Did you know that 32% of marketers believe that outbound marketing is effective in generating more leads? Moreover, this figure is considered on par with inbound marketing.

Outbound calling, being an unfamiliar concept to many, generally creates a lot of confusion. 

Have you ever received a random call on your phone promoting a product or service provided by a company? 

Or maybe the callers were asking for donations or asking you for your opinion? That’s exactly what outbound calling is.

In this article, we will take a closer look at outbound calling and how businesses handle these calls.

What is Outbound Calling?

Outbound calling is the process of an agent making phone calls to existing and potential consumers. Your reps then attempt to pique your contact’s interest in your company’s products or services. 

Outbound calls are among the most effective ways of client communication as they provide personal contact information. Agents who make outbound calls have a precisely focused outreach to get fast feedback.

For businesses, outbound dialing has the potential to revolutionize the way you communicate with customers and increase revenue. Only 9% of outbound calls result in a successful conversion. 

In a word, we must accept that marketing methods such as cold calling will never fail!

Cold calls are outbound phone calls used to generate leads. In fact, outbound sales calls boost your company’s ROI when used as part of a telemarketing plan.

Related: Outbound Sales Call – A Complete Guide

Types Of Outbound Calls

There are many types of outbound calling that businesses can use to enhance their sales. 

Here are some of the different kinds of outbound calling methods:

1. Telemarketing

Telemarketing, as the name suggests, means telephone marketing. Telemarketing is defined as contacting, qualifying, and canvassing your prospective customers. 

In telemarketing, your salesperson makes outbound calls to prospective customers to inform them about your company. They then attempt to convince the customers to buy your product by explaining the benefits and usage.

2. Payment reminder

The credit card companies that sell products on a credit basis generally use outbound calls for payment/installment reminders. They can make these outbound calls before the installment due date or after. 

3. Customers service calls

Customer service refers to services provided to your customers before, after, or during purchase. 

From a salesperson’s point of view, customer service greatly impacts your company’s sales and revenue generation. Outbound calling facilities companies try to provide solutions to customer queries and questions. These services not only help in customer retention but also increase your customer loyalty. However, the success of these services depends upon your salesperson and their customer interaction skills.

4. Marketing research

To know the trend prevailing in the market, it is important to connect to the public. Outbound calling is the best way to connect to the public. 

Receiving calls, SMS, emails asking for your preference is pretty normal in today’s world. These are conducted by outbound call center agencies trying to collect market preferences.

5. Non-profit or charity funding

Non-profit companies make outbound calls in search of funding from the public at large. They intend to promote the charitable activities done by their company and look for prospective contributors. 

Thus, these calls help both the contributors and the person in need of such facilities.

6. Surveys 

The key to conducting a successful survey is a large sample size obtained by outbound calling. Thus, calls are made to your customers to know and gather their opinion on certain topics. 

These topics can vary from product usage, politics, public welfare to customer satisfaction.

7. Post-sales follow-up

To retain customer companies, you need to provide them with better and impressive after-sale services. Thus, outbound calls are made to existing customers to inform them about the after-sale services provided by your company. 

Sometimes these calls are also made to obtain feedback from your customers about the sold product. This helps understand customer needs and their expectations from the product, thereby leading to improvement.

Also Read: Outbound Call Center Metrics to Measure Success

What is the Outbound Calling process?

Each business has a unique approach to implementing its outbound calling strategy. However, there are five steps that every team must follow. 

The list below explains them simply to give you an idea of what they are.

• Segmenting the market

Before you begin an outbound calling campaign, you must first answer the following questions: Who do you want to reach out to? What types of buyers would you like to speak with? Who are your products or services aimed at?

Your staff can’t interact with people who are interested in your brand if they can’t answer these questions. Finding your market segments allows your team to personalize their approach in the most effective method possible.

• Obtaining leads

The practice of piquing a consumer’s interest in your products or services is known as lead generation. 

You get leads by making a list of people you want to contact and then tracking their contact information. You’ll have a list of folks for your sales staff to call at the end of the process.

• Qualification and outreach

This is the point at which your team begins interacting with the leads you’ve gathered. This is generally done by phoning and emailing prospects to gauge their interest in your brand.

Outreach and qualifying are used to determine whether or not a lead may be converted into a customer. They are eliminated from the call list if you cannot persuade them to be interested in your firm. You can move them to the next phase if they are qualified prospects.

• Calls and meetings with salespeople

The pitching of your items to potential buyers is the final phase in the outbound calling process. It might be as simple as setting up a demo of your products or services. Or, it could involve a phone conversation going through the advantages and functions of what you have to offer.

