Get the best from your predictive dialler

Chris Key explains how predictive diallers can help you evaluate the quality of your data and increase your ROI.

When you spend budget on telephone data lists for your outbound call centre or telesales team, you’re making an investment – one that should be delivering an excellent return on investment (ROI).

These data lists can play a vital role in driving your business, providing opportunities to sell. But that depends on getting the best possible data and using it effectively.

So how do you know whether your data is any good? How can you make sure it’s worth the money you’re spending? And how can you make sure it delivers results and earns you money back?

A predictive dialler can help you examine the quality of your telesales data list. Thanks to accurate logging of call outcomes and access to other useful metrics, you’ll be able to see how much of your data is useful. With a clear idea of data quality, you’ll know whether to return to the same supplier for more.

With a predictive dialler, you can get a clearer view of data utilisation metrics:

• Contact or call rates – the number of records where the number has been dialled.
• Complete rates – the number of records where an outcome was achieved – a sale or a no. These should not be dialled any more.
• Retire rates – the number records flagged as bad numbers because they are out of services or fax lines.
• Penetration rates – the number of records that you have got through to, both completes and retires.

Penetration rate is the valuable metric that helps with revenue forecasting. Successful campaigns will have goals from the onset, revenue targets and penetration rates.

As you work your way through the list, working towards your penetration goal, you can forecast revenue, based on current campaign performance. With automated auditing and accurate call dispositioning, you’ll be able to see what’s working – instantly. So you can make sure data lists are being used in a way that maximises return, and always be ready to feed in a new list as the old one runs out.

A predictive dialler takes your data list and schedules it effectively, automating the dialling process. The dialler can be set up to improve call answer rates, therefore list penetration rates. This then increases the amount of time your agents can spend on calls, enabling you to focus on improving what you can control – their sales performance.

When a predictive dialler is set up properly, it can work in a number of ways to improve call answer rates:

• Automatic call-backs or presenting a local caller ID based on postcode.
• Automatically switching – after 5.30pm – from calling mobiles to home phones.
• Randomising call-backs to avoid patterns.

And above all else, the combination of a high-quality list and a powerful dialler empowers your team – to call more of the right people, talk more, and, crucially, sell more.

Visit Hostcomm’s website to find out more about how a hosted predictive dialler could help you use data lists effectively.

With thanks to Chris Key, Director at Hostcomm