Explore fresh, expert perspectives on customer engagement and innovation

A Significant Achievement

This recognition places us among an elite group of 50 Emerging Stars, selected from an initial pool of over 6,000 companies. With only 825 meeting the strict eligibility criteria in a challenging economic climate, this award reflects our team’s commitment to innovation and excellence.

Our Winning Performance

Megabuyte’s assessment highlighted our strong market position:

“Despite experiencing some softness in sectors like energy and longer sales cycles in recent years, MaxContact has maintained c. 30% revenue growth, ahead of most other vendors in the contact centre software market. A key proponent of this is its conversational AI product strategy, with AI-enabled products featuring in 80%+ of deals.”

Moving Forward

This award validates our strategic direction and focus on delivering innovative solutions that address real customer needs. Our investment in conversational AI technology, Spokn AI, continues to drive our success and differentiate us in the market.

We remain committed to supporting our 100+ UK customers across BPO, communications, financial services, utilities, and retail sectors with solutions that enhance their customer engagement capabilities.

We’d like to thank our dedicated team, partners and valued customers for their ongoing support and confidence in MaxContact.

About Megabuyte

Megabuyte supports UK scale-up and mid-market software & ICT Services companies to develop robust growth strategies, understand their competitive landscape and customer sentiment, benchmark their financial performance and valuation, and identify and track M&A targets. They provide proprietary insights and data through their subscription research service, offer packaged consulting services, and give access to their network of some 500 tech sector CEOs through events and their expert network.

About the Emerging Stars Awards

The Emerging Stars awards are part of the Megabuyte100 award series which collectively celebrate the 100 best-performing technology companies in the UK. The awards identify the UK’s best-performing technology scale-ups as defined by Megabuyte’s proprietary Scorecard methodology, complemented by expert qualitative insights from their analysts. Evaluation criteria encompass factors such as size, growth, and margins, highlighting the top 50 best-performing scale-up companies in the UK.

Learn More

For further information about the 2025 Megabuyte Emerging Stars Awards and to see the complete list of winners, click here to access the full Megabuyte report.

Here’s to continued success and innovation throughout 2025!

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Key Takeaways

In our recent webinar, we explored how intelligent conversation analytics is transforming contact centres operations. MaxContact’s Leah Tillyer and Conor Bowler demonstrated how our Success Intelligence solution empowers teams to enhance performance, provide personalised coaching, and drive better business outcomes.

The QA Challenge

Traditional quality assurance approaches are failing contact centres. Our research reveals that most operations:

• Review only 2-3% of calls through random sampling
• Struggle with clunky legacy speech analytics platforms
• Wait 48+ hours for insight synchronisation
• Miss valuable opportunities hidden in 97% of unanalysed conversations

Performance Benchmarks That Matter

Our independent benchmark survey of 500+ contact centre leaders revealed:

• Teams making more strategic calls (avg. 65 per agent daily) achieve greater success
• First call close rates average 28%, indicating training effectiveness
• Average conversion rates for campaigns hover around 7%
• Each successful call generates approximately £200 in revenue per agent

The Future of Sales Success: Smarter Listening

Success Intelligence delivers:

• Complete visibility across all customer interactions, not just a small sample
• Objective sentiment analysis to track customer emotions and identify coaching opportunities
• Powerful objection tracking to understand patterns and measure handling effectiveness
• Data-driven coaching insights to help agents improve faster without blanket training

Download the Slides

Webinar Transcript

[00:00:04] Leah Tillyer: Hello and welcome. I’m just going to let people join as

[00:00:14] Leah Tillyer: we just go through some housekeeping elements.

[00:00:20] Leah Tillyer: so, whilst people are joining, the session is being recorded, and it will be shared afterwards. So if you do need to drop at any point, don’t worry. It will be there as a playback.

[00:00:33] Leah Tillyer: We encourage questions throughout the session. So we run the sessions, live every single month.

[00:00:41] Leah Tillyer: and we encourage questions just so other people can learn might be something they were thinking about and wanted to know, too. And

[00:00:51] Leah Tillyer: yeah, if if you think it’s useful, and it will be useful for somebody else, too, please do feel free to share as well.

[00:01:01] Leah Tillyer: so I can see numbers are creeping up now, and I’ll just do some introductions.

[00:01:11] Leah Tillyer: So Hi, everyone, I’m Leah, I’m product marketing manager here at Max contact. And my role is all about understanding our customers. So just understanding what they need, challenges that are faced and how our solutions can help them to succeed. I work really closely with Conor and the product team and with the sales team and customer success and look at how we bring new features to market

[00:01:39] Leah Tillyer: hopefully ensure clear and compelling messaging, and help businesses to get the most value from Max contact and our technologies.

[00:01:47] Leah Tillyer: and Conor is on the call with me. So he is principal product manager at Max contact. He brings over 16 years of product leadership experience across a diverse technology range, including contact centre software, financial services and AI solutions as well.

[00:02:07] Leah Tillyer: His career began in engineering and development. He progressed through roles in professional services, pre-sales and channel management, a lot of variety, and I’m sure a lot of empathy across those different roles, and notably Connor launched A. b 2 b product that attracted over 15,000 clients. It secured patents for AI innovations

[00:02:29] Leah Tillyer: and it revitalised product from decline to growth, which is no easy job. So at Max contact. He leads a spoken product focusing on enhancing contact center analytics to provide businesses with actionable insights for improved decision making.

[00:02:48] Leah Tillyer: And so that’s a little bit about us.

[00:02:51] Leah Tillyer: and we have some existing customers on the call, which is good to see and a few new faces as well. So a little bit about MaxContact for anybody that doesn’t know us. So we’re the best Cloud Contact Centre software for delivering conversation outcomes and customer insights to generate more revenue compliantly, and our customers are across the sales collections and customer service space.

[00:03:20] Leah Tillyer: And they work with Max contact to build better and more intelligent contact strategies that deliver results. So

[00:03:29] Leah Tillyer: for our customers. Since working with us, they’ve seen talk, time, sales, conversion rates and debt collection rates double since working with us.

[00:03:40] Leah Tillyer: and at the beginning of 2024 we launched, spoken.

