Outbound sales productivity
We typically find that the primary measure that most outbound centres use is the amount of time an Agent spends on the phone. The simple logic goes that with a good calling list then more sales will result from more time on the phone. In part it is true that outbound selling is definitely a numbers games, but it is also about timing.
In our experience, a more meaningful measure is ‘right party contacts’ as this really reflects the number of genuine selling opportunities that an outbound Agent actually has.
To illustrate this point, think of all the possible outcomes of a call. Firstly, you have all the reasons why you do not get to speak to anyone – the line is busy, there is no reply or you get a voice messaging system where you can leave a message. Secondly, you get to speak to someone, but they are not the decision maker that you are targeting. Whilst you can glean some information from these contacts, for example when it is likely to be a good time to call, they do not represent selling opportunities. It is only when you get to speak to the ‘right party contact’ that you get a real chance to sell.
To make your centre more efficient, you therefore need to consider ways in which you can drive up the proportion of right party contacts. Technology can help you to eliminate the non contacts – for example outbound dialling technology using Computer Telephony Integration (CTI) can autodial numbers and only pass those calls through to an Agent when the call is answered. In effect, your outbound centre becomes an the equivalent of an inbound operation as your Agents only get to speak to a customer when a contact is made.
However these outbound dialling systems do not address the root cause of contacting the right party. Here you need some business intelligence about who the decision maker is and when is the right time to call. The first of these is down to the quality of your marketing information and how uptodate it is as people change roles, move company etc. The timeliness of a contact is however something that you can directly measure and therefore influence. A simple test is to get an Agent to indicate on a call log when they got to speak to the decision maker and the time of the call. You can then look at each hour of the day for a particular Agent and plot the number of right party contacts for that hour.
You may be surprised at the results – and often there are some simple home truths like don’t call catering managers at lunchtime, and don’t call mums between 3pm ands 4pm when they are on the school run!
