As a part of our research for our January article on outbound trends, we spoke with DMG Consulting's president and Call Center Magazine columnist Donna Fluss.

She wrote an excellent column about outbound/dialing trends for our July 2006 issue called "Dialing Isn't Dead." Check it out -- it has a very helpful chart plotting the uses of dialers. As Fluss shows, there's much more to outbound than telemarketing.

Telemarketing isn't gone, Fluss tells us: "What's happening is that outbound calling is changing, and it's going from blind calling which by the end had a very, very small success rate (we're talking one or two percent), to relationship calling which is a very positive event for everybody involved."

Why is it changing? "Do Not Call" (DNC) legislation had something to do with it. But, Fluss said, "DNC did not kill outbound dialing. DNC prevented companies from disruptive dialing, and therefore, I think it's tremendously positive. It also basically challenges companies to figure out how to build relationships with their customers. If a company has a relationship with a customer, then they are allowed to call them. But it just has to be done in a much more meaningful way. I think that's really positive; it's certainly been positive for everyone I've spoken to. What DNC did was alter the landscape of dialing, and it basically forced companies to get smart about how they reached out to their customers, and it’s to the benefit of the enterprise and the benefit of the consumer."

Some of the types of relationship dialing Fluss refers to include loyalty calls, appointment reminders, fraud prevention, welcome calls, and special occassion calls. There's a wealth of information about your customers in your CRM systems -- dialing can help you make use of it.

Look for more about outbound trends from Donna Fluss in our January issue, plus her regularly scheduled column.