[00:03:45] Leah Tillyer: So we have over 4 million hours of transcribed calls and summarized calls, topics tagged, and sentiment tracked, and it’s quickly trending upwards as well, which is very exciting.

[00:03:59] Leah Tillyer: And at the beginning of this year we launched success, intelligence, and that is what we’re here to talk about today. So success, intelligence is conversational analytics for better sales, performance and customer experience. It provides visibility on missed buying signals, common objections, and, most importantly, objection, handling effectiveness as well.

[00:04:25] Leah Tillyer: but before we go into that we’re going to talk a little bit about what we see across contact centres, and why and how they’re missing valuable insights. And so we use speech analytics. The. This is how we gather our insights as a business. So we’ll play a little bit of QA Bingo and just see how many of these resonate with you.

[00:04:51] Leah Tillyer: In terms of how customers usually operate when we speak to them. They’re either already using a speech analytics software and that they’ve maybe had for a few years, or they’re doing things manually. So

[00:05:06] Leah Tillyer: if they’re manually listening to calls, they usually have an excel spreadsheet. Typically in front of them. They are having to look out for compliance elements. So was a direct debit mandate read out on a call. They’re looking for

[00:05:27] Leah Tillyer: legalities that might need to be said, and then on the flip side of that, they’re also looking at performance metrics as well. So

[00:05:34] Leah Tillyer: 2 very different things to look out for, and looking at how empathetic an agent was on the call. Did they actively listen for things that were being said, and 2 very different things to be listening out for. And I know when we’ve spoken to clients about this in the past, it’s often question time when they’ve got the headphones on. People are coming over. They’re asking questions. They’re having to stop, start the process.

[00:06:00] Leah Tillyer: And so it’s really time consuming.

[00:06:03] Leah Tillyer: And they’re not always capturing the things that they need to.

[00:06:07] Leah Tillyer: And then we have on top of that random call sampling. So they’re going through picking out random calls with no

[00:06:19] Leah Tillyer: no kind of strategy behind it, just hoping to to pick a couple of variations, to give some good feedback and make sure compliance. Elements are being carried out, and then the call sampling is often limited as well. So some clients that we speak to will do a couple of calls per agent per month, and others

[00:06:41] Leah Tillyer: a couple of calls per agent per quarter. They just don’t have the man hours or the resource that they need. And it’s a really time consuming task. They’re taking extensive notes throughout. So I’m sure that resonates with a few people. And then on the flip side of that where where contact centers or teams have a speech analytics software already.

[00:07:06] Leah Tillyer: it’s not a new technology. It’s been around for between 10 and 15 years now. So if they’ve had it for a while. It’s often clunky and cumbersome. It can be inaccurate because it relies on

[00:07:19] Leah Tillyer: the manual input of data and the manual tagging of data. The technology behind speech. Analytics now has come a long way with the introduction of AI. But if you’re using a legacy platform or product, it can be a time consuming process. They’re often really complicated and complex to set up. And

[00:07:43] Leah Tillyer: with that comes a lot of

[00:07:46] Leah Tillyer: time consuming maintenance to keep it up to date and relevant as well.

[00:07:50] Leah Tillyer: and sync delays are a big issue. We speak to customers where their previous platforms would sync twice a week, and and of course, in terms of the information that they need to get back. People want that within the within 24 h, or as near to real time as possible. And then this siloed data across the contact center. It’s usually a separate system. It doesn’t integrate with their call software. And

[00:08:19] Leah Tillyer: so because of those reasons.

[00:08:21] Leah Tillyer: contact centres, sales and customer service and debt collection teams are missing out on really valuable insights. They’re not seeing the whole picture across the contact centre. They’re seeing a really small part of it, and the process behind it is

[00:08:39] Leah Tillyer: It’s clunky. It takes time. It’s not something that’s prioritized as a business.

[00:08:47] Leah Tillyer: We last year as a as a company, carried out an independent benchmark survey of over 500 Contact Center leaders in the sales and collections and customer service space and we were looking at metrics

[00:09:04] Leah Tillyer: to track across those areas and how they drive successful outcomes for businesses. So looking at sales performance today? And how do you compare? How does your sales team compare? And how do you start to deliver and drive results?

[00:09:22] Leah Tillyer: And some of the things that we were seeing across different contact centres was, I’m sure we’re already aware of this. But sales is a numbers game. So the report showed that teams made up that made more calls tended to achieve greater success. So the average number of calls from this report was around 65 per agent, which is

[00:09:46] Leah Tillyer: a really big number of calls to hit. And it’s where your automated dialling technology comes in. And obviously, the more calls you’re making and the more strategic you are with those calls as well with with

[00:09:59] Leah Tillyer: skills, matching, and things like that. The higher the success rate is. And then we looked at

[00:10:05] Leah Tillyer: 1st call close rate as well. So the higher that your 1st call close rate, it typically shows how well your team are trained and qualified to convert. So a low call, close rate. It might indicate a lack of empathy on a call or a poor understanding of the product or the service that they’re selling or not understanding or able to convey their value. Proposition.

[00:10:29] Leah Tillyer: So average 1st call close rate was around 28% across the contact centres that we surveyed.

[00:10:40] Leah Tillyer: and then just looking at conversion rates as well. And across those so average conversion rates for campaigns is around 7%. And that’s

[00:10:52] Leah Tillyer: that’s within the I guess, above average range with around 26% of contact centres falling into that good range of between 4 and 5%.

[00:11:04] Leah Tillyer: So just some nice benchmark stats to be looking at there around performance of your sales team within the contact centre, and what they’re coming up against.

[00:11:15] Leah Tillyer: And we also looked at some roi stats as well. So how much revenue is generated per agent per successful call, and and this was looking at nearly 200 pounds per agent per successful call. So really giving you an understanding of the Roi per campaign or team or user.

[00:11:40] Leah Tillyer: I think it’s important to have a view of how other contact centres are performing. But also looking at how you benchmark against yourself in these metrics. And as you start to look at introducing dial in technology or using dial in technology and improving it. With different tactical approaches, with the campaigns. Introducing things like speech analytics. How you then improve. Your own benchmarks

[00:12:10] Leah Tillyer: and tracking is, I think.

