be announced in the coming months.

“There is a clear opportunity to support Channel Partners in enhancing the profitability of their cloud services, as well as the quality and scalability of the on-hold services they provide, so they can stand out from their competitors.

Audio Productions is already a clear favourite for bespoke Messaging on Hold, and we can’t wait to share how we’re making our services even more scalable and hands-off for our partners, without losing that personal touch!”
– Carter

Here at AudPro, we’ve enjoyed developing our awards submission, relishing in the joy of being shortlisted, and attended some wonderful events where we’ve finally been able to get back to some face-to-face festivities!

Simply developing and writing awards submissions offers the opportunity to take stock of the year we’ve had – the wins, losses and dramas – and celebrate the immense efforts of our team and the results we’ve achieved together.

And after years of consistently attaining finalist spots at the Comms National Awards, including this year’s ‘Best Channel Business Service’ category, we thought it would be worth offering our two cents on what makes a great finalist in the channel.

Partner support is key

Considering we operate in such an interconnected market, maximising the support that vendors offer to their partners is a vital aspect of those relationships. That’s why we’ve heavily invested in our sales journey, Partner Toolkits and marketing support, to ensure that our partners can increase their margins without sacrificing time and resources.

For example, our new “auto-quote” prompt populates prices on order submission, reducing the lead time and increasing visibility for both end-users and partners. Partners also automatically receive quotes to eliminate the chances of missed opportunities and over-spend.

The team has deployed ‘Direct CRM Integration’ for a quicker order-handling experience, ensuring the entire order-process can be included and reported within our own CRM, allowing it to increase its order-handling capability, without compromising service. It also enables us to report on historic orders, providing partners with more re-sale opportunities.

We’ve also worked closely with our marketing team to enhance the New Customer Toolkit to ensure new partners can quickly run marketing campaigns that get the tried and tested messaging, that we’ve honed over the last 20 years, out in front of their customers.

And for those partners that don’t have the resources or knowledge internally, we’ve created the ‘Premier Partner Programme’, which offers full marketing management and fully branded collateral, with a hands-off experience for partners, so that they can focus on what matters most.

“From the second week of working with them, AudPro had emails ready to send to our existing customers and target accounts, looking as good as any outreach we would send ourselves.

Inbound marketing is new to us and even with the longer sales journey, we’ve seen open rates above 15% and attracted double-digit sales within the first month. This was an amazing result from a new Value-Add partner!”

– David Munro, Head of Product, HighNet Telecoms

Developing our product offering

The last two years have been a challenge for pretty much every business, which is why we’ve revised and restructured every area of the business, from our core Music on Hold product to how we support our partners’ marketing, further enhancing our proposition, including:

• Adding new more diverse range of voices
• Adding an auto-quote function to the portal
• Deploying direct CRM integration
• Simplifying pricing and sales journey
• Adding cloud-based and text to speech functions

We had to adapt to the challenges of the pandemic too, reducing our minimum spend for partners by 50%, helping them offer a more cost-effective solution to their customers. And these changes certainly helped our partners win more business, considering they’ve enjoyed 30% YoY growth on average!

“AudPro very quickly tweaked their commercial model through Covid to allow our proposition to be even more flexible. This allowed us to continue to deploy the solution even through difficult times, and still win more business.”
– Director, Start Communications

Tough competition isn’t a bad thing

Just like in sport – think Federer/Nadal, Venus/Serena, Messi/Ronaldo or Coe/Ovett– having a competitor that drives you to do better is a good thing.

In the channel, your rivals push you to drive costs down, enhance customer support and more to better compete, meaning another positive aspect of entering industry awards (especially if you win) is being able to see how you ‘stack-up’ against those competitors.

From our point of view, even getting to the finals in both the Comms National Awards and Comms Business Awards is still a massive achievement, and we couldn’t be prouder of our team! Given that some of our closest partners were also finalists (sitting at the same table, enjoying the evening together and winning accolades themselves), we couldn’t be happier to have shared in their celebrations and enjoyed the night with our partners.

Looking to the future

Now that the suits are back at the dry cleaners, we’ve recovered from our hangovers and back at our desks, we have a new opportunity. Having seen the competition and celebrated our successes, it’s time to do better.

There are big developments in the works, here in Hazel Grove, and we can’t wait to share them with you over the coming months.

We have a strong team behind us, supported by our amazing voiceover artists and reseller partners, and we know that we can go from strength-to-strength next year, making an even bigger impact in the channel, so that we stand every chance of taking home a trophy next year!

It comes as no surprise that the UK’s leading Messaging on Hold provider is still going from strength to strength, as it celebrates its twentieth year of exclusively doing business with the telecoms channel.

