Despite us living in a digital age where almost everything is achievable with just a few clicks, calling still remains a vital part of any business’s growth.

Connecting to potential leads at the right time, and giving them support at their required time, does wonders beyond measure. Companies that realize this simple thing and work on it succeed rapidly, companies that don’t are left struggling.

Now when it comes to connecting to clients, you majorly have three options.

1. Calling from excel sheets.
2. Using A Cloud Call Center Telephony Service (Exotel,Knowlarity, etc)
3. Downloading sim-based auto-dialer apps.

Calling from EXCEL sheets.

It may look to be a simple process, where one doesn’t really require anything other than a phone and an Excel sheet. The complexity is far more than meets the eye.

The disadvantages are numerous and the chances of success from this process are bleak.

The reasons being,

1. Time-consuming – In order to dial a number, one has to type in the entire combination of numbers. Now dialing a couple of numbers may not look to be a tedious task, but in businesses where one has to dial over 50 numbers. It will needlessly eat up valuable time.
2. Low accuracy  – Since the agent is dialing numbers continuously, and to err is human, it is obvious that he or she will end up dialing a few wrong numbers, leading to further wastage of time.
3. Dependence on devices – This might sound weird, but calling from EXCEL sheets actually makes you depend on multiple devices. For one, you will require a computer to prepare the excel sheet and then create a column for follow-ups. Again you have to take a printout and distribute it among the agents for them to call. You will also need to maintain multiple phone lines for the agents to use.
4. Difficulty in following up – Following up with interested clients becomes a tedious task for the agents, for they have to prepare separate sheets for follow-up and manually set reminders to connect to clients.
5. Zero-tracking – The only proof of agents calling for you is to check the phones individually and tally them with the excel sheet. This very thing sounds tedious and time-consuming, imagine doing the entire thing. This needless to say spoils all opportunities for remote working and work-from-home scenarios.
6. The environment factor – This in fact is an important reason. Excel files will require you to get printed and then distributed (That’s pointless wastage of paper). If you run more systems, you will be consuming more electricity (That’s a pointless waste of energy and generates high costs).

Using A Cloud Call Center Telephony Service (Exotel,Knowlarity, etc)

Voice over Internet Protocol or VoIP in simple words uses the internet to place calls. You will not require a sim card to place a call. Instead, you will be able to make and receive calls over the internet.  However, in India VOIP is still not fully legal, hence you will require Cloud Telephony Companies like Exotel and Knowlarity. These companies, host SIM cards on their own servers and allow you to use them. When your agent places a call to a customer, he actually receives an incoming call from the server and the customer receives another call, both calls are merged and you end up getting connected. This is very expensive when compared to a sim-based dialer since two leg calls are placed and all the calls are charged by the telcos on a per min basis. Expect to pay Rs.1-2 per call per min.

Even though this is quite elaborate, there are some great benefits to this such as number masking, IVR, and call recording on the server, however, there are cons that far outweigh the benefits.

1. Expensive – No matter how big an organization you are from, keeping costs low is vital. These services require hardware in the form of a Desktop or Laptop, Headsets, and broadband. Cloud Tel is completely dependent on the Telcos and Internet.
2. Difficult for remote working – If you have a team that works in remote locations, they will not be able to make calls or take calls, without a proper internet connection, desktop and headset. The extra money will then have to be spent on getting the team the required devices to be able to use the VoIP / Cloud Tel services.
3. No CRM or Autodialers – Cloud / VoIP services will only give you the solution of calling and receiving calls. But when it comes to calling large lists, they lack autodialers which would aid you in making calls briskly without having to type numbers. The problem of managing leads will stay as you are only calling them, in order to manage them you will either require a CRM or have to manage them manually with the help of EXCEL sheets.
4. Higher chances of numbers getting Spammed –  Most Cloud Tel / VoIPs come with the benefit of having one number for multiple devices. Now, this obviously gives you the advantage of giving one number to customers to contact. But at the same time chances of getting the number spammed or blocked increase a lot. VoIP numbers have a similar type, which people often ignore or block. Once the number is blocked, you will have to once more register another number to connect with customers. Nowadays, Truecaller and in-built screening services mark these numbers as Suspected Spam.
5. No Exclusivity – Customers nowadays want to be pampered, and pampered they should be. They simply want to type a number and connect to an Executive directly every time they face an issue. VoIP services rob this experience from customers and redirect them to a central number.
6. DND – You cannot call most numbers as they are in the National DND list, you will need prior consent, and even so if a customer complains the penalties are in lakhs.

Using A SIM-based Mobile Tele Calling CRM

Sim-based auto dialer apps, as the name suggests are smartphone applications that use the phone sim card to place calls.

It sounds simple to set up and use and cheap to maintain, but is it effective and efficient?

We’ll find out,

1. Cheap – The only time the word does not sound derogatory is when it comes to running costs. Since they are just applications and are using your sim card to place calls, they generally have subscription models and have the advantage of unlimited usage.
2. Simple – All it takes is a few clicks to set it up, no technological expertise or understanding of complicated hardware is required.
3. Flexible – Since it’s a sim-based dialer, all you need to do is change the sim card if a telecaller leaves or give the account’s login credentials to the new telecaller. And you are good to go, No registration is required, all they will need to do is log in and start calling.
4. Feature loaded – These apps come with features that make life easier for all. The main features of Autodialing and CRM are just what you need for calling and tracking.
5. Autodialer – The feature of Auto Dialing allows you to dial large lists of contacts in a jiffy, as you are not typing numbers anymore. All you are doing is speaking to the customers and putting in feedback.
6. Auto Distributed – You can just import your contacts to the CRM and it will automatically sync the leads to your agent’s devices
7. In-Built CRM – The apps contain built-in CRMs, which manage the leads and prepare follow-up leads automatically. Saving you the trouble of preparing follow-up lists. You can easily download reports in CSV format, set up reminders for yourself and tasks for your teams.
8. Tracking – The problem with both Excel sheet calling and VoIP calling is the inability to track the performance of agents fully. With Excel, the only way you can track their work fully is to take a chair and sit next to them. With VoIP, listen to every recording of the conversations between the clients and them. Yes, the proposed methods are ridiculous. The reason why Sim-Based auto-dialers are better, is they provide every detail, from the number they called, the amount of time spent on the call, and obviously, the feedback put.
9. No KYC or DND – These softwares (GoDial) has instant signups and very less need for KYC. Of Course, you are expected to make transactional calls and not spam, yet by default, you can call any number you want.

GoDial is the market leader in mobile-based CRM and Tele Calling Software. GoDial essentially

allows you to start an Outbound Call Center just using smartphones

All this said, calling is an art, and closing on a call is a task much more difficult than it is thought to be. In fact, it is not less than a war.

And in the words of my mentor and CEO, Avijit Sarkar “Carry the best weapons, when you go to war. Only then, victory will be guaranteed.”