Outbound call centers need various device campaigns to make their job more efficient. These call centers are typically responsible for conducting market research, lead generation, customer surveys, and cold calling. This industry has aggressive goals that are hard to reach through regular manual calling.
Manual calling is a great way to waste your employees’ time. Most often, calls are disconnected or are left to answering machines. Sometimes, agents also face a busy tone on top of other menial tasks, like manually ending and dialing calls. That means the time that they spend talking is decreased because of these unproductive tasks.
You can change this by learning more about an auto dialer: its definition, types, features, and advantages.
Understanding Auto Dialer
The automatic telephone dialing system (ATDS), or what other people call an auto dialer, is an electronic device that can call telephone numbers through random number generators. With this technology, your employees can connect the call to any number. But, most of the time, you’ll hear a pre-recorded message once someone picks up the call.
To identify the best time to make a call, you can use a synchronous analysis with auto dialers.
Types Of Auto Dialers
There are also various types of auto dialers you can choose from. Some come with a cloud storage. Also, some organizations use an auto dialer app. Using such will help make it easier for your business to keep up with the demands of cold calling. Check out the significant differences of one another below.
1. Predictive Dialers
Predictive dialers, like Call Cowboy, can dial multiple numbers at the same time. This makes this type of dialer efficient and time-saving. However, when customers do pick up, you’re not expected to attend to each one of them at the same time.
The way this works is through a pacing algorithm. This algorithm is responsible for making predictions. The software detects if you’re about to finish your script from the call. If the software detects that the call is about to end, it’ll automatically place the next call.
2. Robo Dialer
With robo dialers, you can play an ad after the receiver has picked up the call. You can use this type of auto dialer to send or service updates to existing customers or remind them about new launches.
Robo dialers also allow you to pre-record your message before you start calling. This way, you can prepare your message before the actual call. Once the message has been recorded successfully, then you can send it to your number list. They also have a feature wherein you can let the receiver press a certain number on their phone if they’re interested. Doing so will connect your customer to a live agent if ever they have more queries. This way, you can monitor customer responses with ease.
3. Power Dialer
Power dialers work similarly to robocalling in the sense that it allows you to send recorded messages. But, they differ because a power dialer allows you to leave voice messages when an answering machine is reached while skipping busy numbers. It also skips unanswered calls and ensures that there’ll be an available live agent whenever the phone is picked up.
Power dialers are said to make around 70 calls per day. However, it can only dial one number and follow the series on the contact list.
This is useful if you want to customize your message per customer as you’re given more time to spend in one call. Power dialers can also set one or more contact numbers per person. And, this ability allows for a speedier calling process.
4. Preview Dialer
With preview dialers, you can place or skip outbound calls. These would instinctively connect the phone to the next call, without leaving many options to the user. These are also employed if you want to look at the information of the person you’ll be conversing with. This allows you to have a preview of the receiver’s data before the call. Because of that, you’re more able to prepare and customize your message according to your receiver’s information.
If you have a conversation with s customer who needs personalization, then the preview dialer can solve that. A preview dialer is great if you value the call’s quality more than quantity. Also, if you find yourself calling a smaller scale of receivers, but require more attention in each call, then a preview caller is for you.
Features Of Auto Dialers
No matter the type of auto dialer, it can bring you a lot of valuable benefits. Take a look at these features to see just how an auto dialer can help your business:
1. Security And Protection
Security is the most valuable feature you should look for in an auto dialer. Like with any other software, make sure that it’s not putting any vital information at risk.
Ensure that all your private information, including that of your clients, is protected and kept safe. Breaching information will surely destroy your reputation and your customers’ trust. And, it’s hard to keep your customers when you’ve lost their trust.
The good thing is that auto dialers are guaranteed to protect your information against any possible breach and leaking. This means that your data will be kept safe from third-party attacks. That’s why you must look for an auto dialer provider with a good reputation.
2. Schedule Callbacks
Also, you’re probably not going to reach your customers the first time you call them. And, that’s not unusual. But, an auto dialer solves that problem for you.
It gives you the ability to reschedule unanswered calls. The software will automatically detect the calls that were answered and note the ones that weren’t. Those that weren’t picked up will be put back on the list of numbers so you can call them automatically.
3. Monitor And Control Calls
When you call a business number, you’re more likely to hear a voice that sounds like a robot. This robot-sounding voice will tell you that the call is being recorded. That feature is called call monitoring. It allows you to record all of your voice calls for later reviewing. With this feature, you can listen to your employees’ conversations or have one of your managers do that. This lets you gain knowledge about the performance of your employees.
Knowing this is valuable if you’re looking to enhance your calling process and your customer interaction.
4. Detect Unproductive Numbers
Auto dialers also give you the capability to determine unproductive numbers so you can deal with them accordingly. Unproductive numbers are the ones not worth the bother. These may be numbers that are always busy or those that always go to voicemails. Having this feature will save you so much time and effort. Removing the number entirely isn’t a requirement. Instead, you have the option to take note of the numbers that are worth spending time on.
5. Consolidation
Auto dialers also work well with any other software you have to keep customer information. If you’re already using a customer relationship management (CRM) platform, then integrating that with an auto dialer will be no hassle. Whenever you get any new valuable information during calls, your auto dialer can automatically update your CRM. This way, you’ll be tracking interaction and data more efficiently.
6. Transfer Calls
Since many workforces nowadays are dispersed, your office line may not be accessible to your employees or even to you. Auto dialers give you easy access to transfer a call to someone else or even to another device. You can also use this if you need to see whether a customer qualifies your standards before redirecting the call to another person.
Advantages Of Using Auto Dialers
With the features of an auto dialer, you can use them to gain benefits. Whether that be predictive, preview, power, or robo calls, you can choose one that has the features your business needs. As a result, here are some of the benefits you can gain from an auto dialer:
1. More Efficient Operation
With an automated dialer, you’ll no longer have to do the dialing yourself. This means no more manual calling, fewer mistakes, and no more time wasted.
Manual calling is usually plagued by too much wait time, dropped calls, or misdialing. All of these can add up and significantly affect your operations.
With an auto dialer, you can make sure that all connected calls are directed to the agents. It also determines busy signals and unproductive numbers. When you combine all these, you can increase your operational efficiency and productivity.
2. Increases Sales And Conversion Rate
Auto dialers are also guaranteed to drive more sales and leads. As mentioned before, you have the option to preview information about your customers when you use preview dialers. This allows you to customize your message that’s more likely to entice your customers. Custom messages are more likely to turn your prospects and get those conversions. For instance, you can use their current issues to appeal to them. You can relate how your products or services can solve their existing problems.
3. Decreases Operational Costs
Likewise, you can also decrease your cost of operations with an auto dialer. Not staying up to date with software can cost a lot of money for any call center. Companies without new software will have to rely on PBX systems.
Without up-to-date software, you may find yourself in need of operators that will distribute calls to your agents. This is challenging and costly at the same time.
This is where an auto dialer becomes useful. If you have an existing computer network in your company, you no longer need to buy new hardware. All you need is a cloud-based auto dialer, and, voila, you can save from spending on new hardware. Cloud computing is popular nowadays, so better take advantage of it.
4. Maintains Fresh Data
Aside from dialing calls, an auto dialer can also help you maintain fresh data. Data is usually accessed through database synchronization. You can do this with an automatic or manual process.
However, customer data should be collected quickly, especially because you can use such information to generate leads.
With auto dialers, you can gather and relay data in a faster manner. Then, all data may go into your cloud storage or CRM. Apart from that, calling back is also automated because the software retains busy numbers.
5. Personalized Messaging System
As mentioned, you can customize your message by knowing the customer’s information. General messages that you send to all your customers may not take your customer relationship further. And, it may not also generate many leads.
You can do better if you have your message customized with a personal voicemail message, follow-up texts, and the ability to document more than one message. This will make your customers feel that you relate to or understand them.
6. Aim For Local Markets
What makes an auto dialer convenient is its ability to get another local number into your system. This is useful if you’re looking to call customers from another location without increasing costs. Doing so lets you reach customers that are outside your company region, thus, allowing you to hire the best call agents from various parts of the world. This also shows your customers that you can run your business in their area even if you’re not directly situated in that place.
7. Reduced Inactive Time
Most importantly, you can reduce the inactive time of your employees with an auto dialer. Manual dialing requires a lot of menial tasks to accomplish, including waiting until the call is connected. Add to that the time spent on busy tones, answering machines, and disconnected calls. All of these can take up so much of your agent’s time.
However, auto dialing software can take note of these nuances. The software will retain this information and use these for skipping calls or keeping productive ones. Moreover, it allows your agents to deal with more calls for a shorter time. With this, you can decrease the amount of time unnecessarily spent on barriers that usually come with manual calling.
Conclusion
If your business’s blood is generating leads through cold calling, then an auto dialer is what you’ll need. You can use it to remind customers of existing products or services, or let them know about new ones. You can also use it to gather information about existing customers and generate new leads. All of which depends on the features of an auto dialer you choose.
What’s important is for you to understand how an auto dialer helps your business. That being said, take action and choose the right type of auto dialer for your business.
