Why Shouldn’t Inbound Reps Make Outbound Calls?

Hello, this is Jeremiah Webb with Peak Results Consulting (Shop On Fire). I would like to talk to you about an issue that we see popping up all over the country in call centers across this great land of ours. And that is the idea that many people have that they’re trying to combine inbound callers and giving them activities as outbound callers as well. So what we’re seeing is, is when these inbound callers are not busy, they’re wanting to utilize them to maximize their time, their shifts, the effort to make outbound calls. Simply put, I’ve been doing this for 20 years, I’ve been wrong in a lot of things, this is not what they want. This is not what they need. A lot of them will die before they’ll do it with full intensity and vigor. And a lot of them will lose their job instead of doing them.

It’s a totally different skill set to make outbound calls then it is to receive inbound calls. Often people that are best at receiving inbound calls, are terrible making outbound calls. And people that are amazing making outbound calls, are not that great at making, taking inbound calls. This isn’t always the case. There are some really rare people out there that do both amazingly at a high level, and they’re at a much higher position, getting paid a lot more money. They’re not in that position any more. So I encourage you, please, make sure that you hire specifically for outbound, and you hire specifically for inbound, and don’t cross mingle the two. You’re not gonna get the productivity you want, and it’s gonna cause you a lot of stress, and a lot of difficulty, and it’s gonna be a problem that’s ongoing for a long time.

I know it sounds great to utilize their time and to make most the money. Not a good idea. I’m just sharing some advice, and what we’ve seen. If you can focus on the one skill set, if you have technicians, or agents, or field service reps, you can cross train them to do service both things. Service the fridge, service the stove. Service heating cooling, service plumbing. I get the cross training. But in this thing, for inbound and outbound, they’re two different skill sets, get two different people very specifically for that. I’m telling ya there’s a hard lesson to learn if you don’t. This is Jeremiah Webb, Peak Results Consulting. (now Shop On Fire)