Inbound vs. outbound call centers: What’s the difference? Are there any similarities?

Learn about the typical activities conducted by inbound and outbound call center agents.

Every call center is designed to support the unique characteristics of a brand, its products, and the markets it serves. There are in-house centers, where the agents are employees of the brand and work onsite at one of its facilities. It is also common to see outsourced call centers, outside organizations that brands hire to manage and run their call center operations. 

Despite these differences, all call centers fall into one of two categories; they are either inbound call centers or outbound call centers. Let’s explore the similarities and differences.

All call centers offer opportunities for a brand to offer a varied array of customer services. The type of call center best suited to meet an organization’s needs will be dependent upon its overall objectives, employee talent, and availability—and budget, of course. 

What is an outbound call center, and what services does it provide?

An outbound call center is a function of an organization’s sales department. This group of agents are traditionally sales reps who spend their shifts calling prospects. Some companies also use outbound call centers to conduct surveys or other market research, calling shoppers to learn more about their needs and interests.

Here are a few of the typical activities performed by outbound call center agents: 

• Conducting telemarketing. Telemarketers have gotten a bad rap for calling during dinner time, but they serve an important role in direct sales, pitching their company’s products phone number by phone number. Telemarketers can spread awareness of and pitch products to sales prospects, generating brand awareness, leads, or scheduling appointments. 

• Generating telesales. To use a baseball analogy, if a telemarketer is a starting pitcher, telesales teams are the closer. Telesales agents have a singular focus on closing deals over the phone. Sometimes, these teams are called “inside sales” and are tasked with improving conversions and increasing revenue.

• Setting appointments. Outbound agents can serve as sales development reps and book meetings or schedule product demonstrations for sales executives to follow up. 
• Generating leads. Agents in outbound call centers also conduct “cold calls” to identify sales opportunities and collect information that can determine whether the opportunity is ripe to pursue, asking questions on timing and budget.
• Research new markets. Outbound call center agents sometimes conduct market research to better understand customer behavior and needs as well as the competitive environment. Market researchers might conduct phone surveys to learn what their target audience plans to spend on a specific category of product or service in the next 12 months. They might also ask about consumers’ current product and service usage, and their perceptions of each. From this research, a company can better target prospects and their needs.