Jim Berkowitz reports that the "outbound dialing" market is starting to heat up. I must confess that before I started working with CRM initiatives I did not understand this "sub-market" of CRM. All I could think of were those annoying calls during dinner asking me to switch my phone service. As soon as the do not call list hit the market, this business started shutting down.
However, true to free markets, the business is making a resurgence. In my mind, it is not about "cold calling" but rather about a managed approach to your customer relationship. Maintaining intimacy with your customer is critical. This allows the work flow system within CRM to direct work. Why would an outbound call to your customer for a specific purpose be directed any differently than an inbound fax, email or phone call.
Outbound dialing really is a misnomer. Perhaps we should call it outbound contact. This could be anything from an email, fax (yuck!), phone call, SMS message or chat session.
Ensuring you have a good customer management solution involves managing the outbound as well as the inbound.
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