For 20 years, Audio Productions Ltd. (AudPro) has seamlessly managed the production of bespoke, professionally recorded Auto Attendant, Sales and Marketing, as well as Voicemail Messages. Not only adding value to UK resellers’ telecoms services, but by exclusively serving resellers, AudPro’s partners can be confident of no direct supplier competition.

As the only provider in its sector with no ‘direct’ aspect of the business, AudPro truly proves that its network of over 400 partners is kept at the heart of the organisation. Focus on making the process as ‘hands-off’ for partners has been paramount since day one.

AudPro makes the onboarding process super simple and time efficient, promising reseller’s fully branded ordering portal, and access to the New Partner Toolkit complete with marketing assets for their first campaign, within a week. The ordering workflow is also incredibly hands-off for the reseller; prompting the sale and uploading the final recording, being the only requirements. All other aspects are delivered solely by AudPro, so that partners can dedicate more time to driving sales and offering the best customer support possible.

“I see AudPro’s purpose as supporting reseller growth rather than our own. Messaging on Hold is a vital service for businesses up and down the country and by owning the journey ourselves, we make sure our partners develop happy customers that can’t be easily tempted by their competitors, while easily making over £48k a year with just 100 customers.”
– Andrew Jones, Director, AudPro

Moving into the operation’s third decade, AudPro has simplified and reorganised its product and pricing to provide better cost predictions, easier sales processes to help partners drive higher revenue. It’s new long-term partnership with Pragma will also see AudPro offering even more support to some of the Channel’s biggest resellers.

Furthermore, AudPro’s range of Toolkits, include a wealth of sales and marketing support including battlecards, pre-written emails and social media, blog posts and scriptwriting advice just to name a few. For new partners with minimal resource, AudPro’s Premier Partner Toolkit provides an even more hands-off approach, with AudPro running their first marketing for them, using bespoke messaging workflows and marketing automation to optimise click rates and reader engagement.

To mark the milestone and reward their team for decades of dedication, AudPro is planning a range of events, celebrations and surprises for both staff and resellers, in the year ahead. Staff will be treated to various outings including golf courses and sunny beaches, while members of AudPro’s reseller network will soon receive gifts to thank them for their ongoing dedication to the service, marking such a major milestone for the business.

“I couldn’t be prouder of the team, the strong relationships they form with our reseller partners is amazing and the dedication they show daily to support them. We’ve got the best product in the market and our partners know that. Maximising their margins through Messaging on Hold is as simple as offering it to their customers before a rival does.”
– Andrew Jones

UK Channel organisations looking to optimise their margins with the only 100% indirect provider, and offer an essential business service to customers (before their competitors do), are warmly invited to contact Andrew via email; a.jones@audpro.com or visit audpro.com to learn more about Messaging on Hold.

Let’s face it, money makes the world go round. Some may argue gravity is the primary cause, but at least in the business world, there’s no bigger drive – for your business, staff and products – than revenue. And your partners are in the exact same boat too.

Partner incentives come in many shapes and sizes. SPIFFs, exclusivity deals, commissions, pre-purchase discounts all have their place, but in our opinion, the best way to establish the right foundations for a long-term commercial relationship is revenue sharing. Here’s why.

Revenue sharing is win-win

Simply put, sharing the spoils is the perfect arrangement because both parties have a vested interest in the success of the partnership. Resellers want to increase margins by offering a new service or product, and vendors want to get their product in the hands of more users to maximise revenue. It’s a win-win!

Especially with low-resource products like Music on Hold, that haven’t cost an arm-and-a-leg to build into your portfolio, it can also be easy for sales teams to put them to the side and focus on the expensive services that still need to break even.

But with a profit-sharing arrangement, your vendors will expect to see sales increase not drop. And if focus does shift, then sooner or later, you’re going to get a call from your vendors wanting to know why.

While some may perceive this negatively, it’s a great way for vendors – like AudPro – to get in touch, uncover the cause, and see if there’s anything else they can do to support your operation in getting those sales back up.

From our experience, those consistent and honest conversations end up building a far better relationship in the long-term, compared to a vendor selling you a service and leaving you to it, because both sides want to support each other and keep the revenue coming in!

The freedom to do what you do best

Vendors are famously protective about how you sell their products. Whether that’s how you refer to it, contract lengths, minimum prices or any other demand, typical vendor/reseller relationships can be incredibly inflexible. Not with AudPro.

You know your customers better than we ever could, so you know the selling model that’s going to work best for them. That’s why we give you the freedom to charge your customers for their audio marketing however you think is best!

If you think your customers would prefer being charged per message or would agree to a higher-price per line if MoH was part of the package, or on a monthly recurring revenue model, it’s completely up to you!

