Outbound calls help companies increase sales, improve collection rates, grow donations, perform market research, and proactively reach out to customers.
It can also be effective for increasing revenue and customer satisfaction. By knowing the common types of outbound calls, your team will be able to determine the right approach to have a productive interaction with customers.
What is an outbound call?
An outbound call is a call that originates with a sales or support agent to an existing or prospective client. Depending on the type and size of the business, companies can use outbound call centers or in-house employees to make the call.
Handling outbound calls depends on the reason why the call is made. Different approaches are taken when calling leads to promote your brand and contacting clients for research or fundraising purposes.
Always remember that the contact person did not make the call nor expect it. That means that agents need to ensure that their calls are effectively targeted to prospects where positive results are anticipated.
What are the common types of outbound calls your company could do?
While outbound calls are used and executed in different ways, most of the calls your team makes likely belong to the following types.
Telemarketing
Telemarketing is the one-on-one marketing of goods and services over the phone. An agent calls an existing customer or prospect from a contact list and promotes interest in your company’s products or services.
Your team can do this by assessing the person’s needs, creating rapport, measuring interest, setting appointments, and hopefully turning the prospect into a qualified lead that the telesales team can contact and close.
Market research
Market research helps a company explore its target audience and get feedback about its product or service. It measures the pulse of customers or the public at large.
It can be done over the phone by calling people from your contact list and asking them for their opinion on your offerings. Subjects are usually compensated with samples or paid a small amount for their participation.
Direct mail follow up
Direct mail includes brochures, catalogs, postcards, newsletters, and sales letters that are sent directly to a customer’s address. This type of advertising is among the most effective and profitable ways to reach out to new and existing clients.
Outbound calls can be used to follow up a brand’s direct mail marketing. If your client has already received and opened your mail, you now have the chance to make your sales pitch over the phone.
Lead generation
Lead generation is the process of attracting people’s interest to your business. It is a method of leading eventual buyers into purchasing your products or services.
You have to make leads interested enough to request more information from you. The standard way to collect a lead is through signing up forms on your webpage. After this, you can add their data to your contact list for your agents to call.
Cold calling
Cold calling is a practice in which random people who have not previously expressed interest in your products or services are contacted by your agents. Your agents interact with a potential customer who had no prior interaction with your business.
Cold calling is among the oldest and most common types of interacting with customers. Nowadays, it can also be done through in-person visits, such as with door-to-door representatives.
