07 May
The big question many phone salespeople face is, “What is the difference between a power dialer and a predictive dialer?” While their goals are generally the same, their approaches are different. We have broken down all the differences and similarities so you can confidently know which is the best solution for your team!
What Is a Power Dialer?
A power dialer is an automated telephone system that dials phone numbers one at a time rapidly. Once a call is finished, the dialer immediately dials the next number on the list automatically. The agent will be able to hear the prospect say “Hello” and speak to them as if it were a normal phone call. If you want to dive deeper, check out our detailed article on what is a power dialer and how it works.
What Is a Predictive Dialer?
A predictive dialer dials multiple numbers nonstop and live calls to the next available agent. It filters out busy, not in service, voicemails (AMD) and no answer calls to try and maximize agent talk time. Because the dialer has to “listen” to determine if it’s a live person, there will be a short delay in which the recipient may have to say “Hello” multiple times before the agent is connected. If you’re considering getting a dialer, make sure you’re aware of all the advantages of a predictive dialer.
Power Dialer Vs. Predictive Dialer Features
Power Dialer | Predictive Dialer | |
Call Ratio | The dialer calls one number per agent at a time | Ratio of calls per agent is set by software and can move depending on the amount of dropped calls and call durations |
Pause Time/ Call Connect Time | No pauses or “telemarketer delays” for the receiver of the call because the agent is able to immediately start talking to them | Pauses occur as the dialer connects the connect with an available agent |
Dropped Call Rate | Do not have to manage a dropped call rate | Need to keep the dropped call rate below 3% over the course of 30 days to be compliant |
Duration of Calls | Duration of the call is not an issue as the dialer only calls a number when the agent is available. | The duration of the call is usually short, since several calls are made at any given time. |
Call Conversion Rate (How many calls are needed to make the sale) | 1 sale per call or 1 sale per multiple calls | 1 sale per call |
Database Quality | High quality database or moderate quality | Low quality |
Power Dialer Vs. Predictive Dialer Use Cases
So what type of dialer makes the most sense for your business? In a lot of cases it will be simple to decide, and in other cases making the decision can be tougher.
Some use cases & considerations that naturally are a better fit for power dialing:
- B2B – Calling other businesses
- Warmer or more expensive leads
- Leads that need more personalization
- Higher income type leads & prospects
- Inside sales teams
- Needing to leave personalized answering machine messages
- Not experienced in telemarketing legalities
Some use cases & considerations that naturally are a better fit for predictive dialing:
- Very cold lists
- Lists with lots of answering machines and bad numbers
- Political campaigns
- Debt collection
- Having a call center manager that can manage legal considerations
Ultimately it’s a trade off. You’ll make more calls with a predictive dialer, but the quality and experience for the customer won’t be as good as it will be using a power dialer. In our experience, most sales teams find better long term sustainability using a power dialer. However, experienced call centers geared towards calling lots of cold residential numbers will likely have more success doing predictive dialing.
Power Dialer Vs. Predictive Dialer Considerations
Ultimately, there is no right or wrong decision when it comes to selecting a dialer for your team. However, one is likely better suited for your team than the other. Below we have given the three most important things to consider that should help you determine which dialer is best suited for your team.
Team Size
A power dialer is flexible and can be used successfully by single users while also adjusting to the size of your team as you grow. A predictive dialer is best for a large team/call center geared towards calling cold residential lists. With larger teams there is likely to be less dropped calls and this helps ensure that your team goes through more numbers in a shorter amount of time. Whereas with the power dialer a small or large group could work well with having one call per agent, to ensure no dropped calls and lessen the time that each agent has to wait for a live call.
Call Goal
The goal of the call will help you indicate the call duration as well as the quality of your database. Usually if the calling goal is harder to achieve, then it indicates a longer call duration and a higher quality database. For instance, a large non profit wanted to call all of the numbers in Texas to ask for charitable donations, this would indicate a short call duration and it would indicate that the leads are cold leads. In this instance, a predictive dialer would be best. An example for the power dialer could be a life insurance sales agent who targets leads age 64 and up. Since the database is specific to the type of lead and the goal of the call is to sell life insurance, the calls will likely last longer. Power dialers are more desirable in circumstances where building a relationship or building trust is needed in order to create a sale.
Regulations
The major regulation that needs to be considered when deciding which dialer to get is which one will keep your dropped calls to a minimum. Dropped or abandoned calls must be less than 3% to comply with FCC regulations. This can be done with both a power dialer and predictive dialer, however, as mentioned before, it can be tricky to keep compliant with that regulation while using a predictive dialer IF you don’t have a large enough team or a ratio of calls to agents that is too high. Calling mobile phones for telemarketing using an ATDS (autodialer) is not legal. A predictive dialer definitely falls under that category, so that is also something to consider.
So, a Power Dialer Or a Predictive Dialer?
We know that both solutions aim to optimize your agents time, as well as make the selling experience much more convenient and successful, but you can only choose one! With all the considerations and features in mind, selecting the right solution should be your next step. If you decided that a power dialer is the best solution for your team then check out our Dolphin Power Dialer and explore its scalable options!
Works Cited
Montgomery, J., 2021. What Is Power Dialing? Power Dialer Definition | EVS7. [online] EVS7. Available at: <https://www.evs7.com/technology/what-is-a-power-dialer-power-dialer-definition> [Accessed 7 May 2021].
Brandon, L., 2021. Hosted Predictive Dialer Advantages | EVS7. [online] EVS7. Available at: <https://www.evs7.com/blog/hosted-predictive-dialer> [Accessed 4 May 2021].
CallHub. 2021. Power dialer vs. Predictive dialer: What is best for your campaigns?. [online] Available at: <https://callhub.io/power-vs-predictive-dialer/> [Accessed 5 May 2021].
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