We trust you to find an invoicing solution that remains attractive to your customers, while giving you the opportunity to make as much or as little from on hold messaging as you like. Because at the end of the day, more sales for you means more revenue for both of us.

Revenue sharing works

With nearly two decades of experience selling Music on Hold, we’ve learnt a lot over the years – what works and what doesn’t – and revenue sharing definitely works.

With a network of Music on Hold resellers across the UK, we know what our partners need to succeed and how to use our brand to cast more light your way. Our revenue sharing partners take advantage of co-branded material, bespoke offers and resources to drive new sales and raise their credibility in the channel.

We’ll create a white-labelled portal that gives your customers a branded page to land on when ordering their audio marketing and you can use Music on Hold for your own operation on us. We’ll even get you up and running, selling MoH in 7 days.

So, what’s stopping you? get in touch! or book a time to speak to a member of our team!

We’ve all had that feeling while on hold – “Uh, I wish this would just end!” – but that doesn’t have to be the experience for your customers’ callers. In fact, the right Music on hold will help improve their customer satisfaction scores and increase revenue!

How, you ask?

It’s simple. Make the experience memorable and positive. So, here are five top tips to help your customers create the on-hold messaging that keeps customers happy and helps to drive sales.

Teach them something

Over 70% of customers get ‘extremely frustrated’ waiting on hold

If your customers are stuck for ideas to keep their callers engaged, why not teach them something new in the process? Obviously, it’s no use educating them around something separate to their businesses, but if you have any customers in the chiropody industry for example, they could provide some foot-related facts:

“Did you know? The foot contains 26 bones, 33 joints, 107 ligaments and 19 muscles. Book an appointment for us to properly measure your feet and make sure your shoes never damage any of those bones!”

Promote an offer

90% of Music on Hold marketing users say it increases Product Awareness

For your customers’ sales lines, you could suggest an educational upsell message based on a premium product of offer. After all, your customers have a captured audience that they know have a purchase-related reason for calling, so it makes sense to use their time on hold to explore other product options.

Make them laugh

80% of customers say the experience a business provides is just as important as their product or service

Instead of the typical ‘your call is important to us’ message, why not suggest your customers tell a joke to keep their callers smiling? This is especially successful if they can think of some that are linked to their industry or products.

And, given that a joke told a second time is nowhere near as funny, it gives you an opportunity to get multiple recordings from your customers, by adding some variety to the on-hold comedian. A dentist for example, could use:

“Thanks for staying on hold. A member of our team will be with you shortly. If you’re after an appointment, just bear in mind that 2:30 is a very busy time for us”

Offer other methods of communication

Over half of customer care executives consider call reduction their top priority

While your customers will want their sales lines calling off the hook, support lines should be as quiet as possible, so that agents have the time to deep-dive into issues and turn those customers’ perceptions 180 degrees, before the next call comes in.

Why not ask them what their most common telephone support enquiries are and suggest the record a message stating those answers, or directing them to an FAQ page on their website? This way callers still get the answers they need, they’re letting them know about other avenues of support and every caller now gets a better level if support!

Make it feel exclusive

60% of customers prefer to call businesses on the phone

Considering over half of your customers’ callers still prefer using the phone for quick questions, you can help secure their future patronage by making them feel like they’re part of an exclusive ‘club’. This is especially successful if you’re trying to drive more sales or increase customer engagement.

They could be asked to quote an offer code that’s only available to callers for a cheap perk, voucher or direct them to fill in a survey to help your customers assess their service and find new ways to develop their processes.

Ultimately, your customers’ on-hold experience should be unique and that’s where bespoke Music on Hold can make a genuine difference. There are enough operations that consider their callers calls as important, so get your customer to stand out from the crowd and make an impression that will be remembered for years to come!

Interested? Get in touch with our team and we can get you offering Music on Hold in a week!

Music on Hold may seem like an afterthought when your sales team are more concerned about selling the margin-rich connectivity and collaboration services that every business requires.

But on-hold messaging is just as necessary if you’re account managers are going to provide customers with the rap-around services that keep your customer happy, and stop them from looking elsewhere.

And if you’re not going to provide a professional experience for their callers, you can be sure someone else will!

So, here are a few figures that will help convince your sales team (and your customers) about the efficacy of on-hold music and why it’s so important, even in today’s modern world!

Over 70% of customers get ‘extremely frustrated’ waiting on hold.

We’ll start with something obvious – no one likes being on hold – people like to be heard, rather than hearing how important their call is to a business. But there’s no way a business can realistically answer each call as soon as the phone rings.

