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Knowing who you’re calling is an important step to complete before making the call. While this seems like common sense, it’s not always part of the telemarketing mix. The outbound telemarketing campaign has proven to be more effective if the telemarketer knows who they are calling. A little bit of knowledge can make the difference between a failed attempt and a successful close.

Nevertheless, the use of the predictive dialer can sometimes lead the telemarketer to believe they have everything under control. While the use of this important tool can save considerable time and money, it shouldn’t be used as a crutch that takes the place of important steps. After all, speeding up the process doesn’t do any good if the process becomes sloppy.

The telemarketer with limited information generally has to contact many more individuals to achieve the desired outcome. When data is collected on their intended targets, they have much more to work with. The data needs to include more than just a name and a number, but also key information on the target itself.

Business size, revenue, industry, etc. are all important factors, but those factors are also shared with other companies. If the telemarketer doesn’t also know what strategies involve the use of their product or service, they won’t stand out from the other telemarketers reaching out to these targets.

Therefore, it’s important that, combined with the use of the predictive dialer, the telemarketer also knows the location of the business, as it can inform a number of key decisions. It’s also important to understand how purchase decisions are made. It can be argued that the best asset is knowing how much these customers know about a product, but it’s also critical to know what the business needs and how they research fulfilling that need. At that point, is the final decision made by a single individual or is it a team effort?

This is where list management is key to telemarketing success. That means more than just updating a list with current information. Yes, you need to be sure the target individual is still the right person to contact and that the business hasn’t changed name or industry. But you also need to know key information to ensure you’re talking to the person who can make or break the call.

The predictive dialer is an important asset to ensure you get the most contacts out of your calling campaign. Before you launch, however, be sure you have the necessary data on those contacts to produce the best results.