Managing leads in a smart dialler

Anyone who has worked in sales understands that having accurate and up-to-date information on leads can mean the difference between losing a potential customer or making a successful sale. But in an industry where productivity and efficiency are key, there has been a fundamental piece of the sales puzzle missing.

For many sales teams, an internal data management system holds the holy grail of customer information. Leads identified from different sources are captured, lists are compiled and information is updated to reflect quotes presented or customers acquired. But when it comes to contacting leads, this information first needs to be imported into a dialler that makes these points of contact possible.

The problem for sales teams and managers here is that these two disparate systems are not able to ‘talk’ to each other which means that they are always out of synch. There is no way to manage who is being called or when, and there are no records of the outcomes of those interactions easily accessible. The combination of this loss of control paired with the vast volumes of data in play makes reporting and lead management cumbersome and open to human error.

In addition to this, David Bower, Head of Insurance at Drive & Save, also notes that a key problem being experienced in his team was the additional pressure placed on agents who were having to spend large portions of their time dealing with admin (eg, ensuring that information was then captured into their CRM system after calls were completed) rather then being able to focus on what should be their key role - sales.

Having identified the challenge facing his sales team, Bower approached 1Stream, experts in cloud-based contact centre technology, to find a solution that would allow his agents to refocus their energy on acquiring sales and allow easy management of the full sales process.

The goal was to find an efficient way to manage a sales campaign seamlessly, from start to finish and the answer lay in integrating the CRM system with the 1Stream dialler used to assign and track calls to create a comprehensive lead management system (LMS).

With this in place, the full sales campaign could be managed from a single user interface. All information captured, whether through the CRM system or dialler, is synched automatically so that data is always up to date, avoiding duplicate calls or unnecessary contacts where a customer has returned a call or provided more information on their needs.

1Stream’s integration solution enabled the Drive & Save management team to decide who to call and when, provided for prioritisation of leads and scripting for agents to streamline the points of contact. It also allowed agents to capture customer information efficiently which has meant full contact history for each potential customer is available at the click of a button.

Perhaps even more importantly, the full workflow allowed for easier collaboration between team members who could now quickly assign tasks and follow up where needed, and full instant reporting, allowing managers to see key analytics such as call numbers, lead responses, and the number of customers at the different stages of the sales cycle.

“With many years’ experience in the industry, I can say this is by far the best product combination for any call centre environment, offering slicker processes, instant reports, reduced admin and improved productivity and conversion rates,” explains Bower. “1Stream’s service and innovation are unmatched, and their solution blends a really powerful dialler with CRM into one easy-to-use system that is best in class.”

For more information about 1Stream, visit 1stream.co.za or contact info@1stream.co.za.