[00:12:15] Leah Tillyer: and understanding performance is half of the picture. But I think the future of sales success. It really lies in smarter listening. And so that’s something that we’re going to talk about a little bit more now, with Connor. So I’m going to

[00:12:39] Leah Tillyer: Pass over to Connor to share his screen.

[00:12:44] Leah Tillyer: we’re going to go off camera for this now, just so you can concentrate on what is being shared.

[00:12:56] Conor Bowler: All right. So, as Leah said, the future of sales, success is smarter listening.

[00:13:01] Conor Bowler: So it’s all about turning every conversation you have into competitive edge

[00:13:06] Conor Bowler: customer experience. Obviously about the 3 S’s success, sentiment, and satisfaction

[00:13:11] Conor Bowler: with your traditional CCaaS analytics. You’re only going to get the 1st 3 of these with spoken. You’ve got all 3 the full picture.

[00:13:20] Conor Bowler: So we’re focused on success intelligence today to track agent performance and providing coaching insights. So you’re seeing their true behaviors, habits, and trends.

[00:13:29] Conor Bowler:  But let’s start with improving visibility into AI insights to call sentiment for agents. So you want to get a consistent objective view of customer emotions across every single call.

[00:13:40] Conor Bowler:  Not just a few. You Qa. Manually.

[00:13:43] Conor Bowler:  What happens to cinnamon when you make some changes to a script are running some training

[00:13:49] Conor Bowler:  onboarding a new agent.

[00:13:52] Conor Bowler: So at Spokn AI you have a whole set of charts to do this.

[00:13:55] Conor Bowler:  Let me show you so. If I take a look at last month. Yeah, I can see that there’s been some small shifts. So we’ve gone from 73% to 74% positive sentiment.

[00:14:06] Conor Bowler:  But equally, we’ve gone from 8% negative sentiment to 9%, a small hop up

[00:14:12] Conor Bowler:  and let’s like, kind of look down and drill into it and see if we can kind of understand.

[00:14:18] Conor Bowler: So if I kind of come down the bottom here, we have lots of different charts

[00:14:23] Conor Bowler:  and tables to help you kind of understand why that’s happening. If we keep this conversation focused on like agent performance and coaching.

[00:14:31] Conor Bowler:  then, instead of looking at campaigns, I might look at users.

[00:14:35] Conor Bowler:  so is there a lack of empathy or emotional intelligence for some of my agents? Can I coach them on building a better rapport.

[00:14:44] Conor Bowler:  maybe, Andre here. He’s pretty high

[00:14:47] Conor Bowler: as I scroll down through them.

[00:14:50] Conor Bowler: You can see that there are others in that same kind of boat. So we have Eric here. And Estelle.

[00:14:56] Conor Bowler:  Okay, I also have all of the different topics that are discussed on the call

[00:15:01] Conor Bowler:  and the kind of level of sentiment towards each of these. If the sample size that I’m looking at is too large, then I can drill down even further.

[00:15:11] Conor Bowler: All right. So let me go back up here. My sample size currently is 7,630. We’ll look at how we filter.

[00:15:20] Conor Bowler: We have like really broad and kind of powerful filters. So I can filter down by perhaps an individual campaign. If that’s what I’m interested in

[00:15:29] Conor Bowler: by list or data supplier to see if it’s a data quality issue that’s leading to this kind of like negative sentiment.

[00:15:35] Conor Bowler:  I can have a look at the Peak sentiment or the end sentiment on the calls. So what’s happening at the most intense parts of the calls. And what’s happening at the end of the calls, which are the ones that kind of truly affect those 3 s’s of like customer experience.

[00:15:51] Conor Bowler:  But in this case let’s filter down by topic.

[00:15:57] Conor Bowler: So all was discussed on the call.

[00:16:00] Conor Bowler: So if I hit in disputes here, and I apply that filter

[00:16:07] Conor Bowler: unsurprisingly, you’ll see the negative sentiment hop right up there.

[00:16:12] Conor Bowler: Okay, now that I’ve got my calls. So I have like 332. Now, instead of my 7,000 and odd, some kind of a manageable number.

[00:16:22] Conor Bowler: I can go in to look at them so I can click on this playback page. Here I can see all the different interactions that supported. I can look through the summaries of those calls.

[00:16:33] Conor Bowler: and there are kind of overall view of sentiment, the transcripts, the sentiments in there, too, kind of any objections that came up in the call, the history of the call. Everything. Okay, I can even kind of drop down into the recording itself and understand where the different pieces of sentiment were and where the objections were in the different parts of the call, so I can go straight to those. I can play it at like double speed and everything to make sure that we’re getting it like

[00:17:01] Conor Bowler: done quickly.

[00:17:03] Conor Bowler:  So you want all of this because well, customer experience is emotional, isn’t it? It’s about how how customers feel during those interactions

[00:17:12] Conor Bowler: to give you that sentiment and satisfaction that you’re combining with your Ccas analytics to give you success.

[00:17:18] Conor Bowler: retention, and loyalty are obviously tied to emotion. So negative sentiment, especially when you don’t notice it leads to churn poor reviews, damage, brand trust.

[00:17:29] Conor Bowler: and agents need this kind of feedback. So without visibility, agents don’t know when they’re succeeding emotionally or falling short.

[00:17:37] Conor Bowler: Okay, now, let’s navigate here to our Success Intelligence Page, and look at some of these additional tools

[00:17:48] Conor Bowler: that allow you to kind of track the performance and provide coaching insights.

[00:17:55] Conor Bowler: So here we have kind of call etiquette statistics.

[00:18:00] Conor Bowler: So we can look at longest monologue or longest silence to figure out if the talk to listen. Ratio

[00:18:07] Conor Bowler: isn’t right across a campaign, a team or a user.

[00:18:10] Conor Bowler: Okay, we’re looking at users right now as that’s where we’re focused.

[00:18:16] Conor Bowler: I have these stats for all of the individual users. They are combined with their conversion rates. There’s a number of successes that they’re having the successes per hour, all of that. So you can kind of begin to judge them holistically.

[00:18:30] Conor Bowler: Okay, equally, I can have a look at their objections.

[00:18:36] Conor Bowler: So we’re going to look at their objections so that they can turn more, maybe Laters into yes, nows like consistently.

[00:18:45] Conor Bowler: So here we can see the different objection categories that are trending.

