Improvements in technology have transformed businesses across almost every industry. Many companies have undoubtedly experienced increased efficiency in certain processes or methodologies. Perhaps one sector that has benefited the most is customer support and communications. In the past, call center agents used manual dialers, which meant that they had to carry out all the dirty work before getting connected to their desired recipient.
With manual dialers, one had to manually check through a contact list and choose whoever they want to call. Since these dialers were not integrated with the rest of the computers, agents were required to dial these numbers manually and wait for the call to connect. As you’d expect, this was not only time consuming, but it was also a source of many mistakes. Furthermore, these agents get tired at some point too, which makes them prone to mistakes that could hinder the company’s success.
Luckily, new devices were invented to replace the old dialers. Predictive dialer providers, are constantly becoming a significant part of a modern business set up. With these tools, agents don’t have to go through a lot of hassle before being connected to customers. As such, it improves productivity, which directly impacts the company’s growth. Auto dialers have a lot of benefits that can help your startup or established business. Read on to find out more!
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Improve The Agent’s Efficiency
As earlier stated, one of the biggest issues with manual dialers is the fact that agents had to go through a lot of procedures before finally making the call they want. For instance, if they wanted to contact an old client, they’d have to dig through several lists of contacts, dial the numbers, then wait for the call to connect. It might seem like an easy thing to do, but it becomes quite hectic if you’re dealing with many customers.
The efficiency of an agent is measured by comparing the amount of time spent and the number of calls made or received. Obviously, with a manual dialer, you’ll expect the agent to make less calls because of the steps required. At the end of the day, one might end up making only two or three calls per hour, which can lead to very low efficiency.
The operation of auto dialers is in such a way that they can automatically receive and redirect new calls. They’re also integrated with the call center computers, which means one doesn’t have to dial the numbers manually. This saves a significant amount of time considering that the computer is the one doing most of the work. This efficiency directly impacts the overall productivity of your business, because it means that more customers will be contacted per hour.
Another way of measuring the call center’s productivity and efficiency is by considering factors such as the call abandonment rate. This shows how many calls were abandoned within a given period of time. Since manual dialers require the agents to manually receive the calls, there is a huge chance that many calls will go unanswered, especially on a busy day.
Auto dialers help solve this issue by ensuring that every new call is redirected to the next available agent. With such programming, you’ll not find an idle agent when calls are flowing in, which helps enhance the efficiency of the call center at large. Therefore, it’s fair to say that installing this new system in your business will ensure that you get the best out of your employees.
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Reduce Idle Time
Every time an employee tries to connect with consumers using a manual dialer, they’re forced to wait a few seconds before the caller responds. Sometimes, the caller might not even be available or the dialed number is wrong and the agent will have to start over again. Other customers may have diverted all incoming calls to voicemail, which means the agent will be wasting their energy and time trying to reach such clients.
All the delays described above make up what’s referred to as idle time. It’s paid time within which the employee was unproductive either due to technical issues or other factors. Remember, these delays don’t only occur before a call but also after the call has been disconnected. With manual dialers, the amount of time wasted is significant. In fact, one could end up being unproductive for about 20% of the total time they were at the office.
If you’re experiencing such problems with your current business set up, then the best solution would be to invest in a hosted predictive dialer. This tool is designed to ensure that the agent doesn’t waste too much of their time trying to connect with customers. Before a call is made, a predictive dialer will automatically detect the availability of the recipient. If the number is diverted to voicemail or a machine answers the call, it’ll notify the agent. As such, a lot of time is saved before and after the call.
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Increase Agent Talk Time
Another benefit of an autodialer is its ability to influence the agents’ talk time. As earlier stated, manual dialers require a lot of time to set up a call, and that eats up a lot of working hours. For instance, if one is supposed to be active for eight hours, they might end up being productive for only six hours. The two hours lost due to idling are very significant and can gravely affect your overall productivity as a business. Keeping in mind that these are paid hours, you’ll end up losing a lot of revenue in unrewarding strategies.
So, how exactly does it affect your productivity? Well, the main victim in such a scenario is the agent’s talk time. By definition, this is the period spent by your employees talking to the customers. In other words, this is the most crucial part of any call center since it determines the success of your company as a whole.
