I get quite a few questions about the value of auto dialing software and whether or not it can really increase the productivity of a sales person who works by phone. Most managers who have never tried a form of auto dialing are skeptical, and they should be. There are so many amazing claims in the market built around dialing that it makes it hard to get to the truth. I have seen wild claims: 400% increases promised, triple your sales, never go 10 seconds without a live conversation and so on. Most are just that: claims. But before we throw out the baby with the bath water, let’s take a look at reasonable claims.
As a software company, our product has the option of auto dialing in both preview (click to call) and progressive (dials when the record hits the desk top) modes. We usually make the claim that a company that does not have dialing can expect a 30% plus improvement, even if they are already using CRM or a different lead management platform. 30% sounds rather boring compared to a 400% increase- but, one is real and one is wishful thinking. To the untrained sales manager, or someone that is decent in basic mathematics, there is no way to gain a 30% lift by simply dialing the phone for a sales rep. That is a fact. Auto dialing that simply replaces the rep having to dial the number themselves will result in very little productivity lift, if any. OK– Ken, crazy math here. Where does the 30% plus lift come from then?
The 30% Increase and the Magic to Get It
It is not the actual dialing of the digits that gets the productivity increase. Rather, it is the behavior modification that takes place at the sales rep level that gets 30% plus. Watch your own reps for two hours. If you sales effort is like most, and you have not deployed auto dialing with some form of lead routing, sit back and watch the magic. Better yet, sit back and watch the magic being lost, wasted, and the time misspent. Human nature keeps 85% of sales people from being “trigger pullers.” Sales Reps, by nature, will fumble around, hunt and peck, and try to use osmosis to determine who to dial and when to dial. All kinds of judgment will be passed on leads, cities, states, area codes and so on that cause the rep to pause before they actually pull the trigger and take an action.
The real magic of auto dialing is not that it magically creates something new. Instead, it recovers something lost; wasted productivity. I really do encourage you to watch your reps for two hours. Track their dials. Track how long they spend deciding who to call. Once you have a mental snap shot for the time wasted, compare it to the following vision:
Your sales rep completes a call and enters the disposition of the call. The moment the mouse is clicked the next best lead to call is routed in less than one second and is dialed before the rep can move their hand to dial it themselves. I promise– there is 30% in there for you. In addition to the increase in dialing, connects and sales you will also see a nice increase in attitude. Sales people like to be productive. They like to talk to prospects or customers far more then they like the idle time of searching for whom to call. Give them the gift that keeps on giving: auto dialing with lead routing. Give yourself the ultimate gift: a big boost in production.
If you would like more information on the different forms of dialing check out my prior blog post: Predictive, Progressive and Preview Dialing: Which One is Right for Your Inside Sales Team?
Best,
Ken
