Automatic dialers provide an impressive service to many business that are based on tele-commuting sales. Everything from mortgage companies to credit card companies and even sports teams use an automatic phone dialer to help boost their business.

But before you go out and purchase an automated dialer for your business, make sure you do some research on the various different types of programs that are offered and how they can incorporate into your business. The myriad of business solutions that are offered vary widely. Think of your research as automatic dialers for beginners.

1. Understand the different types of automatic dialer software that are on the market and how they might be incorporated to your business.

2. Take tutorials of automatic dialers to understand how they operate and how you may incorporate them into your business model.

3. Learn the state laws associated with operating an automatic dialer for your company.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Learn about the different types of automated dialers

Automated dialers have come a long way from the days when they could merely roll a series of calls by dialing the next number on the list. Automated dialing software is smart enough to now handle inbound calls as well as outbound calls and in some cases even set-up a 'call suite' where your software can make multiple calls at the same time, knowing instinctively to ignore busy signals and other distractions giving up to 10 lines to one sales agent. Familiarize yourself with various software and how it might fit into your business model.

I recommend: Visit the website for Touch Star. They are an automatic dialing company with a wide variety of automatic dialing software solutions. Five 9 is another company which offers many different software solutions in the realm of auto dialer software.

Educate yourself on how a telephone dialer program works

Each automated dialer works slightly differently. Also some automated dialer programs are specific to certain businesses. Meaning some automated dialer programs might be targeted to reach out to homeowners in search of a new mortgage, while others might reach out to a section of the population who often orders medications online. The software applications might be tailored to collect and exhibit information in specific fields to the agent fielding or making the phone call.

I recommend: Visit the website for Make My Calls which is another website that specializes in automatic dialers. They offer a free demonstration of their product on their website. It just takes a free registration to download. Safe Soft Solutions is another automated dialer program which offers a tutorial on its website.

Determine which laws will affect you when operating automatic dialers

Both national and state governments have passed many laws in an effort to lessen the amount of tele-marketing calls that individuals and businesses receive on a daily basis. For this reason, you must be sure to keep up-to-date on the laws that apply to you, as the fines imposed for calling people on a 'do not call' list or its equivalent are quite steep. Also be sure to familiarize yourself with what your company is and is not allowed to say, sell or promise.

I recommend: Check out the website for Auto Dialers.net. They offer auto dialing solutions, but also a comprehensive list by state on the laws that each state employs. US Auto Dialers is another website which provides an up-to-date listing of state laws.

Automatic telephone dialers come in many formats. There are some pieces of automatic dialing software that you need to install locally on one of your servers; these can be beneficial, as they can integrate directly with your internal software programs. There are also options that are purely web-based, which can allow you more flexibility in location of your employees. There are also options for an automated dialer that allow you to use different types of phone connections.

When shopping for a telephone dialer system for your company, among the key points to consider are:

1. The hardware needs for the automatic dialer.

2. The type of phone lines your employees will be using with the telephone auto dialer.

3. The ability to use the autodialer software to record automatic messages.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Find automated dialing software that fits your existing hardware

If it's at all avoidable, don't purchase an automatic telephone dialer that requires you to spend hundreds if not thousands of dollars on new servers or upgrades. Find a telephone dialer that will either fit within your current server structure or one that is web-based and housed on the servers of telephone dialer manufacturer.

I recommend: Voicent's Broadcast by Phone Autodialer uses very little server space, making it deployable on many personal computers.

Use an automated dialer that is compatible with your phone lines

It can particularly difficult to find automated dialers that are compatible with multiple types of phone lines. However, as more companies are moving toward a cost-saving model where their call center employees work from home, this is absolutely vital. If your software doesn't support different types of phone lines, you can limit your ability to take advantage of available cost-saving opportunities.

I recommend: VanillaSoft's Automatic Dialer works with analog, digital and Voice-over-IP (VoIP) phone lines.

Ensure that the automatic dialer offers the ability to record automatic messages

When your company's calls head to voice mail or an answering machine, you want to make sure that your message is being communicated effectively. The best way to do this is by recording standard messages used by your employees in the appropriate situations. With just a click or two, the automatic phone dialer will play your message.

I recommend: VoiceShot Outbound makes it easy to record automated messages for a wide variety of needs.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  When considering automatic dialers, make sure you consider your target clients. Some clients may be extremely insulted if they are able to determine that you are using automatic phone dialing instead of taking time for their business individually.

These days, a lot of businesses are optimizing their call center strategies new technology such as automatic dialers. Automatic dialing software and solutions can help reps handle calls, feed databases, link to servers, and handle large volumes of calls every day. The specific operation of automatic dialers depends on how they're integrated into the company's hardware setup. Knowing some key terms for the setup and use of automatic dialers can help both new and established businesses improve their auto dialing systems.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Interface

The interface is the setup that software users see when using a software program. Interface is very important for auto dialing software, and can include very helpful features, including names, demographics and past customer records.

I recommend: Get a definition of an interface at this Java Tutorial. Take a look at an example of an interface based auto dialer system at Patent Storm.

Auto dialer server integration

Server integration for auto dialers is the process of making the automatic dialing software fit into an existing IT system so the server can hand the auto dialer information, or vice versa.

I recommend: See some details on server based auto dialer software at YoursAutoDialer.

VoIP

VoIP, or Voice over Internet Protocol, is a new communications technology that is being used in all kinds of applications, including auto dialing. New auto dialers can route calls through these broadband lines as opposed to the old analog phone lines.

I recommend: See a full rundown on VoIP from the Federal Communications Commission.

Outbound call software

Auto dialing software is widely used for handling large volumes of outbound calls. Outbound call software can sort calls, provide good background at the click of a button and make storing necessary updates easy.

I recommend: See more on outbound call software at NCH.

Virtual call center technology

Some auto dialing solutions will give businesses the ability to route calls to multiple locations with one central 'virtual call center'. This is making home-based customer service more and more popular.

I recommend: See a breakdown of a virtual call center system, with helpful digrams, at Avaya.

Do Not Call List

The Do Not Call List is a federal resource for consumers and households that restricts how solicitors may contact them. This relatively new setup is a very critical consideration for any business that is using auto dialers to contact people. Decision makers should always include this legislation in communications strategy discussions.

I recommend: See more on the Do Not Call List at this government site page.