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One of the first lessons of business we learn as children is that “the customer is always right.” It’s a mantra that is repeated to generations of teenagers as they take their positions behind the cash registers of fast-food restaurants or the cappuccino machines of the coffee shops on every corner. If an order is misinterpreted or messed up, employees are trained to reflexively resolve the issue on the spot, rather than risk an escalation which turns into a viral video fiasco. Conversely, we also recall examples of how a simple act of customer service turned an employee and their company into a hero, inspiring deeper brand loyalty along the way. No matter the situation Dialer SIP Service is critical to agent and call center success.

However, what isn’t often talked about is how companies fire their customers. Customer service only goes so far before a customer or client becomes a drain on the bottom line, sapping time, money, and resources that would be better spent on a different set of clients. For example, if you’re flying on a commercial airline, you will receive more personalized attention in first-class than you will in coach. Passengers in coach can hit the Call Light button every five minutes to summon a flight attendant, but it won’t take long before their friendly smiles turn into dismissive grimaces. There is a cost attached to delighting customers, and many companies subtly, or actively, seek ways to fire those customers who become more than they can handle.

And in the world of SIP, the dirty secret is that most providers don’t want your call center’s dialer traffic.

Answer Seizure Ratios and Average Call Durations

To understand why most carriers don’t want your dialer traffic, you first need to understand the laws of Answer Seizure Ratios (ASR) and Average Call Duration (ACD). The ASR refers to the percentage of answered telephone calls in regard to total call volume. For example, if you call 100 phone numbers and 90 people answer, your ASR would be 90. That number drops when:

• Parties don’t answer
• There’s a busy signal
• There is switch congestion

Under normal calling conditions, you would expect an ASR of over 80. However, call centers that use auto dialers routinely rack up ASR scores that are much lower (20-30).

Average call duration, or ACD, is also much shorter since many call center agents reach prospects who don’t want to talk and get hung up on in the process. While the estimated ACD for normal conversational traffic has fallen over time (ranging from 1 minute 40 seconds to over three minutes per call), the ACD for dialer traffic is often measured in seconds, with many of these calls lasting less than 10 seconds.

The combination of low ASR and low ACD along with the high number of calls generated by auto dialers, means that the provider must set up and tear down exponentially more calls as normal voice traffic. And if your provider isn’t equipped or prepared for intense dialer traffic, you’ll overwhelm their network’s capacity, which forces them to send your dialer traffic to less reliable standard routes, rather than premium routes.  Which means more drops, more glitches, and fewer conversions.

Avoiding the Dialer Traffic Jam

Business owners who are looking for a SIP provider often make the unfortunate mistake in comparison shopping based solely on price, trying to find the best per minute rate.  But it’s important to dig deeper. Most telecom carriers are more than happy to take your money and provide your call center with service, knowing full well that they are neither willing nor able to make all of the connections that your dialer attempts. It takes real network intelligence and a tested business model for a SIP provider to succeed in this sector, since setting up and tearing down the thousands of calls your dialer makes is resource-intensive.

Some call center operators are in the process of being fired by their provider because of their dialer traffic, and they don’t even know it. Make sure you take the time to find the provider who understands your business and can scale right along beside you.

Contact us to learn more about other ways to further guarantee the quality of calls for your agents.

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