TMCnews Featured Article

When most people think about auto dialers, if they think about them at all, they imagine complex telemarketing software and large rooms with dozens of agents cold-calling. Auto dialers certainly have a place in that environment, but many people are surprised to learn that small and medium-sized businesses also use auto dialers to good effect.

Auto dialers are not as expensive as most people think, and they are tremendous tools for any business that makes a lot of calls in terms of time savings.

Here are four ways that auto dialers can be used outside of big call center environments:

1. Client relations. Customers are at the heart of every business, large or small. And for many businesses, reaching out to customers periodically is a smart move both to build loyalty and drive sales.

An auto dialer, coupled with a customer database, can greatly enhance client relations by allowing small businesses to quickly reach out to customers by phone in an efficient manner. Businesses just need to schedule a day or a few hours every couple of weeks and have the auto dialer set to feed them customer numbers at an appropriate pace.

2. Announcements. Sometimes an organization has big news to share, and it is important that the announcement actually reaches its intended audience. Email fails the test, because far too many emails go unread. But businesses can use an auto dialer to send an automated message instead.

3. Appointment reminders. Auto dialers can be mixed with customer relations management systems to enable businesses to never waste time from missed appointments. Most auto dialers can be configured to send custom messages to customers, and this allows businesses to automatically confirm appointments so no-show rates are a lot lower.

4. Sales campaigns. And then, of course, there is sales. Cold calling is still an important tool in the toolbox of every sales team, large or small. Auto dialers make cold calls much easier, both because they help sales staff pace themselves properly on days when there is cold calling, and because an auto dialer can ensure that sales staff does not waste time with wrong numbers and voicemail.

Businesses of all sizes can take advantage of auto dialers, not just the call center.