As today is the age of tough competition and global business, it is extremely essential to have efficient communication in the organization. Regardless of the fact that you are a salesperson or a customer service consultant, or a debt collection officer, contacting the potential buyers or clients is often one of your major responsibilities. Whereas, manual calling has been in the market for decades now Automated calling systems also known as auto dialers have gained a lot of acceptance. So, in this article, we will try to discuss the positive and negative aspects of both methods that will help to realize which of them is better for you.
Understanding Auto Dialers
An auto dialer is a program that is used in making calls and it does this by dialing the numbers automatically. It can dial phone numbers in a specified sequence so that manual dialing can not be required. Auto dialers can also screen out busy signals and non-answered calls hence making the process much more efficient. Some of the more sophisticated auto dialers include features such as call recording, call scripting and can even connect directly to the company’s CRM.
Pros of Auto Dialers:
Increased Efficiency: Automated dialers are used to increase efficiency since the process of dialing the targets will be done automatically. This frees up agents time so they are not spending time manually dialing numbers but probably are conversing.
Higher Call Volume: By doing away with the time spent on dialing by hand, more call can be attended to, thus sales or more client interaction.
Improved Lead Generation: Auto dialers are useful in lead qualification as well in lead identification. They can directly dial numbers from lists such as contact lists, thereby reducing on time and energies to be used.
Data Tracking and Analysis: Most auto dialers contain analytical functions that can give important data connected with call effectiveness. These can be analyzed to enhance the campaign, help increase performance of the agents and improve on training.
Cost-Effective: Auto dialer software does require a certain initial investment in order to obtain it but it certainly pays off down the line by saving significant time and effort.
Cons of Auto Dialers:
Lack of Personalization: However, it is noted that auto dialing systems can be impersonal as compared to the manual dialing methods. This may pose a problem when it comes to warm leads or potential customers / clients with whom one has to establish rapport.
Compliance Issues: As much as auto dialers are effective in making contact with customers, they if not used in the right manner may attract legal actions and even fines. As is the case with TCPA, one must ensure the compliance to regulations as given below.
Technical Issues: Auto dialers however are not immune to technical hitches or even breakdowns and this results in interruptions and frustration.
Call Quality Concerns: Auto dialers provide the ability to make the call at specific intervals but the quality of such calls can be declined because of network problems or the software failure.
Pros of Manual Calling:
Personal Touch: Manual calling on the other hand enables marketers to engage their customers personally; this creates trust from the side of the consumer.
Flexibility: Manual calling is more flexible to handle as the agents are more liberal in the way they handle the person at the other end of the line.
No Technical Issues: In manual calling, there is no use of technology so we don’t have to establish software problems or network related problems.
Compliance Ease: Most of the times, manual calling causes minimal compliance issues as compared to auto dialers since the agents have direct control over the call.
Cons of Manual Calling:
Time-Consuming: Manual dialing is even more tiresome, and one can take many days to complete dialing numbers when there is a huge list marked for calling.
Lower Call Volume: In manual calling systems, the number of calls that an agent can complete is restricted which may affect its sales or customer service productivity.
Higher Costs: The overhead costs incurred on the manual calling may be relatively higher than those of the auto dialers.
Choosing the Right Method
Therefore, the best method that suits your business depends on the following factors; your needs, your pocket and the human resource available for the task. Here are some questions to consider when making your decision:
- What is your call volume?
- Do you need advanced features like call recording or scripting?
- How important is personalization in your interactions?
- What are your compliance requirements?
- What is your budget for communication tools?
High call volume is something that may be solved with an auto dialer, moreover, to perform many other complicated operations. Nonetheless, if it is important to target specifically or be very flexible, then maybe manual calling is more appropriate. It is also possible to use a combined manner of calling: sometimes a person is called directly from an automated line.
Conclusion:
Effective communication is therefore very critical in the current business environment. Auto dialers and manual calling also have certain advantages and disadvantages which are discussed below.
Auto dialers are good with call volume, number of dials per hour, with leads and data but can be impersonal with any call and have compliance and technical problems. A disadvantage of manual calling is time consuming, low call volume, and more expensive but has benefits such as personal touch, flexibility, and has the least technical problems. The best fit depends on the amount of calls made, features needed, the amount of customization allowed, legal requirements, and cost. Finally, it is possible that the solution where both fully automated tools and human operators would be used could be the best in many cases.
