Is Your Fred Flintstone Telemarketing Software Weighing Down Call Center Efficiency?
Speed and efficiency are the name of the game for outbound call centers. Agents need to be nimble, energetic and swift, and their managers need to be equally quick-thinking and fast-acting in order to keep the call center operating at optimum efficiency.
But even with rock star agents and a home run manager, if the call center technology is antiquated it’s like putting shackles on a thoroughbred. Such is the case when a call center is stuck using more traditional premise-based hardware systems rather than the higher-quality hosted cloud software solutions.
Overstated? Not really. Take a look at some of the ways in which a predictive dialer could improve efficiency and productivity at an outbound call center.
1. Speed Dialing: The crown jewel of telemarketing software is predictive dialing. This function allows for swift call dialing to maximize agents’ time. Based on algorithms, the dialer can place several calls at one time and quickly connect the agent with a caller at the moment they answer.
For agents who are able to follow a tight script and maintain a fast average handle time, the dialer can begin making the next calls before the previous call has ended, guaranteeing that the moment the agent’s call ends, they will be in touch with the next caller. With several solid agents using predictive dialers at optimal levels, a call center can increase its daily call output several times over.
2. Filtering: Good predictive dialing software can detect busy signals, answering machines and faxes, and will avoid those. The simple ability to avoid those time-wasting roadblocks frees agents to make calls that will get answers.
3. Customization: When experienced agents get their hands on a good predictive dialing system, there is no limit to what they can accomplish. The ability to set details, such as the time of day to call an office or home phone, the number of rings per contact number, and the minimum and maximum number of call attempts, makes room for greater call success rates.
4. Dialing Compliance: There are many rules and regulations in place to prevent call centers from harassing customers. HIPAA, TCP and CFPB are three of the main regulatory bodies in the industry and mistakes can be costly, with the FCC handing down penalties costing between $500- $1500 for violators. Fortunately, quality telemarketing software makes it a cinch to call within TCPA and CFPB guidelines by offering a bevy of useful functions, including:
- Manual-Dial Only Platform, so the agent has more control over his or her calls.
- Cell Phone Scrub, to remove cell phone or ported numbers.
- IP Address Lock-Down, to add an extra layer of security.
5. Call Recording: Calls can be automatically recorded, which allows for quality control. It empowers managers and agents to be mindful of what agents say while making calls, and how to improve agent KPIs. This is an especially helpful tool at the end of long days, where agents might lose focus and forget a few of the fundamentals. Better yet, recording can be paused if the caller has privacy concerns.
Telemarketing software allows agents to move at a lightning-fast pace, in a more efficient and always-compliant manner. In every way, cloud-based call center technology offers benefits that increase call center productivity.