Guide To Optimising Digital Call Data Using VoIP Phones Systems

I owned a small direct sales company for around 8 years that had a reasonable client base. We handled any business that required to expand their sales force by outsourcing all or part of it. 18 months ago a client came through who were an innovative digital post solutions company and my company merged into their sales department releasing our client base to another direct sales company.

I filled a sales consultancy role where I reviewed systems, procedures and training. As part of my recommendation for restructuring I mentioned a seminar I had attended about Voice over Internet Protocol phones, or VoIP phones. My recommendations were taken on board and this article is an account of my experiences of the technology.

I have a limited understanding of the technology however I sourced and implemented the technology so one might say I have life VoIP phones life experience. In basic terms the technology takes standard analogue audio signals that you would hear over the phone and transfers them into digital data that can then be transmitted via the internet.

The main motivation for approval of the VoIP phones system was financial as although the outlay for the phones was much higher, the savings on the calls and network would make the initial investment back over one year. It all seemed great on paper however it was my head on the chopping block as the phones cost approximately 160 per unit.

There are other ways of installing VoIP phones that are more cost effective. There are computer-to-computer calls that can contact anywhere in the world at little or no cost apart from the basic computer costs. There are also Analogue Telephone Adapters or ATA, which connect your phone to the internet converting the analogue to digital. I chose VoIP phones for benefits of using the digital information to create detailed client call records.

In sales, call records and data handling are essential, the management of which is time consuming. Previously we worked from a combination of Excel documents and online marketing assistants. I had the vision of channelling all the call data into our computer system so that it is not our sales executives responsibility. This not only ensured that the call data was accurate but it also freed our sales executives up for doing what they are good at, selling.

In fact, with VoIP phones our mean call productivity increased by 30 percent in the first 6 months. This could be put down to a combination of the accuracy of the data and the execs having more phone time. The other major benefit was the central point of information for client files and record being accurate and current. We even obtained software that allowed us to create transcripts of the telephone conversations for our client records.

Our VoIP phones display can list on the screen client information for incoming and outgoing calls and our call data was much more accurate so the sales productivity could be monitored and effectively compared to revenue. In short the VoIP phones system eliminated the scope for human error that comes with making sales people who are generally not natural administrators input all their call data.

The only real problem was that initially if our server has having difficulty then our phones were interrupted. This was an issue however we outsourced our IT support, they made recommendations that were followed and there has been few major disruptions to call levels since. I am no longer with the company in question as I now work as a freelance sales consultant however I recommend VoIP phones technology on any project I work.