That’s why your customers’ on-hold experience is so important! For a frustrated customer calling with a complaint, or a prospect looking for that last bit of information before making a purchase, it can make or break the coming interaction!

60% of customers prefer to call businesses on the phone

This may seem counter-intuitive considering the ever-evolving technical competence of the average caller, but there’s something more definite about a phone call. Many still perceive it as the fastest way to get a straight answer to a query.

If over half of your customers’ prospects are wanting to speak to someone, making that on-hold experience as positive, memorable and engaging as possible is key, to support their future success and growth. And the same goes for support lines and customer churn – getting those callers primed with a positive message before they air their grievances helps to maintain customer satisfaction scores and reduce customer churn.

Over half of customer care executives consider call reduction their top priority

Especially given the unexpected challenges of operating in the 2020s such as remote working, reducing the call volumes agents must deal with can be a major win.

Bespoke MoH messaging allows your customers to direct their callers to online service avenues such as chat bots and FAQs, reducing the demand on phone lines and help them enhance the level of service they can offer to each caller who needs to speak to an agent.

80% of customers say the experience a business provides is just as important as their product or service

Given the stat above, decision makers should be assessing and scrutinising the quality of their entire service journey just as much as they consider the product itself. And a positive service experience is one of the quickest ways they can reduce customer churn and optimise customer satisfaction scores.

There’s plenty your customers can do to make their on-hold experience a positive and memorable one. From telling a joke to informing callers about the history of the business and its values, your customers can use the time to make sure callers are primed, in the best possible mood, before answering the call.

90% will hang up after 40 seconds if confronted with silence and 34% of callers who hang up will not call back

When it comes to sales, every call you don’t answer is a missed opportunity and a third of all missed calls not calling back means a lot of lost sales. Obviously, you can put processes in place to reduce the number of missed calls, but busy times can’t necessarily be planned for.

Music on Hold drastically reduces the perceived wait times for callers and also presents an opportunity to upsell premium products on your sales line. (Upsell messages on support lines, don’t go down too well though!) So, not only does MoH help keep your customers’ prospects on the line longer, but helps them increase revenue through advertising to a captured audience too!

At Aud Pro, we’ve been leading the Music on Hold market for nearly two decades. We know the stats and stories that will help convince your customers that Music on Hold is essential to provide the best service for callers and support their future growth. So, get in touch or download your factsheet for even more useful stats that will help you drive MoH sales!

For many resellers, offering on-hold messaging and audio marketing packages to their customers is a no-brainer. Providing an engaging experience for callers has never been more important, especially now that face-to-face meetings aren’t as popular as the used to be, so literally every business now needs it!

It’s understandable that businesses, given the challenges of today, are looking to consolidate their services and procure their IT and connectivity solutions from a single provider. For end-users it means a simpler user-experience, predictable budgeting and better support. For resellers, it’s great for margins, customer satisfaction, long-term revenue and keeping customers sticky.

However, one missing product, sub-par service or experience may cause them to look elsewhere.

And if you’re not providing your customers with high-quality on-hold music, then one of your competitors will!

Therefore, channel operations need to be continually assessing their products, taking an honest look at their portfolio, and assessing whether their portfolios are the best they possibly can be.

Don’t get blinded by technology

Contrary to popular belief, new technology isn’t the ‘be-all and end-all’ for your customers. While prospects may get excited by shiny new gadgets and ultra-fast fibre speeds, what really grabs their attention is a service that provides a genuine benefit to staff and customers.

In other words, it’s better to offer a quality product that works consistently than creating additional customer frustration by pushing expensive hi-tech solutions that don’t always suit their needs or knowledge-level.

Music on Hold is one of those consistent customer calling services. It’s been proven to reduce caller wait-time, improve caller communication, customer satisfaction and ultimately, increase revenue. But what makes AudPro’s MoH truly stand apart from the competition is its quality.

We use some of the UK’s most recognisable voiceover artists, rather than asking customers to record their own. Not to mention the robotic, computer-generated voices that remove all the personality and professionalism from a caller’s on-hold experience!

It’s important that you and your customers are comfortable managing the system yourself. So our experts won’t try to sell you an overly complicated solution, weighted with technology, when all your customers’ really need is a an MP3 of a professional , high-quality audio recording.

That’s why we offer a free on-hold message to all our partners to use on their own phone systems. That way they can see how easy the process is!

Think about the partner, not just the product

While the product your thinking of adding to your portfolio is obviously the major factor in your decision-making, the support your possible partner can provide can be just as important.

To drive sales, you need support from the people that know your products best, the vendors. The right partner should be offering sales & marketing collateral like battlecards for your sales team, pre-written campaign material to get the message out there, long-term support for large sales and product support for when things don’t go to plan.

