Many times I am on the telephone and put on hold waiting to do a telephone interview with a practitioner. Quite often, all that it means is, I don't hear anything, just silence. Now silence is nice, but after a short time I start to wonder if I lost the connection and if I should hang up and dial again.
Then there are the firms that have a radio feed so you hear elevator music interrupted by local radio ads as you wait to make contact.
Of course, there are the firms that use that time and your ear to the receiver to describe the other services available from the firm. The one that I hear the most is for financial planning services. I figure the pitch, which seems to go on forever, is primarily aimed at existing tax, accounting, and auditing clients. I am sure the same financial planning services are pitched to the same clients in the firm's newsletter also. And like them probably, I tire quickly of hearing the same thing over and over again, something that I have absolutely no interest in whatsoever.
But last week I was happy to be on hold. In fact, I was put on hold three times waiting to talk to the practitioner, and got happier and happier each time. It was funny because by the third time, I actually started to sing to myself.
That particular practitioner played rock and roll music as I waited, and I recognized each of the three songs. As a Baby Boomer, I remembered fondly that I listened to those same songs when I was younger. You can bet that practitioner was targeting Baby Boomers for financial planning clients. Interestingly, I can't recall the names of the three songs, but the practitioner's name remains with me.
