ASK THE EXPERTS: How Can a Collection Agency Best Measure Dialer Productivity?

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Question: How can collection organizations best measure productivity on dialer campaigns?

Answer: There are two critical measurements for collection dialer campaigns.  One, Right-Party Connects per Agent per Hour (RPC/Hour), is a measure of machine productivity.  The other, dollars collected and/or promises attained, is a quality measure.
 
The dialer manager is accountable for maximizing RPC/Hour while minimizing abandons.  Usually, the trainer or collection manager is responsible making certain those contacts receive the highest quality verbal interaction possible; the higher the quality, the better the collections, with no compromise on compliance.  Dialers and hosted-dialing solutions that integrate collection application systems’ termination or result codes allow collection organizations to more tightly measure agent dollars promised and even collected. 
 
If the RPC/Hour rate is lower than the amount agents can capably handle, labor is wasted at the rate of $.20 to $.30 per minute. With dozens of agents, that’s a huge cash burn rate.  If the RPC/Hour rate is higher than the agents can manage, abandons increase; the quality of the “talk off” suffers, and complaints will rise.
 
Most post-charge-off collectors can manage 8 to 10 RPC/Hour.  That number can be somewhat lower for initial contact on large balance accounts, or it could be a little higher on low balance, high volume work.
 
RPC/Hour is the one true measure of machine productivity, but a surprisingly high number of agencies do not measure it.  Collection organizations absolutely must have an Automated Call Distributor (ACD) and good reporting to get a handle on this critical measurement.
 
With line starvation caused by the increasing difficulty of getting consumers on the phone, many managers struggle with very low RPC/Hour.  This wastes money, sponsors collector boredom that leads to high turnover, and really forces agencies to look for better productivity tools.
 
The job of any good dialer manager is to always make sure campaigns are running just under the maximum level that collectors can handle and still do a great job talking with the consumer.  Again, this requires an ACD, great dialer reporting, excellent dialer pacing and diligence.
 
The payoff is high client performance, motivated agents and consistent performance.

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