OutboundManagementChallenges

When we talk about challenges of outbound dialing, we can observe there is an evident reality: in one hand, companies look into increasing their revenue and believe, that through the Contact Center outbound campaigns they’ll have an effective way to achieve their goals. On the other hand, companies cannot afford to risk the quality of its customer service by controlling operational costs and optimizing resources of their campaigns. Therefore, how to achieve a balance between effective outbound campaigns, without compromising the quality of the service while maintaining a profitable operation?

First, we need to be clear about objectives in an outbound dialing management. The macro goal is to

sell, even though there are other key elements such as acquisition and retention of customers, ATO (average time per operation) reduction, abandonment rate control, etc. which also have an impact on another critical factor: customer experience. Through differentiation, we are going to be able to sell more, to reach the maximum number of contacts per hour, manage useful contacts, higher rates of possible conversions, etc. At the end, everything can be translated into higher sales and what makes success or failure in the company. In this lies the challenge of outbound dialing. Therefore, everything we can optimize in outbound services will help us to getting closer of achieving our business goals.

Have the Best TechnologyWhen we are talking about the importance of tools for outbound services management, we are referring to a powerful automatic dialer. Predictive dialer is one of the most important advances in recent decades in the contact center industry and have meant a boost to increase its productivity. The automatic dialing sends active contacts to agents on an effective form, thanks to a technology that detects busy tones, “no answer”, fax and answering machines, in addition to multiple rules of recall.

A good automatic dialer can increase the productivity of agents between 40 minutes per hour (66% of the productivity) and 57 minutes per hour (95% of the productivity)".

Source: Predictive Dialing For Outbound Telephone Call Centers.

Increase ProductivityIt is essential to adapt the intensity on outbound calls in order to situate them according to the production rhythm required by the campaign. We need to prioritize and adjust the dialing rules through an optimal tool that allows us to qualify calls without stopping the service. However, it has to be clear that dialers do not make miracles; they only strengthen the effectiveness of the operation. To increase campaigns productivity, time to market has to be as short as possible, adapting them quickly according to the specific needs of each service and execute them with simplicity and flexibility to proactive response and not reactively to the changing dynamic businesses and customers.

49% of the consumers hang immediately in case of delay or a pause after answering a call, especially if it is an unknown phone number. And many of those who keep on the line are only doing it to request that their number is removed or added to a do-not-call list.”

Source: Harris Interactive.

49%

Optimise Costs and Resources Through real time monitoring, service agent management historic and used technology, platform supervisors and administrators can access statistics and behaviors in order to improve the performance of the campaigns. As a result, decision making at an operational level will be facilitated to control costs, optimize resources and increase productivity.

Reduce the AverageOperation Time (TMO)

When agents are empowered to optimize this indicator, they are able to serve more customers or prospects, increasing their productivity and conversion rates. However, it is crucial to be careful since while trying to keep a reduced ATO, service agents may be speeding call management processes and offering a poor customer service.

42% of sales representatives say that they do not have the information they need just before making a call"Source: CSO Insights.

Increase the Volumeof Contacts

Manage fluctuating volumes of calls is a recurrent challenge for customer service centers. For this, it is necessary to determine the amount and the right mix of agents to not only avoid incurring in cost overruns but also not to risk the service quality. Planning should start with a correct strategy for controlling the volume of calls. Identifying demand patterns and contact center behaviors can set your markers to achieve the required volume of contacts and meet your business objectives.

Manage Each Contact WiselyIn the end, everything is focused on successfully manage each contact. To be able to sell, the contact center needs to be able to manage all the opportunities of each customer. Our customers highlight that it is crucial to take care of the following details to ensure good management in each interaction:

The customer is the center of everything:

taking care of the relationship with the customer during their entire interaction cycle. Do not

forget under any circumstances that the priority is the customer, not the

agent or the company. We must prevent that the despair to make

a sale make us send misperceptions and offer

a poor service.

Deliver value to the

contacts: for decades, it is criticized that telemarketing

calls do not work in companies where they are not managed

correctly. Companies that make a correct use are those who offer

something that really represents value at the time of contacting. Many

companies do not provide added value or a purpose for making the

call and that is the reason for a customer to switch

off.

Do not make

mistakes: many times, it is said that we learn from our

mistakes, but in this case, it is better to avoid them. Here are some mistakes that

should be avoided: Working with a poor quality databases,

Calling on inappropriate times, Do not have a clear goal and not providing agents with useful information for the call, Lack of

information about the product that is being offered, Not knowing the regulations of

Robinson lists, Not being able to generate outbound activity

through incoming calls (cross selling).

Do not be very insistent or aggressive: To

the contrary on what may seem obvious, when an agent gets in touch with a buyer, the insistence to sell may

result in the withdrawal of the customer. During the first contact, agents are offering

what a prospect does not want to buy. While the first approach should promote brand positioning, to generate empathy with the

customer (without exaggerating) to not sound as if he were deceiving the buyer or selling what he does not

need. This generates distrust.

Continuous

monitoring: Contacts we are calling are busy. Contacts

have already forgot or find hard to remember the reason of the call. To

avoid these, it is necessary to schedule reminders or send alerts. Never give up on a contact that did

not answer or did not bought a product. We cannot have call tracking or reprogramming

holes.

The Presence Suite Outbound Dialer assists companies around the world in obtaining maximum productivity

About Enghouse Interactive

Designed to be the perfect technological support in the management of telephonic campaigns, the Presence Suite Outbound Dialer increases useful contact rates and maximizes the agent productivity by automating the process of outbound calls based on business rules and obtaining the following results in customers around the world:

Enghouse Interactive (www.enghouseinteractive.com) delivers technology and expertise to maximize the value of every customer interaction. The company develops a comprehensive portfolio of customer interaction management solutions. Core technologies include contact center, attendant console, predictive outbound dialer, knowledge management, IVR and call recording solutions that support any telephony environment, on premise or in the cloud. Enghouse Interactive has thousands of customers worldwide, supported by a global network of partners and more than 800 dedicated staff across the company’s international operations.

Enghouse Interactive is a subsidiary of Enghouse Systems Limited, a software and services company traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) under the symbol “ENGH.” Founded in 1984, Enghouse Systems is a consistently profitable company,

which has grown both organically and through the acquisition of well-regarded specialists including AndTek, Arc, CosmoCom, Datapulse, IAT, IT Sonix, Presence Technology, Reitek, Safeharbor, Syntellect, Telrex, Trio, Voxtron and Zeacom. Learn more at www.enghouseinteractive.com

100% productivity per agent

47% increase of useful contacts for measurable hour

45% improvement in the amount charged to debtors

20% reduction of operating costs and 99% of human error

Reduction of TMO: from 4.5 minutes to 1.99 minutes

Data obtained from Presence Suite customers

Presence Suite it’s anEnghouse Interactive.For more information, please visit: www.enghouseinteractive.es