Key features of a Lead Management CRM

A lead management CRM allows sales representatives to effectively use other telephony tools. The CRM is able to triple sales productivity by integrating there numerous telephony software tools into a single, easy to implement, software platform.

The simple interface of a lead management CRM allows sales reps to easily complete their required tasks. Everything a sales representative needs to do can be done within one computer window. From here he can choose to disconnect from the phone dialer, move on to the next call, schedule a call back appointment, view call reports, send an email, and a number of other key tasks.

The technology used by a lead management CRM also helps a sales rep know the best time to contact a web-based inquiry in order to contact, qualify, and close a sale. It uses what is known as web form callback technology to do this. The web form on any website can be programmed to capture the data from the form and transfer it to the CRM. Once in the customer relationship manager, the phone number is immediately routed to a sales rep. The CRM also makes the newly generated and captured lead a high priority for the sales rep to call, ensuring that the call is placed within minutes of the lead submitting information and demonstrating interest. According to a study with Insidesales.com and MIT, when leads are contacted that quickly, the contact rate increases upwards of 800%.

Lead management CRMs add further time saving features with automated voice messaging technology. During the calls when a lead is unable to be contacted, prerecorded messages can be left by the dialer while the sales rep moves on to the next call. Prior to making calls sales representatives can create a whole library of prerecorded voice messages, and have these messages checked for quality control. When a voice mail machine is encountered the sales rep only has to click a button on their screen to have one of those messages left while he moves onto the next sales opportunity. This keeps sales reps talking to live leads, not dealing with machines that can’t make a purchase.

Lead management CRM is a powerful productivity enhancing software solution that is suitable for both B2B and B2C remote sales. Users need very little training before using a CRM for their sales calls, and it has an immediate impact on any remote sales organization.

Recession Solution? Auto Dialer!

Rising unemployment rates and sinking consumer confidence affects business to business companies, just like any other. In these slouching economic times, all businesses have to look at new ways to reach their targeted audiences.

An inefficient business can still turn a profit in a good economy, but a recession can painfully highlight all the failing areas in a company. One such area is manually dialing sales leads instead of automating the process using an auto dialer.

An inside sales call center who’s sales professionals manually dial all numbers can at times perform reasonably well when a greater percentage of contacts convert into clients. In a typical well-run B2B call center a sales professional, whose primary responsibility is lead generation, can be expected to make 40 or 50 calls each work day. That’s if he was dialing manually. Once that same sales professional switches to using an auto dialer he can expect to be making 170 to 350 calls each workday.

An auto dialer works like this: First the auto dialer has a contact list of leads loaded into the database. The auto dialer will then automatically place a call to each number on that list. Once dialed, the call is routed through to an available sales agent who takes the call as the number is ringing. If the call is busy or not answered, the auto dialer system can be used to send fax, voicemail, or email. By doing all this, auto dialers not only reduce the wasted time spent manually dialing, but also eliminate much of the wasted time spent dealing with busy signals and voice messaging systems.

A hosted auto dialer solution adds even more value to this system. By contracting with a hosted auto dialer provider the maintenance, development, and set up of the dialer is completed by the host company. Also, no software needs to be downloaded on company computers. Instead the auto dialer software is accessed through the internet. This allows sales professionals to work from any location with a telephone and a PC connected to the internet. A hosted dialer solution works with whatever hardware a call center may currently be using.

Inside sales operations can continue to grow in a difficult financial recession, but only when smart telephony technology is used. An auto dialer is such a solution that eliminates much of the wasted time in call centers.

Phone Dialer for the Complex Sale

Business to business (B2B) sales occur when commerce happens between businesses, such as a manufacturer trades with a wholesaler or a wholesaler selling to a retailer. When a remote sales operation participates in B2B sales, those sales are often more complex than business to consumer (B2C) sales. These complex sales require different telephony software than the simpler B2C sales, such as a different kind of auto dialer.

All auto dialers work in a similar way, but not every kind could be described as a complex sale dialer. The purpose of any dialer is to increase the amount of calls and contacts a sales agent can complete in a business day. All auto dialers load a previously generated list of phone numbers and then systematically call each of those numbers. These calls are then routed through to a sales agent. This method is significantly faster than manually dialing, often bringing an increase in call volume upwards of four times what it was previous.

One of the largest differences in telephone dialers is the amount of phone numbers that the dialer calls at a time. Ratio dialers or predictive dialers call several at a time. This ensures that on each dialer a customer will be reached, but comes with some very large drawbacks. First, when a call is answered the dialer has to determine that there is someone on the line before they patch that call through to the sales agent. During this process there is a few second gap between when the contact answers the phone and when the sales rep starts speaking. This “telemarketer pause” is one of the negative experiences that contacts often complain about. Another problem that these kinds of dialers face occurs when more contacts answer the phone than there are available reps. When this occurs the extra calls are dropped, even when their was a person on the contacts line.

Both of these problems are not acceptable for a complex sale dialer. One of the unique qualities of the business to business sale is the “gatekeeper.” This can be either a recorded message system to navigate through or a receptionist whose job could very well be to prevent sales calls from reaching his or her employer. In order to speak to the important decision makers, sales teams cannot afford to come across as automated and impersonal. That is why power dialers are a much better solution for complex B2B sales. These complex sale auto dialers call only one phone number at a time for each available agent. This still speeds up the sales process dramatically, but eliminates the problems of dropped calls and telemarketer pauses.

