Hanging On The Telephone
by Timothy Jones and Kristin Goodman
Teleconnect Magazine, April 1999


Hold, I'm on hold. Holding. Holding on. On-hold. Holding very patiently, now. Holding. I'm interested in your product; however, no one is helping me. So I'm holding. On-hold.

If this is your company, your shop, or your 800 number, you have me right where you want me. I've made the giant leap, retracting the Lazy-Boy leg-rest extension, putting aside the chips, and picking up the telephone to either inquire about or purchase whatever it is you're pushing. Of course your operators can't be free to answer all calls, all of the time, so your phone system puts callers in queues, on hold.

So there I am. And according to latest stats, I'm not alone! On average, seven out of ten callers are placed on hold. According to USA Today, executives spend 15 minutes a day or 68 hours a year on hold. The Inbound Telephone Call Center reports that 94% of marketing dollars are spent on inducing customers to call and only 6% on handling calls, once they are received. And the results aren't pretty. According to Voice Response, Inc., 34% of callers who hang up will never call again.