New! Request One-Time Outbound Calls from Your Dashboard + 8 Examples of How to Use Them

You asked. We listened. Smith.ai is expanding our outbound calling capabilities based on your feedback! You can now have us make a one-time call to anyone right from your dashboard.

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How do outbound call requests work?

To request an outbound call from your Smith.ai dashboard, simply follow these steps: 

1. Log into your Smith.ai dashboard. 
2. Press the New outbound call button. 
3. Fill out the outbound call form with detailed instructions that you’d like the receptionist to follow when placing the call. 
4. Press the Submit Request button. 

For more information, view our how-to guide.

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Why should you make an outbound call?

If you haven’t invested in an outbound call strategy just yet, consider what you’re missing out on. 

A recent study showed that businesses who don’t make outbound calls, such as cold calls, experience 42% less growth than those who do. Safe to say, if you’re not making outbound calls, you’re basically cutting your growth opportunities in half.

But how exactly do outbound calls impact growth opportunities? 

It’s simple: Outbound calls open up communication with leads businesses may not have been able to reach via inbound calls. 

So what does this mean for your business? Well, instead of waiting for leads to come to you, outbound calls allow you to go to them. And research has shown that it makes all the difference:

• 49% of buyers prefer an outbound call, like a cold call, as the first point of contact
• 82% of buyers have accepted meetings or converted after a relationship forged by an outbound call

Beyond driving growth and kicking your lead generation and engagement into high gear, how else can outbound calls benefit your business? Well, outbound calls are particularly useful for:

• Uncovering valuable lead information
• Gaining insight into target markets
• Limiting time wasted on tire kickers 
• Improving response times on support inquiries
• Offering personalized customer experiences
• So. Much. More!

And the best part? You don’t even have to place these outbound calls yourself – Smith.ai’s virtual receptionists can do it for you. Just submit a request on your dashboard and you’re done. It’s that easy. 

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When could you request an outbound call?

Short answer: You can request an outbound call for just about any call you or your team would normally make. To give you a better idea of what types of outbound calls you can request, here are some examples of the outbound calls our virtual receptionists can make on your behalf: 

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1. Follow-up with new leads

Our virtual receptionists can reach out to new leads as soon as they come in, giving your staff more time to focus on converting pre-qualified leads, and making more sales in less time. We can ask screening questions and intake leads that are qualified.  

Here are a few benefits of outsourcing your lead outreach: 

• Easy to scale your sales
• Improve your ROI
• Reach new markets
• Improve customer experience
• Eliminate stagnation

And using Zapier, you can automatically send leads to our receptionists. 

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2. Reengage unresponsive leads

You can do everything right. You can have the perfect call strategy, a killer sales pitch, and everything you should need to close a sale, and still hear nothing back from a lead. But don’t give up just yet. Let Smith.ai reengage your unresponsive leads for you.

Sales outsourcing connects you with knowledgeable agents who know lead nurturing like the back of their hands, so you can rest assured that your leads have every opportunity to convert. And by handing off more of your sales process to sales and intake experts like our virtual receptionists, you can save your team the trouble of long-term follow-up and engagement and keeping track of the running to-do list, and reserve their time for projects that require their unique expertise.

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3. Schedule or reschedule appointments

Need to change an upcoming appointment? We’ll call and set up a new time that works for you and the client. Did we mention we integrate with all the top appointment scheduling software, including Calendly, Acuity Scheduling, Appointy, and more? View all our integrations with scheduling software. 

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4. Collect payments

There are many reasons why a client might not have paid an invoice, and it’s not always because they’re avoiding you. They may have missed your initial invoice email or simply forgotten. Have our receptionists place a courtesy call to your clients for due or overdue payments. We’ll collect the credit card payment on the call. 

If you charge for consultations, we can take payments from the lead after scheduling them on your calendar. Collecting payments upfront during the scheduling call can prevent invoice challenges later and reduce no-shows, ensuring your time is spent with serious inquiries only.