Depending on your target demographic, the procedure may take some time. Some clients take a long time to make a purchase choice. The more persuasive your agent is over the phone, the faster you can clinch a deal.

• Deal-closing

Before terminating a call, your agents must be explicit with the customer. Rather than waiting for them to communicate their desire, ask whether they’re ready to buy your products. Their response will almost certainly be positive if they find your sales talk convincing and entertaining.

This phase would entail confirming the client’s orders, clarifying the financial transactions, and signing contracts if all goes well. If the customer is uninterested, remain courteous. After all, there are other ways to persuade people to buy from your business.

Examples of Outbound Calls 

The following examples of outbound calling methods are sure to give you better insight into outbound calling. Moreover, you can better understand how to use the different types in your business operations.

Here are some examples of outbound calls:

1. Cold calls

These outbound calls are made to unknown prospective customers. With cold calls, the caller has no information or personal contact with the receiver. These calls attempt to convince the person to invest or buy the product or service provided.

2. Voicemail

Recorded voicemails are sent to prospective customers. These are not interactive. Thus, they need to be short, direct and act as a plea to call back if interested.

3. Follow-up calls

These calls are generally made either after cracking the deal. Their purpose is to provide further details or to check up on the status of the pending decision. 

4. Promotional calls

Outbound calls to promote products and pass information are promotional calls to either future or existing customers.

8 Outbound Calling Strategies You Should Know

Applying different kinds of outbound calling techniques has to be done strategically. If done correctly, this can help businesses get the maximum profitability and efficiency in the way they operate. 

Here are some strategies you can adopt into your business:

• Grab their attention

The very start of a call is of paramount importance. If your agent doesn’t pique the prospect’s interest, the latter won’t lose much if they simply hang up. 

Call your prospect by their name. Show them that you’re interested in them, their situation, and the betterment thereof. Don’t sound cookie-cutter, and don’t make the mistake of centering the conversation around yourself.

• Predictive calling

Predictive dialing systems automatically make outgoing calls. Alongside this, they also screen out busy signals, voicemail, non-answers, and disconnected numbers. This ensures that your agents are only on their phones when the call is answered. 

By making the most of the agent’s time, call centers that use this technology can complete a high volume of outbound calls in a short period.

• Blended agents

Making outbound calls can be draining for call center agents. Your managers can boost morale by assigning agents to make outbound and answer inbound calls depending on call volume. Such blended agents may have more success.

• Scripting your calls

Sometimes, customers get annoyed to answer any of these calls due to multiple similar outbound calls. Thus, to stand out and to have a better conversation, a pre-written script is advised. 

In this way, the purpose of such calls can be fulfilled, and the message is conveyed.

• Training agents

The success of the outbound calling system largely depends upon the person making these calls. A well-trained agent who can handle customers’ cross-questions or adjust to the customer will give a better result. 

Vocabulary and pronunciation also matter in the outbound call system. A mere difference in pronunciation may sometimes lead to huge misunderstandings. Thus, someone with good communication skills is preferred.

• Do not call lists

Many countries have enacted legislation limiting the number of cold calls businesses and contact centers can make. 

For example, in the United States, the Federal Trade Commission maintains a Do Not Call Registry. This is a list of phone numbers that telemarketers are prohibited from calling in most circumstances. 

This list was created in 2003 and fundamentally changed the way marketers in call centers do business. Many other companies have a similar list.

• Engaging your customer

Your customer won’t be interested in spending time giving out feedback or listening to product information unless it entertains them. Thus, an interactive conversation is essential and advised in such calls.

• Effective feedback loop

Feedback forms help companies improve or evaluate their services. Similarly, after any call, there has to be a feedback system to know about your customer’s experience. 

Based on this feedback, you can then improve if there is a suggestion for change.

Related: Why outbound sales is important

Conclusion

Outbound call services are the most effective way of marketing in today’s world. 

In this new era of technology, the old school methods of advertisement are not that effective. As such, companies have to adapt modern and more effective ways of promoting their product, services or conducting surveys. 

A lot of companies generally outsource these services. Thus, companies that primarily provide outbound call services are emerging on a large scale in the market.

However, the success of these services largely depends upon the calling agents, who need to be trained properly. Excellent communication skills are vital to engage with the customer and promote your product in the best possible way. As a result, people seeking a career in the outbound calling industry need to focus on these skills.

Mobiles being the best connectivity or interactive mode makes outbound one of the most successful ways of marketing. If you want to see your business grow, it’s time to adopt your perfect outbound calling strategy as well.