Call Management: Your Guide to Better Phone Experiences

Introduction

For companies that have an appointment-based business model, the phone plays a vital role. Products or services cannot be sold solely on the internet or in brick-and-mortar stores. Potential customers must phone your business and engage with a real person to book an appointment before the sale can be made.

Appointment-based businesses’ marketing campaign ads are not limited to digital advertising. Appointment-based businesses use many advertising channels in addition to digital such as TV, radio, direct mail, and more. Digital attribution is a built-in part of online marketing, but offline attribution must come into play as well for a holistic view of your marketing analytics. Appointment-based companies need to track incoming phone calls to determine what channels drive customers to call, and which ads generate qualified leads.

Determining where to spend your marketing dollars successfully should be based on the data that you receive to determine your ROI. Should you keep advertising with Campaign A, or reallocate that marketing budget towards Campaign B that generated more leads with a lower cost-per-lead investment? In a world with so many advertising options, it is imperative to make data-based decisions and not rely on antidotal information.

Call management helps companies understand how their phone lines and offline marketing attribution impact their overall marketing and company success. The phones are a vital step in consumers’ buying journeys; they must not be ignored. Having a call management system in place is essential to make informed marketing decisions based on real data, not assumptions, of marketing and employee performance.

What is the basis of call management?

The backbone of call management is your phones. However, it does take more than having phone lines for effective call management. The foundation of any successful call management system is call tracking or call recording.

Call tracking, which was invented by CallSource in 1991, is how data is gathered to aid marketing professionals in determining the success of their phone-driven marketing campaigns. At its simplest, call tracking requires creating and then publishing a unique phone number (local or toll-free) for each marketing campaign that you want to track. Ideally, this includes all of your distinctive ad sources: your website, television advertising, direct mail campaign, etc. Each unique phone number is routed to your main line(s).

When a potential customer calls in to each these numbers, detailed information including the caller’s phone number, name, address, connection status, duration and more are automatically captured, and the call is recorded. The call recordings can be listened to almost immediately for review.

As vital as it is, call tracking is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to call management. Analyzing a phone call provides robust analytics for marketing and operations managers alike. Leaders can improve in all departments with more detailed analytics about each phone call.

It is impractical for a staff member to review all your recorded calls and score call handler conversion rates. This is why appointment-based companies rely on call processing systems to do the dirty work for them. Call processing not only delivers insights into what channels consumers are calling from but also how the call was handled internally and what the outcome of the call was: did it end in an appointment or was it a lost opportunity?

Don’t be fooled, not all call processing companies are alike. Some call management systems utilize speech analytics to deliver more data about the phone call; this is inadequate for determining a call outcome as the technology is not quite there. Tone, nuance, and people’s accents are not understood by computers. 100% accuracy is simply not available with AI software like speech analytics. It is reported that speech and voice-to-text analyses only reach an accuracy of 77%¹, while CallSource’s human analysts come in at upwards of 95% accuracy. When choosing a call management system to process your calls, you need human analysts that can truly determine call outcomes.

By diving deeper with these advanced call management systems, you can make more informed decisions to better your business.

How do I figure out if I need a call management product?

Simply put, if your business depends on the phone at any point in the customer journey to make a sale, you will benefit from a call management system. Try these simple questions to determine if call management is right for you.

1. My business follows an appointment-based model.
   Do most of your customers make an appointment to purchase your product or service? Although some businesses may adopt an online form appointment booker, most consumers will still choose to call in and book an appointment over the phone by speaking to a live representative.

   Phone traffic to appointment-based companies has increased four-fold in the past several years due to click-to-call with smartphones. Within local services, 76% [of potential buyers] would use call features to schedule an appointment for professional services.² Regardless of your marketing spend, you have one chance to turn a caller into a potential customer. Understanding your call to appointment rate is vital to the health of your business.

2. My business has a dedicated call handling team to answer inbound calls.
   Your business either has a front office staff answering phone calls and speaking to customers, an in-house call handling department, or uses a call center. When you’re paying employees to handle phone calls, you need data to understand call outcome rates.
3. My business relies on repeat customers.
   If your business model depends on return customers (regardless of frequency), then every new customer requires nurturing over time. Customer service is the key to creating loyal customers. Call analytics will help you determine repeat customers to market and speak to them as an existing customer rather than a potential client.
4. In-person appointments are required to make a sale.
   If making a sale requires customers to come to your business or for you to dispatch a technician for a consultation, then phone handling and appointment booking rates (taking into account no-show rates) are imperative to understand your true marketing ROI. If booking three more appointments a month without increasing more marketing spend can impact your profitability, it is imperative to use call processing.

