Some companies are using dialers built on technology that can’t detect if calls are being answered by a human or an answering machine. This could mean that you are throwing money away. How much money? Keep reading!

What is Answering Machine Detection

An outbound dialer supporting Answering Machine Detection can automatically identify which calls have been answered by a human, and which calls have been answered by a machine, i.e. a voicemail, a fax machine, or an IVR. In order to do this, the dialer must analyze the audio stream in real time, as soon as the call is connected, and identify patterns that match a specific profile. By doing this, the dialer can rule out calls answered by a machine, and only transfer calls connected to a real person to agents.

How much time are my agents wasting?

It is impossible to determine, with any great degree of certainty, how much time agents are wasting due to the dialer sending them calls connected to an answering machine. However, we can do an exercise to exemplify this with some numbers.

Let's assume the following conditions:

• The agent's average conversation time for a call established with a real person is 2 minutes.
• The agent's average conversation time for a call established with an answering machine is 15 seconds (time to identify the call and hang up before getting the next call).
• The answering machine response rate is 35%.

In this scenario, let’s suppose that an agent will deal with 300 calls per day:

• 195 from those calls will be connected to a real person, resulting in a total talking time of 390 minutes (6 and a half hours).
• 105 from those calls will be connected to an answering machine, resulting in a total talking (wasted!) time of 26 minutes.

In a small call center having just 10 agents, you will be wasting 260 minutes per day on agent’s time. That’s more than 4 hours, and around 7% of your agent’s productivity.

How much money am I losing?

The price you pay for each agent varies a lot depending on the call center location. In the United States, the average salary for a telemarketing agent is $33.55 per hour. Considering the numbers from the example above, this would mean that you’re losing more than $135 per day in such a small call center. That’s more than $3.000 per month!

How SIP Caller can improve my agents productivity

When you use SIP Caller to initiate the calls to your customers, we automatically detect if the answering endpoint is an answering machine, discarding these calls, and transferring to your agents only calls connected to a real person. Your agents will deal with live people in every call, dramatically increasing their productivity, and reducing your overall costs.