getting started

How Do On Hold Advantage Programs Work?

On Hold Advantage programs will work with any business telephone system that has music on hold (MOH) capability. This feature is located on the "main telephone box" or key service unit (KSU) of the telephone system. In most cases, a simple connection cord is used to connect the on hold playback equipment to the telephone system, similar to hooking up headphones to a stereo. Other telephone systems require the connection cord to be hardwired into the system by a trained technician.

If you are currently playing radio or other music on hold, your telephone system is already set up to use on hold programs. You will just need to replace your current music source with the on hold playback equipment.

If your company shares a telephone system with another, non-related business, keep in mind that the music on hold feature cannot be separated on a shared telephone system without additional equipment. Because the on hold programs would play on all lines, you would need to incorporate messages for both companies, use a "generic" message program, or remain with music only. For information on a Music On Hold segregator to separate the music sources, talk with an On Hold Advantage account executive.

If you have nothing playing on hold, you should check with the company that installed the telephone system and/or the company that services it. They would be the number one source of information about your telephone system's MOH capability. In addition, On Hold Advantage has an extensive reference list of compatible telephone systems. Call or e-mail for details about your system.

If your telephone system is not currently MOH capable, many systems are easily adapted for this feature with an additional cartridge or programming. Once again, the telephone technician who services the system would be the best source of information.

If your company has one or two line telephones without the main KSU box, you do not have a business telephone system and may not be able to use on hold messages. Some single and two line telephones, similar to your home telephone, can use a Music On Hold adapter to play the On Hold Advantage programs. We have an extensive list of telephones that are compatible with Music On Hold adapters. Call or e-mail for details about your telephones.

What Does It Take To Produce A Customized On Hold Message Program?

Each on hold message program produced by On Hold Advantage is six minutes long and, depending on the message length, can include up to twelve different messages. If you already have playback equipment that requires a different length program, we can adjust it to the appropriate length. The programs can be coordinated to meet your company's specific needs.

An account executive works directly with the contact person at your company to obtain scripting information for the customized on hold program. This entire process is handled in a minimum amount of time by fax and telephone. At the time of this "script interview", the account executive will often play samples of our voice and music selections over the telephone, with seven professional voices and fifteen licensed music styles from which to choose.

The account executive gives your script information to one of our professional copywriters to develop a script that is appropriate for the on hold format. A script draft is written and faxed to your contact person for review. Once any revisions are completed and the script is approved, the on hold script is sent to our production studios.

A voice recording session is scheduled in one of our fully equipped, in-house digital recording studios. Once the script is recorded, the nearly finished production is "mixed" with licensed music and digitally mastered with state-of-the-art, computer technology. Each finished program is monitored for quality control, and shipped to you in approximately seven to ten working days from script approval.

How Do I Get Started?

Contact one of our professional account executives by phone at 1-800-284-1866 or e-mail . A variety of packages are available for any size business – whether you need just one program that plays to callers all year long, or you need to update your messages every month. Talk with our experience staff about the package that will work best for you.