Parallel dialling explained

A power dialler calls one person at a time. You wait through every ring and every voicemail. If one in ten people answers, you spend most of your hour listening to ringing.

A parallel dialler calls several people at once. The first to answer is connected to you. The others are dropped. You spend your hour talking, and the dialler absorbs the ringing.

At an answer rate of ten percent, two lines roughly doubles conversations per hour. Three lines does a bit better again. Past that, the gains flatten and the problems start.

Here is how most parallel diallers work. The system rings three prospects. One answers and says hello. Only then does the system dial the rep's phone or browser. The rep's line takes a second or two to set up. Then the two are bridged.

From the prospect's side, that is a hello followed by dead air, then a click, then a voice. Everyone has received that call. It is the signature of a call centre, and a large share of people hang up before the rep says a word.

The delay is not a bug in any one product. It is the cost of connecting the rep after the answer. If you want no gap, the rep has to be on the line before anyone answers.

The fix is to put the rep on the line first. Before any prospect is dialled, the rep's browser joins a conference room and sits there on a quiet line. The prospects are then rung. When one answers, the answering leg is moved into the room that the rep is already in.

There is no dial to the rep, so there is no setup time. The prospect says hello and hears the rep answer straight away. From their side it sounds like a normal call.

Redialler is built this way. The browser joins first, the legs are launched, and the first answer wins the room. The other legs are cancelled within the same moment.

This is called an over-answer. The second person hears a click and the call ends. It is rare at two lines and grows with each line you add. It is the real cost of parallel dialling, because that person just answered a call that hung up on them.

Two things keep it rare. Keep lines low, and lower them further when it happens. Redialler watches for over-answers and eases off the number of lines when they cluster, then brings it back up when rounds go unanswered. The person who was dropped stays in the list and is called again later, from the same number, so a callback from them still reaches a rep.

• Warm lists. If more than a quarter of people answer, parallel mode drops too many of them. Call them one at a time.
• Small lists. Parallel mode needs enough people to keep rounds going. Under fifty, the setup is not worth it.
• High-value accounts. A dropped call to a target account is a bad first impression. Use power mode and take the wait.
• Reps still learning the pitch. Power mode gives time between calls to read notes and reset.

Both modes use the same keys and the same list. Switching is a click. See the Parallel mode guide for the settings.