DialAmerica: Corporate pride in a job well done

Call Center Solutions, Jun 1999 by Lounsbury, Erik D

In an industry where a teleservices agency that has been in business for five years is considered a veteran company and one that has been around for 10 years is positively ancient, what do you call a company that has been successfully making calls since Eisenhower's second term?

Throughout its long history, DialAmerica has responded to changes in marketing techniques, training methods, state and federal legislation, and call center technology - all with the goal of providing its clients with the best possible service from the best possible people.

DialAmerica's President Art Conway, summed it up: "When you cut to the chase in teleservices, it's people talking to people. With all the technology we've invested in and with all the systems we've developed, it still comes down to effective conversations between our sales reps and potential customers."

Company HIStory

In 1957, when DialAmerica Marketing, Inc. placed its first call to sell subscription renewals for LIFE magazine, it was called Life Circulation Company and was a subsidiary of Time Inc. Since Life Circulation was purchased and incorporated as DialAmerica in 1976, the company, headquartered in Mahwah, New Jersey, has grown into one of the giants of the industry with approximately 10,000 agents spread across 70 call centers nationwide.

Its divisions, Books & Entertainment, Consumer Communications, Financial Services, Publisher Services, Software & Video, Sponsor Relations and Inbound Services, provide industry-specific expertise to its clients.

TM West Technologv

DialAmerica emphasizes its technology: two Rockwell Spectrum ACDs; 11 RS 6000s for outbound; 140 predictive dialers, with all dialer stats on the system at Mahwah; four RS 6000s for inbound 24/7, with significant Periphonics IVR capacity; and 400 Ti lines, carrying voice/data and two to three T Is at most branches.

DialAmerica's digital recording system has real-time verification that has reduced cancels by 75 percent. The company also has the capability to hottransfer calls to any client location and gets the sales data to the client more quickly.

Using proprietary predictive-dialing systems, DialAmerica completes millions of calls each week.

Teleservices For Cable TV companies

At the Consumer Communications Services division, Richelle Litteer, director, New Business Development, explained that DialAmerica is focusing on every potential cable MSO (multisystem operator) including Time Warner, TCI, Cox and Comcast.

Among the campaigns this division is currently servicing are @Home, a highspeed data service with Cox Communications and TCI, and new digital platform launches with Comcast and TCI.

Litteer observed that they call over 100 different markets in the U.S. The Consumer Communications Services division has seven different call centers averaging 80 TSRs per center.

She noted that in a typical campaign, first, they have to call cable systems to establish relationships at local offices. They send out mailing pieces every quarter that utilize current success stories. The cable clients then give DialAmerica customer lists to be overlaid with in-house data including demographics.

"What sets us apart is experience and know-how," said Litteer. "We provide on-line scripting, on-line connectivity to major cable billing service providers - giving us the ability to actually schedule and input the client's sales orders into their systems - and installation [of cable] scheduling. Also, we offer unique pricing structures such as hourly rates or performance-based pricing. Companies can lock in the cost per sale, and it does not fluctuate."

Litteer added, "During the last six months of 1998, we went from a few hundred to between 3,000 to 5,000 hours per week and expect to double that in-1999."

Inbound Support

DialAmerica's inbound operations provide 24/7/365 service with TSRs filling 725 positions where they log more than 25 million minutes on the phones per year.

One of their most successful programs is "member/save," which is dedicated to keeping customers who call to cancel their account. Each rep is dedicated to the program, so the rep has to be very familiar with the product - the more familiar, the more the rep can do to keep the customer - so that they can give the customer reasons to continue using the product or service. DialAmerica attempts to achieve the best long-term save rate.

DialAmerica trains its inbound reps on the basics of selling: gain support, describe the product, attempt to upsell and cross-sell, and offer to close. After an initial training period, reps are on staff for a month before they are completely trained.

DialAmerica offers dedicated programs where the reps are 100 percent committed to the client or program, or semi-dedicated where the rep may work on three to five accounts. They do not even offer shared services where a rep may work up to 100 programs.

The Inbound Services division's areas of expertise include Internet service providers (ISPs), financial services and magazines. In 1999, they are expecting the ISP and member/save areas to grow significantly. DialAmerica does not charge for set-up, scripting, screen development, reporting and, in most cases, training.