Auto Dialers: Hello?

I have worked in customer service positions over the past twenty years, and even going way back that far, the auto-dialer was in use. Whether it be for sales, collections, survey collectors, etc. an auto-dialer is the life-blood of a customer service outbound call center. These dialers make multiple calls at the same time, and can usually detect the difference between a live voice or an answering machine accurately. If the number dialed is picked up by a machine, or gets a disconnect signal or some other error, the call is disconnected and a new call is made. If the call detects a busy signal, the number usually gets recycled to call again in a few minutes.

These auto dialers allow companies to make massive amounts of calls in a relatively short amount of time, filtering out everything but that desired "live" voice. Once it detects that voice, the call is immediately put through to an awaiting representative who gets a very quick birds-eye view of your account information on their screen. Within a split second, their phone line opens, and their screen displays your name and other pertinent information. I get these types of calls all of the time, and because of my past experience working on them, can very often tell when I am dealing with an auto dialer. When you answer your line and say hello, it often sounds like a dead line, and then a split second later you hear the line "open" as it were. There is usually always that one second delay between when you say hello, and when they speak. Then you get one of two basic responses; one is correct, and the other, the one I most often hear, is incorrect.

So, here is a tip for you if you land a position where you work on one of these systems. I mention this tip because it was drilled into us when I worked these machines, and yet I almost always find that the calls I get these days are not handled properly.

Remember, when the machine calls a number, it listens for a live voice. When a person picks up their line and says "hello," the machines recognizes a live voice and pushes the call to you. You now have a person on your line that has already said hello. The most common response I tend to hear is a questioning tone: "Hello?" As if to question that I am there, they say hello again. This is irritating (to me at least), because I have answered my phone, and said hello already - therefore the call got pushed to you, the caller. Do not respond with a questionable hello, you should immediately go into your salutation, "Yes, may I speak to...." By the time you reach the end of "may I speak to" you have had enough time to read my name from your screen, and the conversation is off and running.

Maybe I am the only one that is bothered by this, but just keep in mind, you do not need to confirm I am there; the worst that can happen is the machine made a mistake and passed you a recording or bad call. I have to blame the supervisors for not teaching the callers correctly in these cases; but just keep it in mind when you use an auto dialer. You have a live voice on the other end, don't frustrate them by confirming it. Just start the conversation.

Jeff McCormack resides in Virginia Beach, VA. where he works as a web designer by day. In his off time he is a husband, father, mail order book store manager, and an avid musician who is active in two local bands. He is also a lover of books, having a large personal library and squeezes in as much reading as often as he can. Aside from being a freelance writer for this Customer Service Jobs blog, he also seeks to assist in career choices and information by contributing to other Nexxt blog sites.