AudPro goes a step further. We give you the flexibility to charge your customers however you think is best. Depending on your business model, customers and long-term goals, you may prefer to charge per recording, bundle into your telephony services, or even charge a subscription to maximise your recurring revenue.

Whichever strategy you prefer, is the one AudPro prefers too.

We also offer a key-date calendar that drives sales by giving your sales team a reason to get in touch with customers. Suggesting new MoH messaging – for events such as national holidays, religious celebrations, bank holidays and more – may prompt your customers to order new messages and also gives salespeople a chance to uncover any other emerging needs to capitalise on.

At the end of the day, the right partner wants mutual success. They should make selling their product as easy as possible, with the opportunity to drive new sales and increase margins so that your business can be successful, and in turn, theirs too.

If you want a quality value-add product for audio marketing, and the partner support you need to promote uptake, enhance brand credibility and maximise revenue, then get in touch!

The customer service telephone line is the bread and butter of any customer support team. In fact, 62% of customers prefer phone calls over other methods of communication because they think it’s the fastest route to a resolution.

That means it’s vitally important that telephone interactions are done right. And a good interaction starts with a good on-hold experience.

As a reseller, including a professional Music on Hold (MoH) service with your telephony solution is simply good business. Your customers want it because they know it makes a difference to their customer service scores and gives them opportunities to upsell to customers or educate them on new products or benefits. And if you don’t supply it, a competitor will.

In this article we’ll explain what to look for in both a good MoH service and a good audio services partner.

Customer service is king

As a wholesale-only provider of Music on Hold, we understand just how important it is to support our resellers in achieving their growth goals. But the best thing about MoH is that it’s a perfect value-add service for resellers looking to enhance their levels of customer support and reduce churn too.

In a nutshell, working with us enhances customer support at three levels. The support we give to you, our network of resellers, the support you give to your customers, and the support businesses can provide to their callers. Here’s how:

AudPro supports you

Having sold Music on Hold for over 15 years, we know the messaging that resonates with your customers, as well as the stats and figures that help you get more customers signed up. Which is exactly why we created the Partner Toolkit.

It contains everything you need to create your own marketing campaigns without sacrificing precious resources that could be better spent elsewhere.

Support your customers’ growth

As resellers like you look to accelerate their recovery, keeping current customers happy is vital to create ‘stickier’ customers who will maintain relationships for years to come.

Did you know that 20% of callers will make a purchasing decision based on what they hear while on hold? By positioning MoH as a service that maximises sales as well as providing a better on-hold experience, you can help your customers achieve customer service goals.

End-users provide a better experience for callers

Customer service is just as important for end-user businesses too. They’re looking to provide a better level of service to their customers and maximise sales now that non-essential businesses are opening back up to the public.

MoH helps support an end-user’s sales by enabling them to upsell premium products while callers are waiting for an operator.

And especially now that businesses are re-opening, another way MoH helps your customers provide a better experience is through educating callers (about, say, new opening times or Covid restrictions), without them having to spend more time talking to an operator.

All told, working with AudPro means that you can concentrate on driving sales across your core connectivity and communication portfolio, while creating stickier customers.

Learn more about AudPro’s customer-first approach on our blog

The right on-hold messaging partner is essential

It’s understandable that businesses, given the challenges of today, are looking to consolidate their services and procure their IT and connectivity solutions from a single provider.

However, one missing product, sub-par service or experience may cause them to look elsewhere.

“And if you’re not providing your customers with high-quality on-hold music, then one of your competitors will!”

Music on Hold is one of those consistent customer calling services. It’s been proven to reduce caller wait-time, improve caller communication, customer satisfaction and ultimately, increase revenue. But what makes AudPro’s MoH truly stand apart from the competition is its quality and simplicity.

We use some of the UK’s most recognisable voiceover artists, rather than asking customers to record their own. And we simply provide you with an MP3 of a professionally recorded, high-quality audio recording that your customers can use to their hearts’ content.

Think about the partner, not just the product

To drive sales, you need support from the people that know your products best, the vendors. The right partner should be offering sales & marketing collateral like battlecards for your sales team, pre-written campaign material to get the message out there, long-term support for large sales and product support for when things don’t go to plan.

AudPro goes a step further. We give you the flexibility to charge your customers however you think is best, whether you want to charge per recording, bundle into your telephony services, or even charge a subscription to maximise your recurring revenue.

We also offer a key-date calendar that drives sales by giving your sales team a reason to get in touch with customers.

At the end of the day, the right partner wants mutual success. They should make selling their product as easy as possible.

