Progressive Dialler

You might already be familiar with the concept of Progressive Dialler system, especially if you’re in the outbound marketing or sales spaces. Today, sales, outbound marketing and customer service teams have multiple types of Diallers to choose from, and choosing the right one is essential for any businesses that places any importance on these areas.

As you already know if you have read our previous article about Dialler solutions, every type of Dialler works in different ways; and different Diallers might work best for some types of businesses or operations, but not necessarily for others. The difference between different Diallers should be considered by any responsible business owner or decisionmaker before implementing a particular outbound call centre phone system.

In this article, we’ll focus on Progressive Dialler solutions: we’ll examine what a Progressive Dialler is, how it works, what differentiates it from other Diallers, and what benefits it can bring to a business.

So let’s start with the beginning: what is a Progressive Dialler?

What is a Progressive Dialler?

As you probably already know, a Dialler is a software solution designed to support contact centres or sales agents by automating the initiation of outbound calls. It streamlines the dialling process for numbers listed in contacts and smoothly connects the established calls to available agents, ready to provide assistance. This leads to enhanced efficiency and productivity; when the task of dialling numbers is automated, there is no need for agents to spend valuable time manually inputting each number.

In other articles we have discussed other types of Diallers, like Predictive Dialler and Auto Dialler. Paradoxically and despite its name, a Progressive Dialler is considered to be more “conservative”, that is to say, less aggressive and simpler than its counterparts.

In a nutshell: a progressive dialler system automatically calls numbers from a predetermined list when and only if an agent indicates their availability to handle calls.

Here’s how it works: agents first indicate their readiness to receive calls, and in response, the dialer initiates calls from the list one by one, ensuring that each available agent manages one call at a time. This sequential dialling method minimises abandoned calls and allows agents to maintain control over the call pace. After an agent completes a call with a customer, the progressive dialler system automatically starts the next call without requiring manual dialling. In case of an unanswered call, the dialer proceeds to the next number on the list until it successfully connects with a live person.

This facilitates immediate connection between call recipients and agents, which leads to an enhanced customer experience and greater efficiency when handling real-time conversations, as there is no delay in call connection, and downtime between calls is minimised by automatised dialling.

It also prevents and avoids situations in which a customer responds to a call only to discover that no agent is currently available, which can happen with Diallers that dial before a conversation has ended, like in the case of Predictive Diallers.

*Progressive Dialler solutions work best for businesses that emphasise the importance of immediate and live connections with their customer base*

Benefits of Progressive Dialler

Among the most important benefits of Progressive Dialler, we could emphasise:

Enhanced Agent Productivity

Progressive diallers enhance agent efficiency by automating the dialling process and screening out busy lines, answering machines, and disconnected numbers. This eliminates the need for agents to manually dial numbers and deal with failed calls.

Decreased Call Disconnections

With progressive dialler systems, agent availability is ensured, as there is always a ready agent to handle the call once it’s connected. This reduces waiting times and results in fewer dropped calls when compared to predictive dialers.

Improved Achievement of Goals

A reduction in call abandonment rates translates to an enhanced call connection ratio and increased agent talk time. These improvements can lead to higher goal conversion rates, whether they are related to sales, collections, or other objectives, ultimately resulting in greater customer satisfaction.

Cost-Efficiency

For businesses, expending resources on activities that do not directly generate revenue can be an unnecessary expense. However, the cost of implementing a progressive dialler is relatively modest when compared to the expense of hiring additional staff. Using progressive dialling technology, your team can reach customers more rapidly than through manual calls, resulting in increased output, generating more revenue in less time, and requiring fewer staff.

Best Practices for Implementing Progressive Dialler Solutions

Implementing a Progressive Dialler system can significantly enhance your outbound communication strategies and improve agent productivity. To ensure success, consider the following best practices:

Establish Clear Objectives. Before implementing a Progressive Dialler, define your goals and key performance indicators (KPIs) to guide your strategy and measure success effectively.
Choose a Vendor. Select a reputable vendor with experience in Dialler solutions. Evaluate based on reliability, scalability, integration capabilities, and customer support.
Provide Comprehensive Training. Train agents thoroughly on using the dialler system, including call handling procedures and leveraging features effectively. Offer ongoing training to keep skills up-to-date.
Optimize Data Management. Ensure contact lists are clean, segmented, and integrated with CRM systems for personalized outreach. Implement data validation processes to minimize errors.
Monitor Performance. Regularly monitor metrics like call connection rates, agent productivity, and conversion rates. Use analytics to identify trends and areas for improvement.
Refine Dialling Strategies. Experiment with different dialling modes and pacing algorithms based on performance data. Conduct A/B testing to optimize call outcomes.
Ensure Compliance and Security. Prioritize compliance with regulations and implement robust security measures to protect customer data.
Provide Ongoing Support. Offer continuous technical support and resources to address agent challenges and foster a culture of collaboration.

Following these best practices will ensure a smooth and effective implementation of Progressive Dialler solutions, maximizing productivity and results for your organization.

Conclusion

In general, Progressive Diallers work best for businesses that emphasise the importance of immediate and live connections with their customer base. They are especially well-suited for outbound sales and telemarketing endeavours where personalised interactions play a pivotal role. Other industries and organisations that stand to gain from the implementation of progressive diallers are sales-focused enterprises, call centres, and entities that depend on real-time interactions with leads and customers. However, there are also some downsides to consider.

Unlike Preview Dialler, which presents agents with customer information before a call starts, a Progressive Dialler system provides customer information and history as the call is initiated, which means agents may need to review this information while already engaged in conversation with the customer. For agents who prefer to have all the information at their disposal before making a call, this can present a challenge.

Also, as we have mentioned before, Progressive Dialler follows a rather conservative approach: it will never dial several numbers simultaneously, and will always wait for an agent to be available to call the next contact. While this might be useful to prevent instances of customers picking up the phone to an absent agent, it can also fall behind the requirements of contact centres or sales teams undertaking bulk or high-volume outbound campaigns.

However, businesses with a demand for a substantial volume of calls and less emphasis on personalised interactions typically find value in other solutions, like Predictive Diallers. These are commonly employed in call centres where sales agents need to make numerous calls in a short span of time. Industries like telemarketing, debt collection, and market research frequently rely on predictive dialers for their campaigns.