Everything You Should Know About Outbound Call Centers + 3 Tips To Build The Best One!

In this post:

• Defining an outbound call center
• 4 Key metrics for outbound call centers
• 3 Tips for creating the best outbound call center

Defining an outbound call center

An outbound call center makes calls, often to customers or leads (potential customers). The aim is generally to make sales, provide customer service, or perform research. The key is that calls originate from the call center.

This is an alternative to an inbound call center which only receives calls. 

A third type of call center is the ‘blended’ call center which can make and receive calls as needed. 

Outbound call centers use cases:

• Offering customer service after sales
• Customer sentiment surveys
• Customer retention automation
• Appointment setting
• Conducting Market research 
• Debt management/collection

4 Key metrics for outbound call centers

Outbound call centers usually have some metrics in common with inbound call centers. However, some are unique to outbound calling. 

Average Handling Time (AHT)

The average duration of a customer interaction. AHT is usually measured from the point an agent is connected to a customer to the point an agent concludes after-call work (which is also known as wrap-up time).

Hold time is also included, although this is less relevant in an outbound context. 

Conversion rate

This is the proportion of calls which result in a sale (or any action defined as the purpose for the call.)

A low conversion rate raises the cost-per-lead and usually shows either weak lead nurturing/procurement or underperforming agents. 

First call close

The number of sales a single agent makes on their first call to a lead. (Again, you can apply this metric to outcomes other than making a sale.)

This is useful to observe since you can share the skills and techniques of the most successful agents with your entire team.

Calls per agent

The volume of successfully connected calls that an agent handles over a defined time period. 

Calls per agent can help you to determine whether agents are on task. It can also indicate whether your auto dialer software is up to task. 

Obviously, you’re more interested in the success of calls than their volume. An agent may make fewer, longer calls, but more sales. 

3 Tips for creating the best outbound call center

#1 Use NLU assistance

Let’s start with the big one: Natural Language Understanding (NLU).

NLU technology ‘listens’ to voice input to determine the intent of the speaker. 

A strong NLU implementation could go like this: a caller says ‘I want to check my booking’. NLU identifies ‘booking’ as the important concept and ‘check’ as the action. 

You’ll typically find an NLU implementation within an IVR system, so its next move could to confirm those booking details. 

What about outside the IVR context? NLU also has uses in outbound calling, such as:

• Automating data entry
• Highlighting upselling/cross-selling opportunities
• Training agents in better processes/approaches

Here’s the thing: it takes roughly ten months for a new salesperson to become fully productive. Anything you can do to shorten that timeframe is immensely beneficial, so highlighting established upselling opportunities is an easy decision. 

Added to that, automated data entry saves valuable time and upholds data quality. 

Poor quality data is known to cost businesses around $3billion annually.

#2 Automate scheduling and dialing

Outbound call centers have been using sales dialers for several decades. The technology has steadily improved to give us tools like power dialers and predictive dialers, saving many thousands of dollars and hours. 

But that’s just the start!

If you’re going to automate a process, automate every part that you can. Besides dialing, that includes compiling call lists.

Here’s how:

• The first step is to integrate your dialer with surrounding systems, like your call center CRM and cloud Helpdesk software
• Next, create a simple automated process to flag the leads or customers you need to call. Those flags become your call list.

Aside from dialing, compiling call lists is one of the most time-consuming pieces of work. 

That’s surprising because CRM, cloud Helpdesk software and lead capture systems can easily forward contact details to a call list based on rules you define. 

For example, it’s easy to base outbound customer retention activity on flags like negative feedback scores, complaints or approaching contract renewals. 

Likewise, outbound sales calls can be based on things as simple as an expression of interest made through your website. 

That’s especially useful since you’re 21 times more likely to qualify a lead if you respond to them within five minutes of first contact, compared with 31 minutes. 

(Interested in connecting up your various systems? Then you need to know about APIs. Read ‘What are APIs and how do they enhance contact center service?’)

#3 Adaptable CLI / Caller ID

Finally, something that’s small… yet still important!

There’s a simple obstacle for success: customers who simply don’t pick up the phone. 

Part of this is a call scheduling issue – you need to call customers and leads when they’re able to answer! The solution there is simply to keep gathering data about your successful calls. Then you can pinpoint the most likely times that they’re free.

But another element is the phone number that customers see when you call them. You can think of this as the first impression you’re making and the best way to make it a good one is to display a local, recognizable number. 

We often call this adaptable CLI or caller ID. In short, it allows your call center to choose the number which displays when you make calls. Some research suggests that businesses can increase connected calls 30-40% by selecting numbers which their call recipients are likely to trust. 

How can you make that automation happen?

Everything we’ve talked about here is easy – if you have the right tools. 

Specifically, No-Code tools. 

With No-Code integration and automation you can do all of this and a lot more – so take a look at ‘Your (free) guide to contact center automation’ now.