Outbound Dialling – Why it’s Such a Good Fit for Collections

Just as in any other economic sector, proactive outbound customer communication and strong intelligent dialling capabilities can be a driver of success in the collections industry. Ultimately, the end goal of organisations operating in this space is to drive up the number of debtors reached and the amount of revenue recovered – but achieving this objective is never easy. Indebted individuals and businesses typically don’t want to be contacted and many go to great lengths to avoid it.

Collections agencies that employ traditional approaches tend to struggle to achieve the results they are looking for. Letters typically don’t work as debtors often simply don’t open them. Cumbersome manual dialling techniques are unlikely to deliver the volume of calls or connections needed to make much headway through the debtors’ list. The only viable alternative is outbound predictive dialling.

Why is this the case? Partly it’s about the volumes of contacts you can reach. Without a dialler, agents are likely to spend most of their time simply trying to connect with debtors. With one, they will spend less time dialling and more time speaking to them directly. The latest predictive technologies can ensure agents are provided with a constant stream of live calls which in turn will increase engagement levels and drive up debt recovery rates.

Outbound predictive dialling benefits agents as well as the businesses they work for. Using advanced dialling algorithms could increase agent productivity by as a much as 100%, meaning they spend less time dialling and more speaking to debtors. Commission is a big part of many agents’ salaries. By helping them achieve excellent results, a high-quality predictive dialling system can raise their commission levels; job satisfaction and the likelihood they will stay loyal.

Innovative predictive diallers also include functionality that helps support fully compliant communications – key in a heavily regulated sector like collections.  The best systems can set limits per campaign to comply with all national and regulatory rules. The use of real-time speech analytics (RTSA) in conjunction with outbound dialling can also ensure a fully compliant approach while helping enhance the quality of the interaction with the debtor.

Crucially too, the latest outbound predictive dialling technology enables collection agencies to make better use of their data. The reporting capability is key here. Agencies need to be able to use it to analyse your approach, learn from their experience and adapt their methods accordingly. This is critical in collections as agencies have to be crystal clear on what are the best times of the week or even the best times of the day to reach specific customers.

To deliver optimum value, outbound dialling technology needs to be integrated into backend systems. The dialler is there to initiate the contact but behind it, there needs to always be an accounting package or piece of collections software that helps generate the accounts that need chasing or more effectively monitor the status of collections overall.

The information derived from this process can then be used to inform campaigns going forwards. That’s just another reason why predictive outbound dialling can be such a valuable technology for debt collection agencies today: both in establishing contact with debtors but also in making sure that engagement is optimised both for the debtors and for themselves.