[00:18:49] Conor Bowler: How is the coaching that we’re going to deliver, affecting what is here affecting the trending of the objections?

[00:18:57] Conor Bowler: So we have all of the objections into categories. They’re in need, time, trust, and cost.

[00:19:04] Conor Bowler: But equally we can drill down by individual reasons. So maybe I am, and kind of tick them on and off. So maybe I just want to see the trend and not interested

[00:19:18] Conor Bowler: here. We go over that period of time.

[00:19:21] Conor Bowler: and we’re really kind of measuring. What matters. So by tracking that objection, frequency, the resolution success rates alongside, the sentiment shifts. We looked at earlier.

[00:19:31] Conor Bowler: We tie that frontline kind of conversations directly into business outcomes.

Conor Bowler: So we can analyze those objection patterns, and what we’ll do with them is refine our messaging our offers scripts so that fewer objections come up. In the 1st place.

[00:19:52] Conor Bowler: beneath it there’s a table of all the objections. And again, it’s kind of

[00:19:56] Conor Bowler: categorised by into the various different categories of need, trust, cost, etc.

[00:20:02] Conor Bowler:  But also kind of has it alongside conversion rate, some success statistics. And then you have the effectiveness, and that’s the key one here. The effectiveness is, how how many times that agent handled that objection successfully or not.

[00:20:22] Conor Bowler: So if we drill through.

[00:20:27] Conor Bowler:  So I can see that trending in a kind of breakdown of handling effectiveness.

[00:20:33] Conor Bowler: So here’s my kind of basic information. I’m not interested. Here’s the trending of it in it, the different weeks, but also down the bottom. Here are my different agents, and how effectively they’re handling that not interested objection.

[00:20:49] Conor Bowler:  Okay.

[00:20:51] Conor Bowler: not only that, but I can go up here, and I can like click in, and it’ll just highlight my top and bottom performance in this kind of area.

[00:21:03] Conor Bowler:  And I can drill through to see those various interactions.

[00:21:08] Conor Bowler: Okay, there’s only like 4 or 5 or 9 here. So I’m going to go back.

[00:21:14] Conor Bowler: And maybe what I want to do is drill through all of those different things.

[00:21:20] Conor Bowler: So I’m going to go to my filters again. I’m going to add my objection of not interested.

[00:21:32] Conor Bowler: Apply those filters and have a look at the calls.

[00:21:38] Conor Bowler: Okay, so here are all calls where the objection not interested has come up.

[00:21:46] Conor Bowler: and I can go through those like my sentiment calls individually.

[00:21:50] Conor Bowler: and look through those kind of summaries, transcripts, histories to kind of figure out what’s going on. But equally I might do something a little smarter.

[00:22:00] Conor Bowler: and I find it really interesting to understand the calls that are not interested, but whereby there was some buying signals on them. So let me add a filter here, and we have all of these kind of search and transcript filters.

[00:22:14] Conor Bowler: so I could add some kind of buying criteria that I’m looking for. So if it maybe contains

[00:22:23] Conor Bowler: how much is it that’s kind of a buying signal. If the customer is talking about payment plans, another buying signal, and really, we want to. If any of these come up. So instead of the Ands, I’m going to turn this to an or how soon could I get it? Is it in stock right now? Can I pick it up today? All buying signals?

[00:22:44] Conor Bowler: I’ll just talk to my partner.

[00:22:48] Conor Bowler: It’s another good one, or I just need to check my budget and be helpful. If I could sell.

[00:22:56] Conor Bowler: I can add individual groups within these

[00:22:59] Conor Bowler: and continue to add those groups and make them more complex or less complex. Okay, so there’s

[00:23:05] Conor Bowler: it’s really kind of within your hands as to what you want to look at.

[00:23:09] Conor Bowler: I apply these filters.

[00:23:12] Conor Bowler: There we go. We have gone down from kind of our top things to just 40 items that so calls that have not interested objections that are

[00:23:24] Conor Bowler: that have buying signals within them.

[00:23:27] Conor Bowler: And I could even go and kind of say, well, it doesn’t really matter until unless it’s like not a successful call. So I can add that as a filter as well.

[00:23:38] Conor Bowler: Okay.

[00:23:42] Conor Bowler:  not only that, but we make all of this information. So all of the call summaries, the transcripts, the sentiment, the objection handling, we make it available directly to individual agents within the contact hub, agent platform.

[00:23:56] Conor Bowler: And that’s so. The agents themselves can be more efficient, and they can look at themselves how to self-improve.

[00:24:03] Conor Bowler:  But essentially all of these tools, mean, spoken helps coaching become more personalized and precise. So helping ages to improve faster without blanket training sessions, we can stop top, spot, even spot, top and bottom performance performers, track improvement over time and set goals with data. So not just instincts anymore

[00:24:25] Conor Bowler: providing this kind of feedback and allowing those agents to self serve on some of that feedback boosts employee engagement and reduces turnover.

[00:24:36] Conor Bowler: as a whole Spokn AI doesn’t just help you to listen to your customers. It helps you to understand them at scale, so it brings those hidden insights to the surface. It empowers your agents to perform at their best, and it gives your leadership the visibility needed to make faster and smarter decisions.

[00:24:54] Conor Bowler: All right, let’s go back to the main webinar.

[00:25:02] Leah Tillyer: Thank you, Conor, for running through that it was good to see in action, and just put some of

[00:25:11] Leah Tillyer: Some of those use cases to life around QA, and how it could be done differently, and how the coverage can be across everything, and then the insights that that can reveal. If anybody has any questions, now is the time to ask

[00:25:33] Leah Tillyer: Okay, we’ve got a question. How are you exploring? The debt collection use case. So we have clients across sales, debt collection and customer service. So that’s something we’ve not spoken about yet.

[00:25:48] Conor Bowler: Yeah, so I think the objections are really different, aren’t they? Cause they’re different use cases. So there are. The categories are much less kind of need and trust.

[00:25:59] Conor Bowler: But they’re more kind of can’t pay, won’t pay, and the variety of like different things underneath that we’re partnering with the Debt Collection Contact Center at the moment to build those out.

[00:26:10] Connor Bowler: And if I if I if anyone on the call like, wants to volunteer and and partner with us that’d be great as well.

