The On-Hold Guy
On Hold Message Service

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The following excerpt is from the
April/May 2005 issue of My Business Magazine

HOLD PLEASE

"Do your customers beg to be put on hold?" asks Perry Wright, aka The On-Hold guy. His clients' customers do, because his quirky on-hold messages--composed of one-liners, odd facts and puns-- entertain customers instead of boring them.

The On-Hold Guy is the most recent foray into the entertainment business by this former radio talk show host, public television host and stand-up comic from Flint, Mich. The new business has only a few clients now, as he continues to refine the idea.

"While I was doing radio, I spent a lot of time on the phone and on hold, listening to sterile, irritating messages. I thought there had to be a better way, an off-the-wall approach," Wright says. But the idea remained, well, on hold, for years.

He answered the call a couple of years ago when asked to promote a friend's new powersports dealership. "I told him I'd had this idea for an on-hold message for 20 years and wanted to do something irreverent."

Generally, businesses have three choices for on-hold messages: silence, radio, or spoken messages. Hearing silence, many people hang up. Music tastes vary and with radio, callers may hear your competitor's ad while waiting. Spoken messages are usually dry and repetitive.

Wright's approach is to amuse while informing. He records several dozen bits, mixing humor, trivia and information about the business. The phone system randomly mixes the bits, so it's a fresh message each time. "It's theater of the mind. The On-Hold Guy is just a regular guy, talking to another regular person, one-on-one," he says.

The dealership's customers loved the service. "The turning point came when people started calling and asking to be put on hold. It generated incredible top-of-mind awareness."

BY BILL HUDGINS