Outbound calling in the call center can be a tough job. Callers have to deal with objection and irate customers. The challenge is, simply put, is that customers aren’t seeking you out, you have to find them. With increased blocking techniques, like Do Not Call List and SPAM filters, outbound has a bad rap, but it doesn’t have to.

Particularly famous in the outbound arena is the robocall which, if you recall in recent news, The Federal Trade Commission (FTC (News - Alert)) has set up a sort of “bounty” to target these calls, so much that they’re offering a reward to the tune of $50,000 in what’s known as the Robocall Challenge.

“The FTC is attacking illegal robocalls on all fronts, and one of the things that we can do as a government agency is to tap into the genius and technical expertise among the public,” David Vladeck, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said at the commission's Oct. 19 Robocall Summit, where he introduced the challenge.

Robocalls fall under the “one size fits all” category of outbound marketing, according to Angel, a provider of IVR technologies. No matter how you put it, one size fits all is just not good enough for every unique business that is out there, so it’s time to do away with that type of marketing plan. Businesses need to throw out the need to spam their customers and get down to real marketing. But how? Angel has a few predictions.

Using a few good business practices, businesses will have a better grip on the outbound front and can use it for good. Tools like predictive analytics, context-aware communication and mobile features can lead to outbound success.

Outbound shouldn’t become synonymous with “bad.” There are quite a few benefits to outbound customer management, like customer acquisition, customer retention, it’s familiar, it generates immediate results and feedback and the instant data and metrics tell you what’s working and what’s not.

Because we live in a technology landscape, it makes sense that outbound marketing and customer communication get with the times. By putting the customer’s needs first and then building a tailored plan using the right tools, it can be pretty fail-safe.

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