[00:26:16] Connor Bowler: And we expect to have those done in the next few weeks.

[00:26:20] Leah Tillyer: Yeah, amazing. And you you showed the filters there as well. And the buying signals.

[00:26:27] Leah Tillyer: can you save the filters? What? What?

[00:26:30] Leah Tillyer: Yes, like? How complex can you get with them?

[00:26:34] Conor Bowler: Yeah, so those kind of transcript filters like you can write up to 250 or so different things, you know.

[00:26:41] Conor Bowler: and he can.

[00:26:42] Conor Bowler: and mix them with different logical operators, and or, as you can say, whether they have to be like bang on, whether they don’t contain things as an out of compliance whether they’re similar to or like

[00:26:57] Conor Bowler: And yeah, so like, if you’re writing those 250 different things you don’t wanna like, do it over and over again. So definitely, yeah, you can save those filters, click on it and then come back every day and and have a look at your miss buying signals for yesterday, or your competitor mentions for yesterday or your script. Adherence issues for yesterday, or you’re out of compliance. Calls for yesterday.

[00:27:18] Conor Bowler: Yeah.

[00:27:19] Leah Tillyer: Yeah.

[00:27:19] Leah Tillyer: Amazing

[00:27:21] Conor Bowler: Yeah.

[00:27:21] Leah Tillyer: Thank you. We have. We’ve got a couple more questions that have come in. So the 1st one can the analytics for spoken AI be downloaded into an excel spreadsheet

[00:27:34] Conor Bowler: Yeah, okay. So they

[00:27:39] Conor Bowler: there’s a like a download button on the top, right

[27:39] Conor Bowler: there’s a like a download button on the top, right? They can be like pulled out into PDFs.

[27:47] Conor Bowler: We’re looking to kind of like. Do some kind of chatbot integration as well.

[27:54] Conor Bowler: right now. No, they they can’t be pulled out into an Excel spreadsheet. You can pull them out into the PDF. And then take them from there into the Excel. But

[28:02] Conor Bowler: it’s a good. It’s a good shout and yeah, something we should definitely look at

[28:07] Leah Tillyer: Yeah, absolutely. Thank you. And then the next question is, how are the objection? Categories determined as a fundraising agency? We will have slightly different objections to normal contact centres.

[28:21] Conor Bowler: I think that’s similar to to the kind of 1st question around, you know, like there’s various different sales objections. And then there’s

[28:30] Conor Bowler: you know, the debt management type of stuff has different objections again.

[28:33] Conor Bowler: And yeah, if we’d love to work with you as a as a kind of charity or fundraising agency in order to be able to determine what those are and get that kind of training set.

[28:46] Conor Bowler: So

[28:47] Conor Bowler: we essentially like, take a lot of your calls. Initially, we like run through them. We find kind of open questions from there. We kind of put them through small language models, and we like, consolidate them to understand what the objections should look like. We feed them into spoken, and then they get pulled out as objections from there on

[29:07] Leah Tillyer: Yeah, I mean.

[29:08] Conor Bowler: So definitely, we can do that as well

[29:10] Leah Tillyer: Yeah, it was an anonymous question. So whoever reached out, if you we do, we run design partner programs. That’s something we do with all of our customers, and if there’s something we’re exploring, or there’s something new that we’re taking to market, we often work with a client on that, and what that looks like and start to build that out with real life, scenarios and data and information. So yeah, and please do get in touch off the back of the webinar. We’d love to see if we can work with you on that one.

[29:41] Leah Tillyer: I’m gonna say, final call for questions. There’s no more that popped up, but this is usually when they do pop up. I guess, whilst we’re waiting to see if any more come in just to to recap on some of the things that we have covered. So we’ve just understood a little bit more around. How? How contact centers, how sales collections and customer service are currently doing QA, and

[30:07] Leah Tillyer: how that can be evolved to give more insights to the contact center. We looked at some benchmark stats across sales, and how other businesses are doing it, and how they’re performing. And of course we’ve explored spoken, and the newest feature within that which is success, intelligence. If there are any existing spoken clients on the call

[30:31] Leah Tillyer: you should all have access to success. Intelligence now within the existing spoken package, and for any customers looking to explore, spoken as well, and for

[30:43] Leah Tillyer: for a limited amount of time we’re including spoken

[30:46] Leah Tillyer: within the base package as well. So it’s a good time to have the conversation.

[30:51] Leah Tillyer: And so there’s no more questions that have popped up. But yeah, thank you, everybody for your time. Thank you for Connor for running us through that, and we will share the recording afterwards as well

[31:05] Conor Bowler: Cheers! Folks take care!

[31:06] Leah Tillyer: Lovely bye, bye.

[31:07] Conor Bowler: Bye, bye.

Your Questions Answered

Adapting to Different Industries

Q: How are you exploring the debt collection use case?

Connor Bowler, Principal Product Manager: “The objections in debt collection are really different from standard sales objections. Rather than categories like ‘need’ and ‘trust,’ they’re more focused on ‘can’t pay’ versus ‘won’t pay,’ with various subcategories beneath those. We’re currently partnering with a debt collection contact centre to build out these specialised objection categories, and we expect to have those completed in the next few weeks. We’d welcome any volunteers from the call who’d like to partner with us on this initiative.”

Q: How are the objection categories determined for a fundraising agency? We will have slightly different objections to normal contact centres.

Connor Bowler: “This is similar to the first question about different sales objections versus debt management objections. We’d love to work with you as a charity or fundraising agency to determine what those specific objection categories should be and develop the appropriate training set. Our process involves taking a sample of your calls, running through them to identify common patterns, using small language models to consolidate these patterns, and then feeding them into Spoken to automatically detect these objections going forward.”

Leah Tillyer, Product Marketing Manager: “We run design partner programmes with all of our customers. When we’re exploring something new or taking it to market, we often work directly with a client to build it out with real-life scenarios, data, and information. We’d love to connect after the webinar to explore working together on this.”

Technical Capabilities

Q: Can the analytics for Spoken AI be downloaded into an Excel spreadsheet?

Connor Bowler: “There’s a download button in the top right that allows you to pull reports out as PDFs. Currently, you can’t export directly to Excel, but you can take the PDF and convert it to Excel. It’s a good suggestion and something we should definitely look at implementing. We’re also looking to integrate some chatbot functionality in the future.”

