Download your copy of the dialer setup worksheet. This will help you fast track the setup process of the dialer.
Who are you calling and why?
Cleary define who you are calling and why you are calling them or what you want them to do.
You’ll go through this process for each list type. I might have one or more lists for selling specific products or services and other lists for calling new customers. I might have a list for calling past customers and another for calling customers with outstanding billing issues. To start, pick one list type that you will be calling and setting up first.
Who you are calling and what is the “reason” or the “goal” of the phone call? Below are a list of questions that will help you be more clear on who you are calling and why and what you want them to do.
Am I calling a cold/warm/hot prospect? Am I calling a current or past customer? Do I want them to set an appointment? Am I asking them to take action on something or to buy? Are my calls to solicit feedback? Or is it to help them implement something? Will I be asking for a referral? Will I need to schedule a follow up call?
How often and how long will you try to reach them?
Determine how many times you should attempt to contact this person or business before you consider the call attempts non-productive and how much time between contact attempts should be allowed.
The answer to “how often and how many times” will most likely be different from list to list. A hot new lead might need to be called more often and more times versus a past customer that you are trying to invite to buy another product or service or give a referral.
Here are some questions to help you determine how many times and how much time between call attempts is appropriate for you to get in contact with the people on your list.
Is this a hot lead that you want to try to contact 2-3 times in the first 24 hrs and then taper o to a call every few days or weeks for 5-7 more contact attempts? Are you calling a cold lead list where immediate contact is not as important? Would the list of contacts be more or less likely to respond favorably to several calls a week? Is this a long sales cycle where several weeks or months of calls is needed or is this a relatively short sales cycle?
What are all the possible outcomes of the call?
Think about the outcome of the call if the contact answers or if they don’t answer.
If the call is not answered, the outcomes might be: <br />No Answer. Left Voicemail. Sent Text Message.
If the call is not answered, the outcome might be:
Not interested. Wants to buy. Set an appt. Contacted. Talked with Assistant. Gave Referral. etc
Based on the call outcome, what should happen with the contact?
Now decide if the outcome you choose should pull the contact out of the call list permanently or temporarily. For example, if I have a contacted that said “Don’t call me again.” and I have an outcome of “Do Not Contact” or “Not Interested”, I’d select that as the call outcome. This would not generate more follow up, but would permanently remove the contact from my call list (using tags and saved search criteria which we’ll discuss in Part 2 - Infusionsoft Setup). With some outcomes, you will want to move the contact to a new call list and or campaign such as a long term nurture campaign for leads that are not hot now but should still have long term follow up calls.