Changing of the Guard - Ushering in a PD Approach

Dave Rudd,
DialerFan: IAT Smartdial Solutions

At 85 years old my father fulfilled his dream of visiting Wales and England — the land of his ancestors. My three brothers and I accompanied him to the island and had a great experience touring castles, driving through the countryside and visiting religious sites. We even found the burial site of my great-great grandfather, who was buried in a pauper’s grave in a London cemetery.

One of the inspiring events that we viewed was the Changing of the Guard (properly called “Guard Mounting”) by the Queen’s Guard at Buckingham Palace. It is a great honor for these soldiers to be assigned to guard the Queen and other significant locations. The ceremony takes place every day (or every other day, depending on the season) and is one of the most popular tourist attractions in London.  The ceremony is comprised of traditional British pageantry with lots of color and music. It was easy to get caught up in the atmosphere and festive spirit. I wondered if my ancestors had experienced something similar to this event as well.

Has your dialer guard changed recently?

We’re currently witnessing a changing of the guard within the ARM industry. More companies are shifting between IVR Messaging to Predictive Dialing. Just like the multiple contingents of the Queen’s Guard trading places, the two contacting approaches work together and complement each other.

A major benefit of IVR Messaging is the ability to deliver a standard communication without deviation to thousands of contacts in a short period of time. IVR Messaging does sometimes permit transferring answered calls to agents; however, predictive dialing is ideal for connecting an agent directly to the answered call (right party contact). Agents can communicate with the debtor and work through payment plans, resolve insurance billing issues, etc.

A big benefit of predictive dialing is the ability to tell the dialer how fast you want it to attempt contacting accounts, for which agent(s) and when to start. Vendors provide multiple dialing mode options to cover varying agent and collecting scenarios. You can choose which type best suits your firm, client needs, specific list requirements, etc. For example:

• Predictive is ideal for groups of agents working in a pooled environment. Numbers are dialed in advance for a steady stream of live contacts.

• Power is ideal for an individual agent working alone on a list. The next number is dialed only when the agent completes the first call.

• Preview is best when agents need to view account information prior to telling the dialer to attempt contact.

• Passive is for overflow calls and agents not actively working on the dialer.

• Dial Request is for making manual calls through the predictive dialer.

While the benefits of IVR Messaging are huge, I can understand why more and more companies are deciding to “change the guard” and utilize predictive dialing frequently. It gives them a better chance to instantly speak with debtors/customers and resolve any concerns.

My father is now 95 years old. He officially retired from work at the end of November 2012. While he is starting to physically struggle, his mind is still extremely sharp. (He reads 2 or 3 books a week.) We still talk about our trip to England, when we stood on the street outside Buckingham Palace and watched the Changing of the Guard. Take a look at your business and see what type of “guard change” you need to make.