Q: Can you save the filters? How complex can you get with them?

Connor Bowler: “Yes, you can save filters, which is especially useful since our transcript filters allow you to include up to 250 different search terms. You can mix these with different logical operators like ‘and’ or ‘or,’ specify whether matches need to be exact, exclude certain phrases for compliance checks, or look for similar patterns. Once saved, you can click on a filter and reuse it day after day to check for missed buying signals, competitor mentions, script adherence issues, or compliance concerns from yesterday’s calls.”

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In sales and collections, how quickly you respond to a lead can make or break a deal. Research underscores just how critical response times are:

• A study by Dr. James Oldroyd from MIT, analysing 15,000 leads and 100,000 call attempts over three years, found that the odds of contacting a lead decrease by over ten times within the first hour. Even more striking, the odds of qualifying a lead are 21 times higher when contacted within 5 minutes compared to waiting 30 minutes after an inquiry.
• Conversica’s research on speed-to-lead reinforces this urgency. Conversion rates reach approximately 70% when contacting a lead within 5 minutes, dropping to 50% within 30 minutes, 20% within 1 hour, and plummeting to 5% within 24 hours. After a day, conversions are as low as 2%.

These statistics highlight the importance of rapid engagement. That’s where the MaxContact-HubSpot integration comes in. By seamlessly syncing leads from HubSpot into MaxContact, your team can connect with prospects in minutes—not hours—driving more conversations, closing more deals, and improving customer outcomes.

Let’s dive into how the integration works, the benefits it brings, and why it’s an integral tool for sales and collections teams striving for operational efficiency and better customer experiences.

How the MaxContact-HubSpot Integration Works

MaxContact connects with HubSpot in two keyways:

1. Pulling data from HubSpot – A lead is automatically imported into MaxContact based on predefined triggers, ensuring agents always have the most up-to-date leads to call.
2. Pushing data to HubSpot – Once a call is completed, MaxContact logs the details in HubSpot, including call time, outcome, agent details, and a link to the call recording.

Imagine this – A potential customer fills out a web form on your site requesting a callback. Normally, that lead would sit in HubSpot until you export the data, manually import the list into MaxContact and then add to a campaign, import days can vary and this can impact your close rates. With the MaxContact-HubSpot integration, that lead is instantly pushed to your dialling queue and prioritised for immediate contact.

For collections teams, this means faster engagement with overdue accounts. For sales teams, it means responding to warm leads before they go cold.

The result? A streamlined process that allows agents to focus on conversations instead of admin tasks.

Key Features of the MaxContact and HubSpot Integration

1. Automated Lead Syncing

• HubSpot captures lead data from web forms, marketing campaigns, and CRM updates.
• The integration pushes relevant leads directly into MaxContact.
• Leads are prioritised for dialling, ensuring the highest-value opportunities are actioned first.

2. Call Logging & Syncing with HubSpot

• Every call made through MaxContact is automatically logged in HubSpot.
• Key call details, including agent name, call duration, and outcome, are stored.
• Managers can access call recordings linked directly within HubSpot for quality assurance and training.

3. Contact Hub & Call Screen Pops

• Agents can open customer records in HubSpot with a single click.
• Option to embed HubSpot within MaxContact via an i-frame for a seamless view.
• Reduces the need to switch between platforms, keeping conversations efficient.

4. Inbound Call Lookup

• When a customer calls in, MaxContact automatically searches for their record in HubSpot.
• If a match is found, the customer’s details pop up, providing agents with full context before answering.
• If no match is found, agents can create a new record, ensuring data remains up to date.

Use Case & Business Impact

Faster Lead Engagement for Sales Teams

Web leads are automatically sent to MaxContact, ensuring that agents can reach out to prospects within minutes. This immediate connection significantly increases conversion rates by reducing the time between a lead’s inquiry and the initial contact. With faster lead engagement, sales teams can capitalise on warm leads before they lose interest or engage with competitors.

Streamlined Collections Callbacks

In collections, timing and accuracy are key. With the integration, call outcomes (defined by your disposition code) are updated instantly in HubSpot, removing the need for manual follow-ups and reducing administrative workload. Agents gain immediate access to a customer’s full details in MaxContact before making a call, enabling more informed conversations, better collection rates and improving overall call quality.

CRM-Driven Workflow Automation

The MaxContact-HubSpot integration enables workflow automation driven by CRM status changes. For example, when a lead’s status in HubSpot shifts from ‘Interested’ to ‘Ready to Contact,’ MaxContact automatically imports the lead and calls. This seamless process removes the need for manual data exports or imports, ensuring that leads move smoothly through the pipeline and are contacted at the optimal time for engagement.

Step-by-Step Setup Guide

Setting up the MaxContact-HubSpot integration is straightforward, but the configuration steps vary depending on whether you are pulling data from HubSpot into MaxContact or simply syncing call activity back to HubSpot.

1. Enable the Integration

Start by visiting the MaxContact Integration Marketplace and activating the right HubSpot connector for your needs. This is the foundation of the integration and ensures your systems can communicate securely.

2. Configure Your Data Flow

If you are only syncing call activity from MaxContact to HubSpot, no additional configuration is required beyond enabling the integration.

If you are pulling data from HubSpot into MaxContact, additional setup is required:

• Navigate to the API Import Mapping page in MaxContact.
• Configure field mappings to ensure that data flows correctly. All standard HubSpot fields can be mapped to corresponding fields in MaxContact.

3. Authenticate Your HubSpot Account

To establish a secure connection, enter your HubSpot credentials in the Marketplace integration settings.

4. Select Your Import and Test the Flow

Once authenticated, select the import type that matches your workflow. If you are pulling data from HubSpot, test the integration by creating a contact in HubSpot that meets the trigger conditions you configured. This ensures that the lead flows into MaxContact as expected.

• Define which triggers will determine when a contact should be pulled from HubSpot.

5. Go Live

With successful testing, your integration is ready to be deployed. Leads and customer data will now sync automatically between the two platforms, ensuring real-time updates and seamless workflows.

