What is an outbound call center?
An outbound call center service (aka telemarketing service) is a type of service that makes outgoing calls to prospective or current customers on behalf of a business. They are different from inbound call center services, which are phone answering services and focus on incoming customer phone calls and providing customer service assistance. Outbound call centers reach out to customers on their own to attract interest in the brand from potential customers, make sales, expand accounts, and more.
What services do outbound call centers offer?
Outbound call centers can offer a variety of services for your company. Contrary to popular belief, they are not only telemarketing services. They can handle your outbound marketing, but they can also accomplish many other important sales and marketing needs.
1. Lead generation
One service that outbound call centers provide is lead generation. They can call a list of qualified sales prospects and inform them about the products/services your company offers. Outbound call center professionals are trained to offer solutions to customer pain points and pre-qualify sales leads.
Keep in mind that you can either provide prospect lists to your outbound call center or allow them to generate lists on their own. In other words, outbound call centers can either make warm calls or cold calls for your company.
2. Proactive customer service
Customer service is not just offered by inbound call centers. Outbound call centers can also provide proactive customer service to current customers. For instance, you might use an outbound call center service to inform customers or clients about new offerings, policy changes, issues with orders or deliveries, and more.
3. Scheduled callbacks
Outbound call centers can coordinate with inbound call center needs as well. For instance, if a customer calls and requests a call back due to high call volume, you can use an outbound call center service to promptly contact customers who are waiting for customer service help.
4. Customer survey & feedback requests
Many times, marketing teams may want to conduct their own customer satisfaction reports. Your marketing department may use an outbound call center to contact current or past customers and ask for specific feedback, such as a quick survey. Then, your team can use this feedback to improve your service for customers moving forward.
5. Cross-selling or up-selling opportunities
Outbound call center services can be great for expanding opportunities with current customers and clients. They can reach out to current customers to see if they would like to make additional purchases, expand their contracts, and more. This can boost your company’s customer lifetime value, retention rate, and overall revenue.
6. Market research
You can also use an outbound call center to gain market research for your company. They can attain valuable industry insight by making calls to gather research and add to your business’s credibility. Market research can be extremely useful for both your sales and marketing teams.
7. Appointment setting
Appointment setting doesn’t need to just be an inbound call center service! Your outbound call center team can reach out to prospective customers to schedule initial appointments, demos, and more. Additionally, your call center team can reach out to existing customers and schedule appointments if they are experiencing an issue.
8. Settling invoices
If your company has outstanding balances with current customers, you can use outbound call center services to settle them. The outbound call center will contact the customer via phone call, live chat, or email to ensure the customer settles their unpaid balances.
What are the potential benefits?
Outbound call center services can help companies in a number of ways. They are like a full-time marketing team that focuses on growing your client base and improving your company’s reputation and bottom-line revenue. Consider these benefits that outbound call center services offer:
- Grow brand awareness
- Increase sales and revenue
- Gain industry insight
- Expand current customer accounts
- Gain more customers
Which industries use outbound call centers?
Although sales and marketing teams may benefit the most from an outbound call center service, there are other industries that take advantage of them as well. Essentially any company that wants to boost brand awareness, increase revenue, and expand their customer base can benefit. Consider these industries that commonly use outbound call centers:
- Sales and marketing
- Universities and educational facilities
- Airlines
- Tech companies
- Financial and accounting firms
- Law firms
- Politicians
How much do they cost?
Outbound call centers charge based on their company’s fee structure. For instance, they may charge your company based on:
- Hourly rate: This can range between an average of $15-$40 per hour for a quality service.
- Monthly flat fee: This can range from about $100 to thousands per month, depending on the scope of the program.
- Flat fee per generated lead: This will depend on the company. Make sure to ask your representative when getting started.
- Commission-based fees: Commission may be based on a percentage of new sales or an addition to hourly rate based on hitting goals.
Who are the top outbound call centers?
There are tons of companies today that provide outbound call center services. Generally, you will want to look for a company that specializes in your outbound calling needs, such as telemarketing, market research, lead qualifying, and more. Consider a few examples of leaders in the outbound call center service space.
| Company | Services Offered | Pricing |
| Cience | - Targeted lead generation - Lead qualifying - Market research | Visit Cience pricing page to get started |
| Belkins | - Lead research - Appointment setting - Email delivery services - Social media marketing - Case study research | Starting at $299 per month |
| VSynergize | - Qualifying leads - B2B data research - Appointment setting - Contact discovery - Data appending and cleaning - Account based marketing - Lead nurturing | Contact for custom quotes. |
360Connect can also help you find the outbound call center that best suits your business needs! Our online comparison tool matches you with call center suppliers that deliver on your business’s outbound calling priorities. Get started with us for free!
Recommended follow-up reading
If you are interested in outbound call center or telemarketing services, we recommend reading the following blogs:
- Telemarketing services buyer’s guide
- Inbound call center service
- Phone answering service
- Best phone answering service
- B2B appointment setting services
- Medical answering service
Customers who choose to outsource outbound call center services also commonly look into: