View Poll Results: Leave a message or get placed on hold?

Voters
50. You may not vote on this poll
  • I prefer to be placed on hold and wait.

    36 72.00%
  • I prefer to leave a message.

    10 20.00%
  • Other, I'll explain...

    4 8.00%
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Results 1 to 25 of 31
  1. #1

    Leave a message or be placed on hold?

    We use our phones a lot, probably almost as much as our email. Right now if the lines are busy, rather than being placed on hold a caller is forwarded to where they can leave a message.

    I'm wondering how people see this, our initial feedback is that they prefer to be able to leave a quick message rather than get held up on hold or in some queue where it takes them 10 minutes to leave a message.

    What's your preference and why do you feel that way?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jan 2002
    Location
    Nashville - It's not just Country
    Posts
    215
    That's an easy one.

    Put on hold. At least it starts off with a personal greeting, and makes me feel more special.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jun 2001
    Location
    Kalamazoo
    Posts
    33,412
    I'd rather have the option. Be put on hold and while on hold have the option of leaving a message.
    There is no best host. There is only the host that's best for you.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    Duluth MN
    Posts
    3,863
    I don't like leaving messages on peoples voicemail, unless it is someone I know very well, even then, I don't like leaving messages.

    I'll call, get an answering machine or voicemail message, and hang up right away. In high school, my girlfriend's mom became quite annoyed with me as I would call, no one would be home, and I wouldn't leave a message. So they would get home and there would be 7 calls on their caller id, with no messages



    Funny thing is, I really don't like talking on the phone that much, and yet I work for the helpdesk on campus....

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jul 2001
    Posts
    889
    Hold... gets rid of the "I didn't get your message" excuse. Also, it prevents them from taking 2 days to return your call, leaving you in the dark in the meantime not knowing whether they are ignoring you or just really busy.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Aug 2003
    Location
    Twin Cities Area
    Posts
    5,649
    hire more people to answer the phone
    if you haven't considered chapter 7 bankruptcy, maybe you should.
    eliminate your debt, keep the property you want, most people qualify.
    contrary to popular belief - no attorney is necessary!

  7. #7
    Originally posted by LaurenStephens
    hire more people to answer the phone
    You should pass that advice on to AT&T and some of those other Fortune 500 companies...

    Would the amount of time you're on hold make a difference? For example would you get more ticked off if you were on hold for longer than 5 minutes as opposed to leaving a message from the outset?

    I guess that's probably why Dennis chose the option of being able to leave a message when he wanted to from a menu option in the hold queue...

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Aug 2003
    Location
    Twin Cities Area
    Posts
    5,649
    thats probably why a lot of people prefer to deal with smaller companies
    if you haven't considered chapter 7 bankruptcy, maybe you should.
    eliminate your debt, keep the property you want, most people qualify.
    contrary to popular belief - no attorney is necessary!

  9. #9
    Do both.

    If they call and you are "busy", then put them on hold. The hold message should immediately ask them if they want to leave a message.. or they can continue to hold.

    However, you MUST be careful to ALWAYS return the messages. I have used several companies that never return my message even though they say they will.... and there's nothing worse.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Nov 2001
    Location
    Chicago
    Posts
    1,135
    "If you would like to continue to hold, please stay on the line. Otherwise, press XX to leave a message in the general mailbox, or dial your parties ext. to leave a message for them."
    ---
    Dan Ushman
    Co-founder & CMO
    SingleHop, Inc.

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Feb 2004
    Location
    Australia (Crikey)
    Posts
    2,271
    give the option for both....if not, just keep them on hold. Leaving a message sucks as you never know whether it will be returned...

  12. #12
    I say hold is a better option. This way clients will think twice before constantly calling over the smallest issues that can easily be resolved over email.

    I too hate leaving messages because you have to constantly talk and it's hard as heck to end a call with a machine - "Thanks, bye" just seems wierd to me.
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  13. #13
    Join Date
    Aug 2000
    Location
    Tacoma, Washington
    Posts
    9,576
    On hold. I almost never leave a message on a machine.
    Former Webhost... now, just a guy.

  14. #14
    Greetings:

    I believe our customers would prefer the option of holding or going to voice mail is a person is not readily available.