Future Development & Enhancements

MaxContact’s integration with HubSpot is constantly evolving. Future enhancements will include:

• Bi-directional syncing for notes and customer updates – Agents will be able to update records in MaxContact, and those changes will automatically reflect in HubSpot.
• Advanced automation – Customise how data flows between platforms—set up triggers for lead imports, call logging, and data updates.

Troubleshooting & FAQs

What if a lead doesn’t sync properly?
Check that it meets the required criteria in HubSpot and that API authentication is correctly configured.

How long does it take for data to sync?
Most updates occur instantly, but some workflows may have a brief delay.

Can I generate reports on MaxContact calls within HubSpot?
Yes. All call logs and outcomes are stored within HubSpot, allowing you to generate reports directly from your CRM.

Conclusion

The MaxContact-HubSpot integration is designed to remove friction from your sales and collections workflows. By seamlessly syncing data between your CRM and contact centre platform, it ensures that your team can reach leads and customers at precisely the right moment.

Automated lead importing, instant call logging, and CRM-driven workflows eliminate the delays and manual processes that slow down response times. This integration not only boosts productivity but also enables more informed, higher-quality conversations—enhancing both operational efficiency and the customer experience.

Ready to take advantage of the MaxContact-HubSpot integration? Book a demo today or visit our Integration Marketplace to get started.

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With the high cost of data lists, every call counts. Agents need to hit targets, navigate objections, and keep conversations on track, all while managing high volumes and staying compliant. Without insight into what's actually happening on those calls, leaders are making decisions in the dark.

Conversation Analytics changes that.

What role does speech analytics play in B2C outbound sales?

If you’re searching for a tool that can reveal exactly what’s working –and what’s not – during your teams’ outbound sales calls, speech analytics is the answer.

Conversation Analytics software takes things further by providing key insights such as:

• Common objections
• Objection handling effectiveness
• Sentiment shift
• Outcome trends across multiple calls

By going beyond basic transcription, leaders get actionable insights that highlight what’s working, and what isn’t, on your sales calls. By analysing calls at scale, leaders can focus on strategy and team development instead of time-consuming manual reviews.

How does speech analytics benefit outbound sales?

Let’s face it. Sales team leaders don’t have time to manually review calls. They need actionable insights, not hours of analysis.

Conversation Analytics provides better visibility into call outcomes, helping leaders pivot strategies when recurring issues arise. With better visibility and clarity, leaders can quickly address training gaps and maximise conversion rates.

For B2C outbound sales teams, this means fewer missed opportunities, better-equipped agents, and a measurable boost in ROI.

Uncover the secrets of top-performing sales agents

Every sales team has its stars – the ones who consistently exceed their targets. The secret to team-wide success? Identifying what these top performers do differently and scaling their approach across the team.

Here’s how our speech analytics platform makes this possible:

• Track agent performance: Conversation Analytics measures metrics like objection-handling, customer sentiment, and call outcomes. This allows leaders to pinpoint who excels and why.
• Build a blueprint for success: By analysing the behaviours of top agents, you can refine scripts, create targeted training materials, and onboard new hires more effectively.
• Provide tools to support success: Insights from multi-call analysis mean you can benchmark performance across campaigns, ensuring every team member is set up to succeed.

Master sales objections with speech analytics

We’ve all been there. A promising sales call suddenly stalls because of a customer objection. Without the right tools, overcoming these moments can feel impossible for call agents.

With the right tools, agents can turn these challenges into opportunities. Conversation Analytics helps teams:

1. Categorise objections into need, time, trust, and cost.

Knowing which categories arise most often allows leaders to:

• Train agents on objection-handling techniques that work best.
• Address systemic issues, such as pricing concerns or unclear value propositions.

2. Refine strategies based on data insights

Adjust scripts, improve product positioning, or reshape training programs based on objection data.

3. Empower call managers with tools to support agent growth

Give call managers better visibility into how their call agents handle objections during calls. This helps call centre leaders provide specific and personalised feedback to their call teams, encouraging continuous improvement and growth.

Build better teams with data-driven training

Great B2C sales teams don’t happen by accident; they’re built. Speech analytics helps you train more effectively by providing insights that support smarter coaching and development.

Here’s how it helps you build a successful call centre sales team:

1. Deliver personalised coaching
   Identify individual agents' strengths and weaknesses, such as handling sensitive calls, articulating product knowledge, or countering objections effectively.
2. Training programs that work
   Use real-world examples from successful calls to shape training sessions. Focus on proven objection-handling techniques and ensure every agent has the tools to succeed.

Drive sales growth through insights

• Spot trends and adapt by identifying which products or services resonate most with customers.
• Gain competitor intelligence by analysing mentions of competitor offers or pricing, enabling leaders to respond with compelling counteroffers.
• Adapt to market changes by detecting shifts in customer demand through call data and adjusting messaging or strategies proactively.

Conclusion

Speech analytics is more than just a tool; it’s a transformative solution for B2C outbound sales teams.

• Gain post-call insights into agent performance and customer feedback.
• Scale best practices across your team to improve outcomes.
• Empower agents with actionable data to close more deals.
• Streamline training and coaching for long-term success.
• Adapt quickly to market and customer changes.

Ready to transform your contact centre’s performance? Book a demo today to see how Conversation Analytics can strengthen your outbound sales strategy.

AI-powered speech analytics transforms how contact centres train their teams, turning every customer interaction into a potential coaching moment.

The challenges facing call centre training today are multifaceted and culminate to create a negative cycle of agent churn. High staff turnover rates put pressure on call centres to onboard quickly. But rising customer expectations demand agents who can handle complex interactions with empathy and expertise. Unfortunately, traditional training methods often fall short in preparing agents for real-world scenarios.

Without data-driven coaching, agents receive generic feedback that fails to address their individual performance challenges. This one-size-fits-all approach leaves gaps in skills development and missed opportunities to develop your team’s existing expertise.

In this article, we’ll share 15 actionable training tips to help you revolutionise your contact centre’s approach to agent development. Drive performance across your entire team by improving onboarding efficiency and encouraging continuous learning strategies with the help of AI-powered contact centre software.

By implementing these strategies, you’ll reduce turnover costs and create a more engaged workforce that delivers exceptional customer experiences.

