CRM Dialers | What They Are and How They Work

At the core level, a system that puts outbound calls to customers from a contact center is called a dialer. Its purpose is to cut down the ...

At the core level, a system that puts outbound calls to customers from a contact center is called a dialer. Its purpose is to cut down the time spent on placing phone calls by eradicating error-prone and repetitive work. The device moreover promotes and even enhances efficiency by connecting a call center agent to the customer in line directly when it detects one that is available.

What is more exciting is, a dialer features beyond automated dialing wherein inputting telephone numbers no longer consume the call center agents’ precious times as this will also facilitate more time to talk with their customers. Also, latest releases like the CRM dialers are now integration-ready with different kinds of business operations such that when a customer books for a call-back on the business’s website, the dialer will be processing that request and make that call through the CRM.

What is CRM Dialer and How CRM Dialer Work?

The Evolution of Dialers

Back in the days, the ultimate purpose of dialers is to work through a list of contact numbers and operate on them manually in linking the sales team to prospective clients. There were no predictive capabilities in place and there lacked contextual and behavioral information to offer extensive assistance. Meanwhile, the dialers of today are a lot more sophisticatedly developed, processing a huge amount of contextual data to respond cleverly to situations. This includes data from after-sales calls that can nurture skills and promote pro-activeness in the customer service department.

CRM Dialer to the Rescue

Dialers from the past were plainly hardware pieces. But as we are now in this digital era, even dialers already have their software versions. These days, how a dialer should function has become fluid. It also comes in a variety of categories all targeting various areas of functionalities. Sometimes, there even are disagreements about the naming of these tools. For instance, one in the list of categories is called the “power dialer” but contrary to its name, it is the ultimate function that makes it with power is its automated dialing feature. Meanwhile, there is also this other dialer category named the “predictive dialer” which features dialing multiple numbers simultaneously. The system is operated using an algorithm to spot if there is an available agent and if that agent is likely to be reached any time soon. The purpose of these auto dialing technologies is to reduce the waiting time or time spent on senseless calls. But besides these dialers, these purposes can also be met through other technologies that can detect busy signals, answering machines, and out-of-service hotlines.

Besides the abovementioned, dialers can also be classified as dynamic or adaptive which differ in terms of mechanisms and algorithms used, i.e. the chances of having an available employee, and when to initiate call-backs.

As for the setup, a dialer should be installed and embedded in the surrounding processes and technology a company has built to make calls. In several ways, a dialer is only a small part of the total solution that is required to establish integrated communications flow for service, sales, and other business areas.

The dialer may help schedule a customer call-back with regards to the latter’s online query. But in the event, the customer ends up calling first, or an email thread has been initiated, how would the CRM software handle such cases? This is where CRM Dialers come to the rescue. They feature automation that is needed to put the outbound call request on top priority, overtaking the queue. It will also notify the agent about everything he needs to know, e.g. updates, threads, query details, to cater to the customer’s request.

In the present multichannel platform, a whole set of integrated processes is needed to populate data to the dialer and to record data from the integrated systems.

The Concerns about CRM Dialers

However advanced and smart CRM Dialers now are, there are hearsays that they cannot keep up with the latest technology and this would lead to misuse or abuse of outbound dialers. For instance, with the latest dialers, call centers are able to place and book calls beyond what they can realistically handle, leading to abandoned and silent calls. As these calls are conducted worldwide, strict guidelines are coming out to get rid of what they call “the nuisance calls”.

Nonetheless, CRM dialers still have major contributions to the improvement of the industry although this has cost companies a lot of money. The workaround would be to raise practice standards and establish watchdog teams who are dedicated to protect customers and ensure quality calls.

Specific Processes CRM Dialers Cover

These days, there is usually (and must be) an integration between dialers and all business processes such that when a customer asks for a call-back through the business’s website, the dialer integrated with the CRM will automatically facilitate the callback, automatically notifying and assigning an available call center agent to make the call and cater the request.

Moreover, an integrated CRM dialer can also prompt warning whenever unusual activity is detected. And more importantly, CRM dialers immensely contribute to keeping a good level on each of the following:

• Outbound Messaging
• Cold Calling
• Account Reactivation
• Providing Proactive Customer Care
• Enhancing Customer Retention
• Facilitating a Smooth Debt Collection

In several cases, aside from calls, the dialer generates to grant customer call-back requests, the dialer may also generate calls for debt collection and other financial services automatically.

How to Integrate CRM Dialers with Other Business Operations?

Two ways are essentially used to integrate CRM dialers into other channels and business operations;

First is package dialers which take advantage of pre-installed integration for basic business tools specifically for CRM systems. This approach can, however, cover only simple use cases and for small teams.

Second is a sophisticated approach that enables dialer components and the system used to integrate with other systems. This one can respond more extensively for teams who are handling complex processes and would need more flexibility in optimizing their processes.

The secret to note when it comes to using CRM dialers is that you should strategically set up its connecting calls’ path and that smart integration should be facilitated.