Facts About Dialer Usage: Are You Needlessly Hesitating?

Throughout my 20+ years working in the debt collection industry, I’ve heard numerous explanations for why an agency might not want to implement dialing technology. Have you heard—or given—any of these excuses?

• My business is too small to need and use a dialer!

• My collectors won’t work with a dialer!

• I can work my accounts faster and more effectively without a dialer!

• Owning and operating a dialer is too expensive!

One of my favorites is “A dialer! A dialer! We’ve already got a dialer, why do I need another or newer one?”

Below are my answers to these objections.

Objection: My business is too small to need and use a dialer!

Fact: If you dial phone numbers and speak to debtors, a dialer will improve productivity. A dialer eliminates the need for your collectors to touch the key pad or click on a phone number. It frees up the collectors’ time from listening to busy signals, operator intercept signals, and endless phone rings waiting for a live answer or voice mail system, etc. Dialers dramatically improve calling productivity over manual dialing.

Objection: My collectors won’t work with a dialer!

Fact: Some collectors do initially fight working with a dialer; however, this attitude is much less common than it was years ago. This challenge can be overcome with management showing full support of the dialer’s implementation. When owners and managers are positive about the dialer, collectors typically change their attitudes and support it.

Plus, once the collector recognizes that using the dialer increases their collections—and frequently their paycheck—they start complaining they aren’t spending enough time working accounts on the dialer.

Objection: I can work my accounts faster and more effectively without a dialer!

Fact: This objection is usually prompted by a bad experience with a dialer company or product that has long since left our market. Today’s dialing technology far exceeds the features and capacities of dialers from bygone years. Standard features include answering machine message lay-in; unattended messages; inbound, outbound and blended dialogues; dialing modes (predictive, power, preview, passive and manual); multiple phone number control; integrated call recording and cell phone scrubbing. These features continue to improve and expand.

A dialer is most effective when dialing large amounts of phones numbers, weeding out busys, operator intercepts and answering machines. If your agency handles a unique set of accounts (large medical debt, interaction with insurance companies, commercial debt, etc.), it might seem that a dialer would not be very effective. However, today’s dialing technology can be adapted to help your company become more productive.

Objection: Owning and operating a dialer is too expensive!

Fact: Today’s options surrounding dialer ownership are more diverse. You can choose to physically own the dialer and run it from your call center. Leasing is always an option and today’s interest rates and lease terms are becoming much more affordable.

If owning a dialer does not fit your business model, then cloud dialing is the answer. With cloud dialing, you control how much you dial each month and thereby determine your operating expense. In essence it is a pay-as-you-go service, so you only dial as much as you can afford.

Dialers help thousands of agencies be more productive and cost effectively collect more debt. The days of shouting “A dialer! A dialer! We don’t need a dialer” are fading and in most circumstances gone.

Are you still objecting?

Dave Rudd is DialerFan, a champion of the collection industry, focused on improving collection capabilities through technology and political action. He energetically participates in lobbying efforts for the industry through donations, writing letters, making phone calls, participating in seminars and attending events in Washington D.C., including the most recent ACA International Fly-In. Well acquainted with debt collection, Dave spent two years debt collecting before joining IAT in 1990. He has held a variety of positions at IAT — a provider of collection-specific dialing technology — including President/CEO and most recently Senior VP of Finance & Administration.