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5. Facilitate appointment reminders

80% of customers are more likely to buy when businesses offer a personalized experience. We offer personalized appointment reminder calls that provide a tailored experience and ensure the caller is prepared with any necessary materials. You can also ask questions to prepare yourself and the meeting recipient for each appointment. For example, before a private fitness instruction session, our receptionists can confirm if the trainee has any injuries and remind the trainee of any materials they need to bring.

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6. Ask for clarification from a previous call or email

We’ve all gotten those calls or emails that have little to no context and a follow-up call to get clarification is needed. Smith.ai agents can investigate those mysteries for you, gathering all the information you need, such as caller details, case numbers, support ticket numbers, etc. There’s no need to be left guessing when you have Smith.ai available to help.

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7. Ask for a customer review

You’ve done the work and the client is happy. Now it’s time to ask for a 5-star review or testimonial to help spread the word about your products and services! Set your business up for success down the line by leveraging current clients’ sentiment. 

The stats don’t lie; 93% of consumers say online reviews influenced their purchase decisions. Five-star reviews are crucial for gaining the interest and trust of new leads, and for setting your business apart from the competition. 

Our virtual receptionists can educate customers on the importance of online reviews and encourage them to leave positive reviews for your business. Pair this with an SMS or email follow-up for the most significant impact. Immediately following the conversation, our receptionists can send a follow-up SMS or email with the link directly to your review site of choice.

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8. Advise leads if they’re outside your service area

For leads that are not within your service or practice area, we can call them to make a recommendation to a referral partner you recommend. Providing a referral allows your business the opportunity to monetize your “bad” leads by earning referral bonuses from your partners, or simply by generating goodwill for your business in your community. The leads you refer out to others won’t forget the kind gesture. 

Simply provide us a list of other service providers you recommend, and which one to refer clients to in particular situations. We’ll call the client and provide the referral’s information to them.

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Is there anything Smith.ai doesn’t do?

From collecting payments for consultations to requesting positive reviews, Smith.ai’s virtual receptionists can handle nearly all your least favorite outbound calling tasks on your behalf. While it may be hard to believe, there are a few things we don’t do: 

• Order you a pizza — there’s an app for that
• Dial into a radio contest for you
• Prank call your ex
• Call an ambulance for you – Oh my! Dial 911!
• Anything that goes against our code of conduct

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What does Smith.ai do if the caller doesn’t answer?

It’s easy to write “do nothing” in this section, but then you’re not getting the most use out of your outbound call. If the call is urgent, you can request our receptionists to call multiple times. If the call is not urgent, we recommend that you request our receptionists to leave a voicemail along with any actions you require of the call recipient. For instance, do you need them to reply to an email? Or fill out a form? 

If you have SMS & email follow-up notifications activated on your account, Smith.ai receptionists can also send the recipient a text message or email after the call. This reinforces the call and provides an alternate method of communication for the call recipient.

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How much does outbound calling cost? 

There is no need to purchase an additional plan if you already have a Virtual Receptionist plan through Smith.ai. Both inbound and outbound calls are included in all virtual receptionist plans. Each call simply counts toward your monthly quota.

Certain requests, such as appointment scheduling, extended intake, and text & email follow-up messages, are plan add-ons and are required if you need us to leverage those services for outbound calls.

If you’re looking to send us a large list of people to call via spreadsheet or API with the same call instructions, check out our Outreach Campaigns. To find an Outreach Campaign plan that fits your budget, check out Smith.ai’s transparent pricing here.

Smith.ai was recognized by Clutch as a top sales outsourcing provider. And if you're not yet a Smith.ai customer, sign up for a free consultation with our team.

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Questions?

We're here to answer any questions you have about outbound calls by our virtual receptionists. You can contact Smith.ai by phone at 650-727-6484 or by email at support@smith.ai.