Preview or Power Dialers

The preview or power dialer is the slowest option among sales dialers. It calls using a one-to-one calling ratio, which allows your sales rep to preview the lead. The agent can look through the lead information and decide if they want to reach out and call. If they decide to reach out, then they simply click to call.

The agent may reach the consumer or a voicemail. If you use a consultative sales approach, the preview or power dialer is a great solution. One thing that’s incredibly important is that the leads that are being offered up have some great logic behind them. As a result, a good call workflow is critical. Otherwise, you’re offered leads that may not be the best leads to call at that moment.

Progressive Dialers

The progressive dialer is a little bit more efficient and effective than a preview dialer, but they are similar. The progressive dialer also uses a one-to-one call ratio. The main difference is that the call information is passed to your call agent as it is making the phone call. The phone will begin to ring, showing the agent who they are calling. The sales rep does not have an option to select which lead is being dialed. This prevents them from cherry-picking their leads and not contacting every lead possible. These sales dialers contact the leads without discrimination. The progressive dialer is well-suited to outbound and inbound sales teams that have a more scripted type of sales process.

Predictive Dialers for Call Centers

The predictive dialer is the Ferrari of sales dialers for call centers. Predictive dialing offers all the speed.

In order to obtain the full benefits of a predictive dialer, you need many agents working leads at the same time. This lead dialer approach works best if you have at least 10 people on your team. If you have 6 or 7 people and are planning to grow, a progressive sales dialer would be worth considering. A predictive dialer works on a call ratio. You can put it on a three-to-one, a five-to-one or a seven-to-one call ratio. When your sales reps sign on, depending on how many are logged in at the same time, the sales dialer will start calling based on that ratio.

For example, suppose you have 10 agents in the system and you use a three-to-one ratio. The lead dialer will make 30 phone calls. That’s three phone calls for every agent, which means 30 phone calls for 10 agents instead of a max of 10. The dialer can then be more efficient.

A typical predictive dialer system uses voicemail detection. On an outbound call, the dialer connects with the lead. There can be a delay between when the contact answers and the agent are connected.

One of the drawbacks is that you may not connect with some of the leads immediately. But if you have a business model that is scripted or have a smaller sale, you can call on aged leads and get in contact with of a lot more consumers in a short period of time.

Note that there are many legal issues with predictive dialing in regards to abandonment rates that we will go into in another post. There are also FTC and TCPA regulations that govern all dialing.