After this, you can tell whether your appointment problem is the list or the calls, before you blame the reps.
Why it matters
You can give the speech of your life. A disconnected number still won't buy windows.
I've worked with call centers for years, and a dial count alone doesn't tell me which problem we've got. Mostly it tells me the phones got a workout. Where the numbers drop off tells me a lot more.
The steps
- Pull four counts for the same stretch. Same reps, same day or week: dials, pickups (someone answered), real conversations, qualified appointments. Decide what counts as a "real conversation" and a "qualified" appointment once, and stick with it.
- Write them on the board in order. Then work out each step: pickups out of dials, conversations out of pickups, appointments out of conversations.
- Circle where it falls off. The step where the numbers fall away hardest is where you look. Compare against your own earlier weeks, not a number somebody quoted you.
- Match the drop to the likely cause. Lots of dials, barely any pickups? That's not coaching. Check the list, the numbers, the connection and how long reps sit there waiting. People pick up but hardly anyone books? Different problem. Now listen to the calls and how the reps are qualifying.
- Give that step to whoever can dig in. A list problem goes to whoever buys or cleans the list. A calls problem goes to the manager or trainer who can listen and coach.
- Run the same four counts again after the fix, so you can see whether that step actually moved.
Copy this
FOUR NUMBERS (same reps, same day or week)
Dials: ______
Pickups: ______ pickups / dials = ____%
Real conversations: ______ conversations / pickups = ____%
Qualified appointments: ______ appts / conversations = ____%
Biggest drop: __________________
Dials to pickups low? Check the list, the numbers,
the connection, the wait.
Conversations to appts low? Listen to calls. Check how
reps qualify.
Who digs in: ______________ Re-check on: ______________Example (made up)
Sample numbers, not benchmarks. Two fictional floors each make 1,000 dials in a week and book about the same number of appointments.
Floor A: 1,000 dials, 50 pickups, 30 conversations, 6 qualified appointments. Only 5% of dials get picked up. Once someone's actually talking, a fifth of the conversations book. Coaching won't fix that. The list will.
Floor B: 1,000 dials, 300 pickups, 200 conversations, 5 qualified appointments. People are answering and talking, but only 2.5% of conversations book. That's the floor where I want to hear the calls.
Same dial count. Roughly the same appointments. Completely different problems. One "work harder" speech fixes neither.
Mistakes to avoid
- Judging reps on dials alone.
- Using someone else's benchmark as your target. Your list, your market and your offer aren't theirs.
- Changing what counts as "qualified" halfway through the week.
- Rolling out a coaching plan before you know which step broke.
Maybe it's coaching. Maybe it's dead numbers. Find out before you roll out the inspirational PowerPoint.