Inside sales is the process of collecting leads, making contacts, and closing sales from a remote location – typically over the telephone. This differs in several ways from outside sales, where sales professionals meet with their prospects face to face. Because it is different inside sales professionals need to utilize sales technologies in order to be the most effective, and compensate for the personal touch. An auto dialer is one such technology that is essential to productive inside sales call centers.

Call centers need to make as many quality calls in a day as they possibly can. A high number of outbound calls also allow call centers to contact individual leads numerous times, if necessary, in order to convert as many customers as possible. Many call centers use ratio auto dialers or predictive auto dialers because of the high level of calls that can be made each day with these solutions.

Ratio and predictive dialers both burn through a large number of leads very quickly because both types of dialers dial more leads than there are available sales agents to take those calls. This is done to account for the number of calls that are not answered or busy. These auto dialers also come with a percentage of dropped calls. For B2B call centers that have a more complex sales process and typically a higher profit on each call, dropped leads are not an option. In this case a power dialer is the only type of auto dialer that should be used.

Power Dialers call only one lead for each sales agent at a time. When a call starts to ring it is routed through to the agent. If the answering machine picks up the auto dialer can be instructed to leave a prerecorded message while the sales agent takes another call. Since these B2B sales are complex and could require a significant amount of time, the power dialer will not begin dialing other leads until the sales agent finishes his call. This solves the problem of burning through leads, dropped calls, and lag time.

Companies using a power dialer can expect to triple their daily call volume compared to manually dialing, but cannot dial the same volume of leads that a company using a ratio or predictive dialer can in a day, which for B2B companies is not necessary. What this kind of auto dialer may lack in shear call volume it more than makes up in its ability to provide each lead with a quality sales experience.

Complex Sales require the Power Dialer

An outbound phone dialer is a kind of telephony software that automatically calls through a list of phone numbers for a sales agent. Power dialers are one specific kind of dialer that is particularly effective. A sales representative who switches from dialing manually to using an outbound power dialer can expect a large increase in the volume of sales calls they can make in a business day. Research has shown it is not uncommon for this increase to be as much as four times the previous call volume. Some sales reps report that they are able to make three hundred to upwards of three hundred and fifty calls using a power dialer. That is equivalent to doing eight hours worth of work in only two or three

Outbound dialers work by loading a telephone number list of contacts or leads and then dialing them one at a time for the sales agent. The agent receives a phone call, from the dialer. When he or she answers the call, the dialer automatically patches through the phone call with the lead. After the call the sales representative stays on the line, and the dialer automatically patches through another call. This continues for as long as the agent stays on the line.

Power dialers call through this list one number at a time. Other outbound dialers that call a group of leads simultaneously are called ratio or predictive dialers. This allows these other dialers to call more leads, but only one of those calls can be routed through to the sales agent at a time. If more than one lead answers during each round of calling those extra calls are dropped, cutting off the other contacts who answer their phones. Additionally, it takes a moment for the outbound dialer to recognize when one of the many calls they are making is answered. This small time is referred to as a telemarketer pause, and often annoys leads being contacted.

Power dialers eliminate both the problems of the telemarketer pause and dropped calls. This makes the power dialer especially suited for complex sales processes, including B2B (business to business) sales. Since B2B sales often involves speaking to secretaries before a decision maker, and since they also tend to be high stakes sales, it is especially important to give each contact a personalized and streamlined approach. Other types of dialers just cannot do this.

All about Auto Dialers

A keyword search for “auto dialer” on Google Search will find over seven hundred thousand sites. Out of the first fifty sites that Google displays, a quick perusal of the page summaries show that at least ninety percent of them are trying to get you to buy their autodialer. What is this hot item and what do you need to know about it?

An auto dialer's job is to allow just one sales agent to make a large volume of calls quickly and efficiently. When making B2C calls (which stands for Business to Customer) an autodialer will save an immense amount of time for any organization. For an auto dialer to work it must be programmed with a list of phone numbers to call, such as your list of leads. As your business generates leads from its own website or purchases new or old leads from any of the lead generation companies out there (a search of “lead generation company” will give you over sixty thousand sites to explore) they can be fed into the autodialer. The same is true for lists of previous and current clients or leads that you are nurturing. The autodialer will then give these numbers for your sales team to call.

When shopping for an autodialer look for a system that will phone the numbers given to your sales agents with just a click of the mouse. Additionally those sales agents should be able to leave a prerecorded voice message, or send a fax or an email with just another click.

Traditionally auto dialers haven't been used as much in B2B calls (which stands for Business to Business). Businesses are much more likely to have a receptionist or a voice recognition message systems an agent has to maneuver through that would defeat a purely automatic auto dialer or gatekeeper. Now “hybrid” auto dialers are available, which allow the auto dialer to take care of the basic tasks of calling, and call resolution, while giving the sales agent the needed control to successfully contact other businesses.

When shopping those seven hundred thousand search results for an automatic dialer search for one who's auto dialer software can provide these benefits; which enables hands free dialing, displays lead information, displays lead notes, displays lead activities, displays daily call statistics, allows leaving a voice message, allows sending email and faxes, and enables quick data entry.

The purpose of auto dialers and the corresponding auto dialer software is to allow you and your sales team to contact thousands of leads each day. An autodialer has the potential to increase the amount of calls your call center makes 'four times' the amount they are doing calling manually.