For an agent to be effective, they’ll need enough time to talk to clients. This way, they’ll be able to promote new products or respond to a customer’s concerns. In addition, this gives your employees enough space to convince both new and current clients to purchase your company offerings. If you’re looking to increase your agent’s talk time, then you might want to consider purchasing an autodialer. With this system, employees will spend less time trying to connect to customers and more of it on marketing your products and services.
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Reduce Mistakes
There’s no doubt that the impact of technology on businesses has triggered a lot of changes in how things are done. For instance, manual dialers force people to go through several files trying to find a contact. They’ll then go ahead and start dialing the number on the machine then wait for a response from the other end. This process is very monotonous and most employees can easily lose focus after a few dials, especially if the company has a lot of clients to be in contact with.
As a result, agents are prone to mistakes after working for several hours. For instance, they could find themselves dialing wrong numbers because they’re in a rush to meet their daily targets. In addition, these processes can be quite frustrating, and that means their communication with the customers might be affected significantly. As such, you’ll experience the inconsistent performance from your call center, and that makes it even harder to narrow down the non-performing agents.
Of course, there’s a way through which you can improve this situation. One of the main reasons why auto-dialers were introduced was to reduce the number of errors that occurred while using the previous systems. Since most of the work prior to the call is done by the computer, it’s less likely for your employees to make such mistakes. Consequently, you’ll not only enjoy high productivity but also a consistent performance from each agent within the call center.
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Enhances Lead Conversion
One of the main tasks carried out by call centers is to convert potential customers to real clients. The success of this strategy is affected by two main factors; the people and machines available at the center. First, the agents need to be trained well for them to have any chance of winning new customers. Apart from those responsible for the calls, the machines used to carry out the process are also very significant.
Manual dialers, for instance, are associated with a lot of time-wasting. As earlier stated, the employees are required to do almost every step from finding the contacts, making the call, and waiting for the recipient. It might not seem like a big deal but it actually impacts everyone’s talk time. Remember, the more time your agents have, the higher their chances of convincing potential clients.
Auto dialers help in this regard because of their ability to automate some of the tasks. For instance, it’s easier to start the dialing process, and the machine can easily determine if the one being called is available. All these features enhance time-saving, which then increases the agent’s call activity. As the talk time is expanded, you’re more likely to see an improved rate of lead conversion.
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Offer Real-Time Monitoring Capability
As a manager or business owner, one thing that you’d like to have access to is the general performance of your workers. How many calls does an agent make within an hour? How many leads have they converted so far? This information is very crucial because it gives you an idea of the employees’ productivity and what you need to change.
With an autodialer, you can keep track of the most active agents and the inactive ones. This system saves the number of calls made in a database and how long each call lasted. It also records the calls so that you can listen to them whenever you want. These features are not found in manual dialers; therefore, you’ll need to do manual tracking.
So, what’s the advantage of monitoring agent calls? Well, for one, you’ll know which agents are working hard to meet their daily targets. You can set a realistic threshold so that those who don’t hit the goal can be easily filtered out. But as you do so, remember that there are several factors that can hinder one from making a certain number of calls even while using auto-dialers. Therefore, make sure you’re reasonable in your decisions to avoid losing your best employees.
Another benefit of monitoring call center operation has to do with the improvement of your employees. As earlier stated, auto-dialers allow you to gain access to full recorded calls. With these files, you can access every agent’s performance and note their strengths and weaknesses. Of course, everyone needs a push at some point, but it’s important that you understand their qualities first. In fact, by analyzing these calls regularly, you’ll be able to notice any changes in employee performance. This is a signal that something needs to be changed within the business premises, and the faster you react, the better your chances of success.
Conclusion
Gone are the days when every company relied on manual dialers for all their call operations. Today, the auto-dialers have become the main part of any call center because of their significant benefits over the old systems. For one, they reduce the errors which are quite common when using manual dialing technology. Also, since the system is automated, the agents don’t have to do a lot of work before making a call.
Consequently, this increases the agent talk time, which is very crucial in the success of any call center or business. With enough time to communicate with customers, your employees have enough space to convert as many potential customers as possible. At the end of the day, you’ll experience a huge improvement in your overall productivity with the introduction of auto-dialers. It also helps build your brand because all callers are attended to either by live agents or pre-recorded answering machines.