Learn more about the benefits of finding the right on-hold messaging partner

Leverage on-hold messaging revenue sharing to boost your profits and brand awareness

Partner incentives come in many shapes and sizes. SPIFFs, exclusivity deals, commissions, and pre-purchase discounts all have their place, but in our opinion, the best way to establish the right foundations for a long-term commercial relationship is revenue sharing.

Revenue sharing is win-win

Simply put, sharing the spoils is the perfect arrangement because both parties have a vested interest in the success of the partnership. Resellers want to increase margins by offering a new service or product, and vendors want to get their product in the hands of more users to maximise revenue. It’s a win-win!

The freedom to do what you do best

Vendors are famously protective about how you sell their products. Whether that’s how you refer to it, contract lengths, minimum prices or any other demand, typical vendor/reseller relationships can be incredibly inflexible. Not with AudPro.

You know your customers better than we ever could, so you know the selling model that’s going to work best for them. That’s why we give you the freedom to charge your customers for their audio marketing however you think is best!

Revenue sharing works

With nearly two decades of experience selling Music on Hold, we’ve learnt a lot over the years – what works and what doesn’t – and revenue sharing definitely works.

With a network of Music on Hold resellers across the UK, we know what our partners need to succeed and how to use our brand to cast more light your way. Our revenue sharing partners take advantage of co-branded material, bespoke offers and resources to drive new sales and raise their credibility in the channel.

Learn more about on-hold messaging and our revenue sharing model

Stats that prove the efficacy of Music on Hold

On-hold messaging is vital if your account managers are going to provide customers with the wrap-around services that keep them happy, and stop them from looking elsewhere.

Here are some stats to prove it:

Over 70% of customers get ‘extremely frustrated’ waiting on hold

That’s why your customers’ on-hold experience is so important! For a frustrated caller with a complaint, or a prospect looking for that last bit of information before making a purchase, it can make or break the coming interaction!

60% of customers prefer to call businesses on the phone

If over half of your customers’ prospects are wanting to speak to someone, making that on-hold experience as positive, memorable and engaging as possible is key, to support their future success and growth.

Over half of customer care executives consider call reduction their top priority

Bespoke MoH messaging allows your customers to direct their callers to online service avenues such as chatbots and FAQs, reducing the demand on phone lines.

80% of customers say the experience a business provides is just as important as their product or service

A positive service experience is one of the quickest ways your customers can reduce churn and optimise customer satisfaction scores.

90% of callers will hang up after 40 seconds if confronted with silence and 34% of callers who hang up will not call back

Music on Hold drastically reduces the perceived wait times for callers and also presents an opportunity to upsell premium products on your sales line.

Learn more about just how effective Music on Hold can be

Five tips for memorable on-hold messaging

The right on-hold music and messaging can help improve customer satisfaction scores and increase revenue.

Here are five top tips to help your customers create the on-hold messaging that keeps callers happy and helps to drive sales.

Teach them something

Over 70% of callers get ‘extremely frustrated’ waiting on hold. If your customers are stuck for ideas to keep their callers engaged, why not suggest they teach them something new in the process? Just advise them to keep any fun facts light and relevant.

Promote an offer

90% of Music on Hold marketing users say it increases product awareness. For your customers’ sales lines, you could suggest an educational upsell message based on a premium product or offer. After all, your customers have a captive audience. They might as well make the most of it.

Make them laugh

Instead of the typical ‘your call is important to us’ message, why not suggest your customers tell a joke to keep their callers smiling? This is especially successful if they can think of some that are linked to their industry or products.

Offer other methods of communication

While your customers will want their sales lines calling off the hook, support lines should be as quiet as possible, so that agents have the time to deep-dive into issues. Why not ask them what their most common telephone support enquiries are and suggest they record a message stating those answers, or directing callers to an FAQ page on their website?

Make it feel exclusive

Considering over half of your customers’ callers still prefer using the phone for quick questions, they can help secure their future patronage by making them feel part of an exclusive club. They could give callers offer codes, for example. Ultimately, your customers’ on-hold experience should be unique and that’s where bespoke Music on Hold can make a genuine difference.

Learn more about creating memorable on-hold messaging

Music on Hold should be part of your standard telephony package

Many resellers in the channel consider Music on Hold as a great value-add product that acts as a valuable add-on to their core connectivity and voice services. However, there’s a growing number of resellers incorporating it into their core voice services as a ‘standard’ feature. Here’s why…

Importance of Music on Hold

Now more than ever, customer service standards are vital for small and medium businesses, and considering that 60% of consumers still consider a phone call as the quickest route to an answer, caller communication should be a key focus for any business.

That means optimising the end-user experience for customers calling SMBs is vital, but it is also an often-ignored obligation. The right on-hold messaging will enhance any encounter, positioning the provider as a key part of an SMB’s operation.

