Power Dialer Proves Natural Selection Right

Technology is speeding ahead at a break neck speed and all too often we forget to look behind and see the ground we’ve covered. The dialer is one of those technological advances, and a subtle one that’s been ignored.

The infamous predictive dialer was one of the early dialers around (and sadly still in use) and went through its own wave of changes. Floppy disks were used, painstakingly so, to contact leads in the early days and with the power of the internet both the leads and dialers found their way online.

But they didn’t stop there.

With the predictive dialer becoming more powerful with the explosive growth of the internet and the companies that sprung from it, the tool was powerful but flawed. A lot of people have had the experience of the dialers that would put the person they called on hold when an agent wasn’t available. Others didn’t keep track of past leads and would call leads and lists multiple times a day (annoying the recipients to say the least!) The predictive dialer allowed for sales automation, and it did succeed with some things and failed miserably with others.

In 2003, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) started to take action to keep the peace between telemarketers and the public. Those who were using predictive dialers were forced to be more choosey with who they contacted and when.

Since then technology companies have continued to improve and develop predictive and power dialers (an important distinction) For the full run-down of the different between predictive and power dialers, read this article by Ken Krogue: Power of Intelligent Communications – Premise-based Dialers a Dying Breed.

PowerDialers are a powerful tool and shouldn’t be mistaken for predictive dialers. While predictive dialers typically call multiple people and then send the first person to an agent (or worse yet, put them on hold!) who is waiting for someone to pick up? Power dialers work differently. An agent is already connected before the software calls a person on their list and is waiting for someone to answer. If no one does, they press a button that documents the call attempt. Power dialers help sales reps increase their call volume, track data and record metrics.

Have you switched from a predictive dialer to a power dialer? What differences did you notice?

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Photo Credit: Nutdanai Apikhomboonwaroot

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