What should I look for in a call management vendor?

Although call tracking has been around since CallSource invented it over 26 years ago, many other call management-type solutions have popped up over the years. When researching companies, cast a wide net and narrow down your choices based on criteria that matters to you.

Below are a few items to consider when choosing during your evaluation.

• Experience
  • Make sure that the company you choose has experience. There are a lot of fly-by-the night call tracking companies that appear in the industry and disappear just as quickly, leaving you in a lurch as your phones simply are not ringing. Call tracking is no longer an innovative technology; many companies and CRMs have adapted using call tracking as a part of their services. Having the capability to record a call does not mean they understand call processing and have the ability to support your business’ goals. Ensure that the company you choose has been in the industry for a while, is financially secure, and will provide the right level of customer service that you need.
• Reliability
  • When a company is partially responsible for handling your phone lines and delivering phone numbers for your business, you want to make sure that they will be reliable and working. Just like Verizon and AT&T dominate as phone carriers for most mobile phone services, make sure your call management provider has a good phone carrier presence with quality phone routing.

    Besides reliable phone routing, make sure that the website uptime reliability for your provider is top-notch. Website downtimes mean you cannot login to view your data.

    Last, is the data reliable? Does the vendor score calls based off of algorithms that may not fit your actual phone calls? Do they use speech analytics or human call processing? If your call handlers are self-scoring, using a third party call processer will give you unbiased data. Make sure to get answers to your questions about reliability. A reputable call management company will have no problem answering how and who is scoring your calls. Don’t make critical business decisions from unreliable data.

• Customer Service & Onboarding Process
  • Implementation of a management platform and maximizing it to improve your business requires commitment on your part as well as your provider.
    

    Implementing call tracking or call management is likened to buying a gym membership. You only see the results of getting fit if you commit yourself to make a change. Fortunately, call management doesn’t take a toll on you physically—but you do have to put the initial time in to make it work.

    It is vital that the vendor you choose has excellent customer service and dedicated representatives to your business, especially during your onboarding phase. As you move through the onboarding process and you have published your phone numbers, a dedicated representative should be there to help you understand your data. Receiving data is just another report if you don’t turn it into actionable and achievable goals.

• Industry Knowledge
  • Some call tracking vendors focus on specific industries as their specialties in the call management sphere. If you are in a niche industry that needs specific industry knowledge, make sure your call management vendor can provide you with what you are looking for before deciding to hire that firm.

    A reputable call management system should be able to provide proprietary data to compare your business to others similar to yours. This gives you benchmarks and confidence that your customer representatives understand your needs and goals.

• Pricing
  • Just as all call management providers aren’t created equal, neither are their pricing models. Find out what products you would benefit from and at what point they recommend you using each product. Buying all offered products at one time can be overwhelming. You can also be paying for products you don’t need yet. For instance, if you are looking for a call performance solution based on conclusive information for your employees/call handlers, you need a baseline of information before implementing an improvement strategy.

    Find a vendor that will create a pricing structure with you based on your call management goals. Be wary of contracts that lock you in; find a flexible, month-to-month solution that allows you cancel anytime, but is confident in their services to know that you’ll want to stay with them.

• Integrations
  • Do you work with specific CRMs or marketing software with your business that you just cannot imagine adding another platform to look at in your day-to-day? If so, it is important to make sure that the call management provider you choose can integrate or push data into your existing platform. You want to ensure you’ll actually utilize the data – not just let it sit in another sphere that you only look at from time to time because you feel too overwhelmed.

Choosing a call management provider doesn’t need to be daunting; make sure you are clear on what you want to achieve when trying to find the right fit. Remember, call management should augment your business and make life easier for you, not more cumbersome. The above suggestions aren’t an exhaustive list but a starting point to use when speaking to different vendors.

What should I do before implementing a call management program?

Once you determine the call management provider, be sure to read the following section before implementation.

Define specific goals for your call management system
Create specific SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant & Time-bound) Goals you want to achieve with your call management system.

