Can You Use it in a Sentence?: Predictive Dialer

No, a Predictive Dialer is not a psychic telling you which phone numbers you should call. It’s not a software that predicts the most likely buyers either.

It’s predictive, just not in the two ways above. A predictive dialer tries to predict how long the conversation the operator is currently having will last, so it can dial the next number on the list. The goal is to minimize the downtime between calls, which is very costly to call centers.

In fact, 1/3 of every hour (20 minutes) is spent dialing someone when the agent is only dialing one number at a time. In utilizing predictive dialers, that number drops to three minutes.

The predictive part is not magic. It’s using an algorithm that has been constructed using data from the call center. It’ll predict how much longer the caller will be on the phone, and when it gets to the point where it believes that the call is over, it dials the next number.

In case you have not already figured it out, my guess is you’ve already been on the receiving end of a predictive caller. How would you know? Have you ever picked up the phone and there’s no one on the other end, then just as you’re about to hang up, they greet you? That’s a predictive dialer. This sometimes happens the other way around as well, but rather than the operator greeting you, you decide to hang up because no one is there. That’s the call center’s worst nightmare.

A predictive dialer isn’t accurate all the time, and when it isn’t, there is a call fail such as I’ve just described. Well, nothing’s perfect.

The Sentence: “My plan to increase operator productivity by 25% is based upon us switching from operator dialing to a predictive dialer.”