Why offer as-standard?

So, if MoH is such an important aspect to a channel business’ portfolio, why offer it as standard, rather than as a separate service?

Because if you don’t, someone else will! The fact is, other providers may offer MoH as standard to get a foot in the door with your customers.

But, offering a service as standard doesn’t mean it has to be free. Maybe there’s a nominal charge per recording, or just bespoke messages are paid-for. But, by forcing clients to opt-out rather than in, you’ll enjoy far higher uptake from the get-go and can still revisit the service periodically to suggest new paid-for seasonal or campaign-driven recordings.

Selling strategies

Whether you offer MoH as standard or as an add-on, there are three main milestones where resellers can successfully push a bespoke MoH recording.

During consultation

Probably the most effective way of getting prospects interested in MoH is bringing it up as early as possible in the conversation. Open-ended questions such as ‘How do you feel about your calling experience?’ can help foster a discussion around the topic.

During installation

When engineers are on-site, installing new connectivity or phone lines for example, they’re seen as a trusted authority, and having engineers remind staff to get their messaging recorded can be a quick win for customers on the fence about whether or not they need an on-hold message.

Post-installation

Maybe it’s a courtesy call to check the new fibre line is working properly, or a quarterly catch-up, but Music on Hold should be a topic that is mentioned in as many client interactions as possible, acting as a consistent reminder that their messaging could be updated or refreshed.

To help promote MoH to your customers, we’ve created the new Partner Toolkit for all our partners, enabling resellers to launch MoH campaigns with little resource required.

Learn more about Music on Hold and standard telephony

Traditionally, Music on Hold has been treated as a great value-add product to core connectivity and voice services. However, a growing number of resellers are now seeing the benefits of incorporating it into their core voice services as a ‘standard’ feature.

The world changed with the onset of Covid-19 and now on-hold messaging is an essential for every business. And while some with channel experience may instantly recoil and think ‘why make something standard, when you could charge extra and increase margins?’ there is still plenty of wisdom in this ‘as-standard’ approach.

Importance of Music on Hold

Now more than ever, businesses need to communicate efficiently with customers so they don’t lose them to others who do. Research shows that 60% of consumers would rather pick up the phone than use other methods of communication.
So, with many teams still working remotely and likely to remain doing so professional on-hold messaging is a must.

For example, take the two recordings below – one is self-recorded by the end-user and the second is a professionally produced audio marketing message produced by Aud Pro for the same business.

BEFORE AND AFTER

The difference between the recordings is night and day. So, ask yourself ‘which company would I rather work with?’ or ‘which recording would I rather my customers use?’. Because at the end of the day, it’s the channel responsibility to leverage its expertise and technical knowledge to best support its clients.

That means ensuring that the end-user experience for customers calling SMBs is vital, but it is also an often-ignored obligation. And the right on-hold messaging will enhance that encounter, positioning the provider as a key part of their operation to ensure customer satisfaction, meaning a lower probability of moving to another provider.

Why offer as-standard?

So, if MoH is such an important aspect to a channel business’ portfolio, why offer it as standard, rather than as a separate service?

Because if you don’t, someone else will!

No business wants to throw away a revenue stream and given how tight margins can be in the channel, it’s doubly important to protect every revenue stream possible. And with such high competition, you can be sure that other providers will be chomping at the bit to get a foot in the door with a low-risk service that helps them build a relationship with the customer and slowly move them away from the incumbent.

But, offering a service as standard doesn’t mean it has to be free, after all. Maybe there’s a nominal charge per recording, or just bespoke messages are paid-for? However, you want to charge is up to you, but getting any customer onboard with a value-add service is an obstacle, so why not do it from day one?

Whether you want to increase the base-cost per month by a small increment or as a quarterly charge is up to you, you could always charge per message if you really wanted. But, by forcing clients to opt-out rather than in, you’ll enjoy far higher uptake from the get-go and can still revisit the service periodically to suggest new recordings for various times of the year, or if the client wants to promote a new product for example.

AudPro gives resellers the freedom to charge its recordings however they see fit – whether one-offs or as a recurring revenue stream – and revenue sharing options are also available to reduce risk. But where AudPro has seen the best success from its partners is when MoH is offered as part of the core service. It shows confidence in the product and its benefits, leading to more repeat orders and much happier customers than without!

Selling strategies

Whether you offer MoH as standard or as an add-on, there are three main milestones where resellers can successfully push a bespoke MoH recording.

During consultation

Probably the most effective way of getting prospects interested in MoH is bringing it up as early as possible in the conversation. Open-ended questions such as ‘How do you feel about your caller experience?’ can help foster a discussion around the topic, rather than a simple ‘do you need on hold messaging?’, which can easily be dismissed.