Make a timeline for yourself for achieving your goals.

If you don’t know where to start—answer why you want to purchase and implement call management and work backward. Discuss your goals with the call management vendors you are deciding between and validate your timeline with them. If they don’t take an interest in your goals or your business before they make the sale, it is indicative of the support you will receive later in the relationship. If your vendor isn’t helping you in making the right decisions, it’s probably not the right call management system for you.

Team buy-in and excitement
Remove ambiguity from your team. Explain to your call handlers and office manager(s) how and why you are implementing call management. Call handlers can have anxiety over having their calls recorded or monitored; it can feel punitive if not approached appropriately in the beginning. This can change your desired company culture.

Designate a call management team to train them on your “why.” This teach-the-teacher system will create transparency. Create clear expectations of responsibilities and accountability with regards to the reports and data each person will use and how to create a system for a feedback loop to find out what is working and what is not. Remember, negative feedback isn’t bad as long as it is constructive. Your employees who are answering the calls are closest to your new call management system; their feedback is needed for success.

Look at online reviews
Before purchasing your new call management system, look at their online reviews and testimonials. Some great review platforms to read reviews for call tracking and management companies are G2 Crowd, Google, and Capterra.

Consult industry groups and talk to peers who may use call management platforms and find out first-hand what they do or don’t like about who they use.

Still skeptical? Here is how call management will improve your business.

Since 1991, CallSource has been working with call tracking clients, but have created a myriad of products at our clients’ request. From Tier 1 companies to small mom-and-pop businesses, our call management system has helped a multitude of our clients improve marketing spend, advance call handler performance, and ultimately increase their appointment conversion percentage and their bottom line.

First, using a call management system keeps you informed. Major decisions should not be made without using sound data. By habitually reviewing your call analytics reports and scheduling regular meetings with your call management representative, you are committing time to improve your business. Once reviewing your call management data becomes a part of your regular work routine, you can easily spot areas where you are excelling and hitting your KPIs, as well as areas you need to improve.

Utilizing a call management system also improves your bottom line. Allocating marketing dollars to advertising effective channels rather than wasting budget on ad sources that are underperforming will maximize your marketing spend. Call processing ensures your call handlers are increasing call-to-appointment rates and improving call handling skills.

Last, a call management system helps owners and managers use data-driven forecasting. Discover peak times for inbound calls by looking at your past data to stay prepared for upcoming seasons. Seasonal trends in advertising will also become apparent when reviewing data over time. Creating benchmarks and evaluation periods when trying new channels will also help you make more informed business decisions. By decreasing wasteful spend, you will stop leaving money on the table. If you decide to combine your call management system with a digital attribution management system (which CallSource also provides), you get an even clearer picture of your customer journey.

How has utilizing call management helped other businesses like mine?

• A large company that is part of a major home service network saved over $45,000 once they started using CallSource’s call management system by negotiating with one of their ad vendors after seeing their true ad performance with call track reporting.
• A plumbing, heating, air and solar company that has been in business for over 17 years with 200+ employees increased their overall conversion rate from 74% to 78% and added over $43,000 in revenue to their bottom line by working with CallSource to improve their call handling experience with employee performance.
• A large automotive dealership that has been run by family for three generations increased their work orders by utilizing CallSource’s call management services, resulting in an additional $17,500/month in service revenue.
• A well-known audiologist who has been in practice since 1994 increase their call to appointment conversion rate from 45% to 78%, dropped their average patient acquisition cost as much as 50% compared to the industry average and improved their overall marketing ROI while decreasing their marketing spend by $50,000.

In Conclusion

Choosing a call management system shouldn’t be a quick decision. Evaluate all your options; make sure the company you are going to choose can support your business goals and provide the level of support that you want.

We hope that this guide has answered your questions about call management and how call tracking analytics can help your marketing and operations teams improve to achieve greater ROI.

Offline marketing attribution (and combining it with your online marketing) isn’t talked about quite as much in this digital age. It is, however, where the industries are going. Call tracking has evolved since its start over 26 years ago, and understanding how it works and what it can do for your business is vital before determining if it is a product that your business can benefit from.

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We are the experts in call tracking, call management, performance management, reputation management and digital management. Contact us today to learn how we can help with your call management needs.