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“On Hold” With The Doctor’s Office: Is Pop Music Doc Music?

So I’m calling a referring physician’s office the other day when their telephone answering message puts me on hold. And wouldn’t you know it — Kelly Clarkson was blasting in my ears. When the doc came on the phone, I asked him if he was a Kelly Clarkson fan. He had no idea what I was talking about.

But it got me thinking. So I asked him how their office chose their telephone answering message. He said he didn’t know. He figured the music was being fed from a local radio station.

You may not realize it, but having a well-thought-out telephone answering message can be a vitally important part of a doctor’s business. It’s the first contact patients and colleagues have with an office. It sets the first impression.

I’m sure there are consultants out there who get paid a lot of money to teach this stuff. Should you have hip hop music? Big band music? Perhaps a little disco? Maybe some talk radio? How do you decide what type of telephone answering message to set up in your office?

*This blog post was originally published at The Happy Hospitalist*

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