It’s also important to bring a tangible example, like we’ve included above to show just how effective the right messaging can be. No one likes to be sold promises without proof, so why not create a short example, using their branding to give them an idea of just how good their caller experience could sound!

During installation

When engineers are on-site, installing new connectivity or phone lines for example, they’re seen as a trusted authority, and having engineers remind staff to get their messaging recorded can be a quick win for customers on the fence about whether or not they need an on-hold message. Plus, it may be considered as ‘part of the process’ of the installation, leading to less push-back.

Post-installation

Maybe it’s a courtesy call to check the new fibre line is working properly, or a quarterly catch-up, but Music on Hold should be a topic that is mentioned in as many client interactions as possible, acting as a consistent reminder that their messaging could be updated or refreshed.

This is especially important at the minute, with local restrictions changing regularly and the need for SMBs to adapt opening hours and purchasing processes to keep everyone Covid-safe.

In reality, the best way to increase MoH adoption is a combination of all three methods, with constant reinforcement and broaching the subject with as many decision-makers as possible so it’s seen as a given, rather than an option.

But, even with nearly two decades of experience under our belt, we understand just how hard it can be to bring a new element of your portfolio to life and drive sales, especially within an existing customer-base. That’s why we created the New Partner Toolkit for all our partners, enabling resellers to launch MoH campaigns with little resource required.

Get in touch to learn more about Music on Hold, or check out our calculator to see how much revenue you’re missing out on.

As a wholesale-only provider…

As a wholesale-only provider of Music on Hold, we understand just how important it is to support our resellers in achieving their growth goals. But the best thing about MoH is that it’s the perfect value-add service for resellers looking to enhance their levels of customer support and reduce churn. All while providing end-users with a high level of customer service for their callers too.

In a nutshell, working with AudPro enhances customer support at three levels. The support we give to you – our network of resellers – the support you give to your customers, and the support businesses can provide to their callers.

Here’s how:

Aud Pro supports you

Having sold Music on Hold for over 15 years, we know the messaging that resonates best with your customers, as well as the stats and figures to help you get more customers signed up. Which is exactly why we created the Partner Toolkit.

It contains everything you need to create your own marketing campaigns without sacrificing precious resources that could be better spent elsewhere.

The Toolkit also contains ‘how to’ guides to help you support your customers’ scripting of their messages, alongside industry-specific templates for them to work from. There’s also battlecards and a key-date calendar to help your sales team drive new customer uptake and frame their conversations in the right way to maximise sales.

Support your customers’ growth

As resellers look to accelerate their recovery, keeping current customers happy is vital to create ‘stickier’ customers that will maintain their relationships with resellers for years to come.

Did you know that 20% of callers will make a purchasing decision based on what they hear while on hold? By positioning MoH as a service that maximises sales as well as providing a better on-hold experience, you can help your customers achieve two goals with just one product.

Did you know that 20% of callers will make a purchasing decision based on what they hear while on hold? By positioning MoH as a service that maximises sales as well as providing a better on-hold experience, you can help your customers achieve two goals with just one product.

That on-hold experience is an essential part of building the credibility of an end-user business. The right MoH gives the impression of a larger operation and instantly instils trust in the caller about the size and professionalism of your customers’ operation. And you can hear the difference yourself by playing the two examples below – one customer’s on hold messaging ‘before and after’ working with AudPro.

End-users provide a better experience for callers

Customer service is just as important for end-user businesses too. They’re looking to provide a better level of service to their customers and maximise sales now that non-essential businesses are opening back up to the public.

MoH helps support an end-user’s sales by enabling them to upsell premium products while callers are waiting for an operator. And while your customers have a captive audience – that have at least shown some interest in their products – it’s the perfect opportunity to market those products and engage callers while they’re waiting.

Especially now that businesses are re-opening, another way MoH helps your customers provide a better experience is through educating callers. For example, if there have been changes to the way a business operates post-lockdown, informing callers of those changes – almost like an FAQ recording – helps them get their answer sooner, which will only increase their perception of the business they’ve called.

Plus, it means they don’t have to go through to an operator to ask their question, freeing up the line for a caller with a more specific enquiry or issue.

All told, working with AudPro means that you can concentrate on driving sales across your core connectivity and communication portfolio, while creating stickier customers that will refuse to look elsewhere because of the quality of the Music on Hold service and the features within that they find so beneficial to their business.

A better on-hold experience for your customers, driving more sales for both your customers and your own operation, and delivering an elevated service that keeps your customers on the books for longer… What’s not to like?

Get in touch and we’ll give you everything you need to start selling MoH within a week!