    Thank you.
    ---
    Peter M. Abraham
    LinkedIn Profile

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
    Location
    Pennsylvania, U.S.A.
    Posts
    1,585
    I would rather be on hold as long as I ain't on hold for more than 20 minutes, then I would just leave a message.
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  16. #16
    While we use a specific message for calls that come when the lines are tied up, it seems the general consensus is that being place on hold with an option to leave a message is preferable.

    My own preference is to leave a message, I hate wasting time being put on hold or in some queue. If I don't get a prompt return call I won't be doing business with <insert company name here> very long anyway. Looks like my preference is in the minority though.

    From this poll it looks like we should re-evaluate the phones....

    Thanks for the input....

  17. #17
    Join Date
    Apr 2003
    Posts
    454
    I think it all goes to who your target demo is. I can think of two customers in particular who only have a cell phone and no land line at home. They hate to be put on hold because it just eats up their minutes.

    But then again, what good is it to leave a message if no one returns it?

    Rick

  18. #18
    Join Date
    Jun 2003
    Location
    Proud She-Geek
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    1,723
    Personally, I have too many other things to be dealing with to sit on hold. I'd rather leave a message; if I don't hear back from someone within a reasonable period of time, then I'll call back.
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  19. #19
    Join Date
    Jan 2002
    Location
    Toronto, Canada
    Posts
    11,052
    I don't know how sophisticated your phone system is, but ideally I'd say have a recording come on saying that all operators are currently busy, and the estimated wait time is *enters time here*. Then give them the option to hold or to hit # or some key to leave a message. At least this way, they have an idea on how long they would have to wait if they decided to stay on hold.

    And for the record, I'd much rather stay on hold. I'm calling by phone because I want/expect info quickly. Otherwise I would have emailed to begin with.

    Vito
    DemoDemo.com - Flash tutorials since 2002
    DemoWolf.com - 5,300+ Flash tutorials for hosting companies, incl. Voice tutorials

  20. #20
    Join Date
    Dec 2000
    Posts
    610
    Are there any companies (Kall8?) that have phone queues or would you need a real inhouse system?

  21. #21
    Join Date
    Aug 2001
    Location
    Canada
    Posts
    1,598
    I would rather stay on the line and wait. I hate having to leave messages with companies not knowing when they are going to call me back.

    When I dial up a company, I expect to talk with someone immediately, if not wait a while to eventually be served. It would be such a nuisance to have to leave a message or to continually call the number again.

    If your phone system really is busy, and serves as an essential component to operating your business, then I would suggest upgrading the system to offer whoever's calling the option to do both (stay on line or leave a message).

  22. #22
    Quote Originally Posted by Vito
    I don't know how sophisticated your phone system is,
    It's not that sophisticated...

    Basically it's just two lines and if one is busy you go to the next one, if the second one is busy then you get a message but the message is a different message than one if you were to call and no one was to answer the phone.

    Phone systems are pretty expensive and right now the number of times we actually need more than two lines going are not so common that I want to think about dropping a few thousand to get a system set up that can do the <insert # of minutes left on queue here>.

    It's not bad for existing clients who know who you are and have had all positive experiences with you. They know that a return call would be coming in minutes not even hours. It's the sales and people that hang up without leaving a message that could be a concern.

    @mpalamar
    Kall8 has some terrific Routing features and we use them but as far as I can tell there are no queue systems they offer....

  23. #23
    Join Date
    Mar 2001
    Posts
    1,446
    Queue systems are often quite expensive. http://www.bizfon.com is a lower cost phone management system, but it does not have a queue feature either.

    To answer the question, I prefer to be on hold and have the option to leave a message if I need to.

    - John C.

  24. #24
    Join Date
    Jun 2001
    Location
    Denver, CO
    Posts
    3,302
    I am not a waiter. Being on hold longer than 2 minutes annoys the hell out of me, but I'm not particuarly fond of using the phone as a communications method unless absolutely neccessary.

    I would prefer VM w/ a call back.
    Jay Sudowski // Handy Networks LLC // Co-Founder & CTO
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  25. #25
    Originally posted by JohnCrowley
    Queue systems are often quite expensive. http://www.bizfon.com is a lower cost phone management system, but it does not have a queue feature either.

    To answer the question, I prefer to be on hold and have the option to leave a message if I need to.

    - John C.
    They have some pretty interesting products there (That VOiP system is eye-catching) , much cheaper than what I had used in the past that's for sure. Thanks for the link!

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