May 12th, 2022

The Benefits of Doing Data-Driven Telemarketing

The use of data has transformed telemarketing businesses. Not only big streamlined call centers base their decisions on data nowadays.
CSO @Adversus

Small contact centers are increasingly opening their eyes to the many advantages of processing, analyzing and utilizing data. Learn more about how to activate data.

When we talk about data, we talk about everything from statistics on the number of calls during a workday to the shoe size of the prospects.

How do you manage data in a call center? Practically, data can be everything. It ranges from how many calls you have made during a specific period to more detailed information about customer behavior, which also means you quickly get an overload if you don't know how to structure and activate it. That is where software solutions come into the picture to help you segment and organize data.

In this article, I'll take one step back and talk about data in general and give you some ideas about which data can be helpful in a call center and how to use it. It will also go through some advantages of using call center software to keep the data structured and automate activation.

 


How can I get call center data?

Most commonly, you will gather data through the software solution you use to call your leads, but you can also collect your data manually and assemble them in a spreadsheet. Manual data collection is time demanding, and the risk of error is high. Automatically gathered data is easier to process and also easier to filter.

Quantitative vs. qualitative data in call centers

Quantitative data is the easiest to work with, but you need a certain amount before it makes sense to utilize its potential when working with telemarketing. If not, you will end up making decisions based on assumptions.

The advantage of quantitative data is the endless ways to structure them. And once you find out which structure makes the most sense for you business, you'll have a unique opportunity to put some of your efforts on autopilot and work more efficiently.

Qualitative data is more tricky because they often refer to a specific situation, customer, or agent. But with the right tools, you can actually benefit from qualitative data. We'll get back to that.

Overall, data tracking gives a unique opportunity to dive into your performance and enhance it, which can be beneficial when planning your outreach and ensuring compliance.

05 1

Activate your data

Data-driven decision-making is something a lot of companies are using. But to be data-driven, you not only need to collect data - but you also need to activate it. And the smoother the activation process is, the easier it is to utilize the full potential.

Call center software can help you because you can easily filter and segment all kinds of data. Some solutions even let you activate data via triggers, e.g., add your leads to a campaign based on the outcome of a phone call.

Keep it all together

Your sales team and your marketing team can both benefit from knowing, e.g., which campaigns are performing best. And the easiest way of doing so is by tracking data. And the easiest way of tracking data is to keep all activities in one system.

Your call center software solution is not only a platform where you keep all information about your leads. It is also where you enrich your lead data and keep track of all activities on each prospect. In short, call center software can help you make smarter decisions based on detailed data. Making the most of your time and improving your business.

Which kind of data can be helpful for you in a call center?

I will briefly brush up on how a typical software setup can help you at the end of the this article. But to begin with, let's go through different kinds of data relevant to focus on.

#1 Use data on the existing customers 

Data on existing customers can help you predict how prospects will react to your product(s), and it gives a good indication of who is most willing to buy. By building your sales strategy on this data, you will learn which customer profiles you should put as first priority. The trick is to create customer profiles based on your findings and then segment your leads into different tailormade campaigns. As soon as your campaigns are lined up, you can start letting your agents focus on calling the prospects that match your primary customer profiles the most.

#2 Register all data on calls made through the dialer

Data about calls made from your dialer gives you a good idea about timing and there to focus your sales effort. Whenever a call is made through the dialer, data is registered. Typically, you will register if the call got hung up, if you reached an answering machine, if the prospect was interested but not ready to buy, if you made a sale, etc. This information is valuable in the ongoing sales process because it indicates how to proceed with the sales process. Maybe it is a waste of time trying to reach out again if someone hasn't picked up the phone after several attempts. Or maybe your data will show that the chances of success get higher by calling at a specific time of the day, week, or month. This data can also be helpful when defining your KPIs. Having KPIs, you will know when to adjust your sales strategy.

#3 Get to know your weaknesses during conversations

It's a regular practice in many call centers to record conversations for educational use. Analyzing conversations can help you improve your sales techniques. The simplest way of doing it is by listening to call recordings and pinpointing your strengths and weaknesses. Call recordings are, in this case, categorized as qualitative data, where you can dig into details to finalize, e.g., your call center scripts. Are you recording many conversations, you should consider using speech recognition to analyze them. By letting AI go through all recordings, you can easily find the most crucial parts of your conversation and turn this knowledge into a vital asset. AI can help you identify which phrases and tone of voice should be used. You can also use speech recognition to automate your quality assurance process and quickly identify compliance issues.

#4 Collect data on your agents' performance

Following your agents' performance is crucial for your business. Maybe there is a reasonable explanation for the excellent or the lacking performance. But if you do not measure, you will never know. And you will never have the opportunity to adjust your sales strategy or know where to put an extra effort in training your agents to become better salespeople. By measuring, you will know who your top performers are and who is lacking behind. You will get an idea about what it takes to close a deal and how to optimize each agent's performance.

18 1

#5 Dig into sales statistics and get an overview of your earnings

By comparing how much effort you need to put into selling with your profits, you have a good starting point to predict your revenue, and you will get a better picture of how much more you can earn by upscaling your business.

#6 Make follow-ups and reuse leads based on logged data

By keeping track of each lead's history, you can more easily do follow-ups, make additional sales, or reuse the leads when you are running short on fresh leads. Typically, you will set up automation rules to administrate this. So, whenever it is time to give your leads a second shot or reach out with a special offer, you will automatically get notified based on historical data. You can also create a customer journey that automatically ensures that your leads will be added to a new campaign or contacted by SMS or email.

#7 Enrich your leads

The more information you have on your leads, the easier it is to segment them, and you will improve your chances of selling because you have valuable information about the prospect you can use in the sales process. If you are working with B2B sales, it can be beneficial to extract data from external sources and add that information to your CRM. For example, it can be helpful to keep an eye on events that might open for a sales opportunity.

Some of the benefits of having call center software to manage and activate data

  • Having all information gathered in one system makes it easier to segment, organize and erase your leads.
  • Logging all activities in the same system makes it easier to do follow-ups. Also, you can avoid taking a lot of notes manually (time of contact, the conversation's outcome, etc.) because the system will log all data automatically.
  • It is easier to know where and when to strengthen your effort, and you can react instantly if your business is running behind schedule.
  • It enriches existing data and heighten the chances of turning a lead into a customer.
  • You can track all agents' activities and see their performance, making it easier to evaluate, educate, and adjust.
  • It makes it possible to automate parts of your sales process.
 

Do you want to read more?

I have spoken about data in a recent blog post where I summed up some of the pitfalls when structuring your lead flow based on data. The idea is to get the most out of your lead pool by finding the sales potential in the leads you usually would put in the dumpster. If you need a few tips on optimizing your lead flow, I suggest you dig into this blog post as well.

 

Like posts
like this?

Subscribe to new blog posts from us!

Working remotely has rapidly become the new normal, and more and more companies are adapting their approach forward, working.

Most of us might know the feeling of swimming in an endless sea of numbers and data without really knowing which way to navigate..

Small contact centers are increasingly opening their eyes to the many advantages of processing, analyzing and utilizing data..

Ready to have more impactful conversations?

Be up and running in just a few minutes!