Call Centre Training: Our Top Tips

1. Develop a comprehensive onboarding program

A sleek and structured onboarding plan equips new agents with the necessary skills and knowledge they need to succeed. The most efficient onboarding programs combine classroom training with shadowing experiences and gradually incorporate call handling responsibilities as agents grow in confidence. This methodical approach helps new hires build confidence and helps to reduce the overwhelming feeling that often leads to poor agent retention.

Learn more about improving call centre staff retention

2. Build a culture of continuous learning

Top-performing contact centres don’t see training as a one-time event, never to be repeated. Instead, it is treated as an ongoing process. By providing regular training sessions and upskilling opportunities, you keep agents engaged and ensure their skill set is adaptable to meet changing customer needs. To achieve this, consider implementing micro-learning sessions, peer coaching, skill development pathways and build a culture that prioritises personal development to support performance.

Discover how to improve contact centre performance this year

3. Give agents the tools they need to succeed

Regardless of experience, even the best-trained agents won’t consistently perform to the best of their ability without the right technology. Modern contact centre platforms successfully integrate customer information, communication channels, and knowledge bases into a single platform. This helps agents to access everything they need without jumping between multiple interfaces. By reducing agent frustration and improving operational efficiency, cloud-based content centre platforms boost the quality of customer interactions and overall call performance outcomes.

Explore what Contact Centre as a Service (CCaaS) can offer

Learn how MaxContact’s platform allowed APJ Solicitors to increase call volume by 110% within the first year of onboarding.

Read the full case study

4. Arm agents with effective call scripts

Well-designed call scripts help agents handle various scenarios confidently and maintain brand consistency. The key is creating scripts that guide conversations without sounding robotic. Effective scripts will incorporate decision trees for common questions, objection responses, and provide clear next steps; all while giving agents enough flexibility to personalise interactions.

Learn how to write a call centre script in 6 easy steps

5. Make sure agent training covers call handling, product knowledge and internal processes

Agent training must go further than basic call etiquette. To feel confident on the phone and provide customers with a positive experience, agents need to develop deep product knowledge. They also need an understanding of internal processes, so they can resolve any issues efficiently, such as when to escalate a complaint for example.

Call training should also include hands-on practice with your contact centre software, which helps agents navigate systems smoothly (and quickly) during live calls. This approach reduces average handle time, boosts customer satisfaction, and minimises repeat calls.

Learn how to reduce average handle time in your call centre

6. Regularly analyse key performance metrics

If you don’t actively measure and review performance KPIs, how can you improve them? Regularly assessing KPIs will help you identify specific training needs and areas for improvement across your team much more easily. The first step is to focus on metrics that matter most to your business objectives, whether that’s first call resolution, customer satisfaction scores, conversion rates, or average handling time.

Discover how to measure call centre efficiency

“We can now measure what we need to measure – performance, productivity, call rates and so on, whenever we need to.” Steph Warricker, Operations Manager at D2MS.

Read the full case study

7. Use AI Speech analytics to gain deeper performance insights

AI speech analytics transforms how you analyse and interpret customer interactions. With the ability to search transcribed files for key phrases, and insight into customer call sentiment, it:

• Helps QA teams catch compliance issues before they escalate.
• Provide detailed insights that help tailor training agent programs to address specific challenges.

AI speech analytics identifies patterns across thousands of calls that would be impossible to spot through manual review alone.

Explore how speech analytics turns conversations into insights

“Spokn AI will absolutely revolutionise the way we approach sales training and people’s individual performance.” Karl Burke, Contact Centre Manager at Honey Group.

Read the full case study

8. Uncover how your best-performing agents overcome objections

Within your team, you’ll no doubt have your top performers – the ones that are consistent. These agents have already figured out what works and what doesn’t when it comes to overcoming customer objections. With tools like Success Intelligence, it is possible to monitor your best agents and track how they handle common objections. This level of intelligence helps to uncover the most effective techniques for turning objections into conversions and provides real-life examples for training new and struggling team members.

Discover how AI identifies and analyses sales objections

9. Teach agents to recognise and respond to customer emotions

Emotional intelligence is a crucial skill to have in a call centre environment. Frustrated customers need agents who can quickly understand their needs and handle interactions with appropriate sensitivity. Sentiment analysis tools help identify interactions that started with negative sentiment and ended positively. This provides valuable examples that can be used to teach agents how to adjust their approach based on customer emotions.

Learn about sentiment analysis in call centres

10. Make sure compliance is built into call centre training from the start

Non-compliant calls threaten damage to customer trust and can lead to significant financial penalties. AI-powered speech analytics helps QA teams uncover potential compliance risks through keyword searches and pattern recognition. This paves the way for proactive coaching, allowing non-compliant behaviour to be identified and rectified quickly before it becomes a repeated habit.

Explore how to remain compliant whilst driving B2C outbound sales

11. Enhance quality assurance processes for shorter feedback loops

Not only are traditional manual call reviews time-consuming, they also only cover a small sample of agent-customer interactions. This is problematic for call centre training for two reasons:

1. Because call reviews take so long to complete, feedback is delayed and shared with agents long after any incidents happen.
2. A large percentage of calls go unchecked, wasting potential coaching opportunities, and leaving agents repeating the same mistakes.

AI-assisted quality assurance streamlines the review process and enables QA teams to assess more calls. This helps managers to spot issues faster and significantly shorten feedback loops.

Learn about using AI speech analytics for quality assurance

12. Improve outbound success with smarter call centre training

Outbound sales relies on a different skill set compared to inbound support. Agents need specific training on effective outreach techniques, handling objections, and timing calls to achieve better response rates. AI call analytics provides invaluable insight into what works and what doesn’t in outbound interactions, allowing you to refine scripts and approaches based on proven success patterns.

Discover how to use speech analytics to increase B2C outbound sales

13. Train agents to manage high-stress interactions effectively

Handling frustrated or angry customers is never an easy task; it’s perhaps one of the more challenging aspects of call centre work. Call centre training should include techniques that agents can apply in these situations to help them stay calm under pressure and work through issues appropriately. De-escalation, active listening, and problem-solving should all be practised during role-playing exercises that explore challenging scenarios and help build confidence for new agents.

Access scripting templates for difficult customer interactions

14. Train agents to handle multi-channel customer interactions

Modern call centres aren’t just about voice calls. In this day and age, customers interact via email, chat and social media, often switching between channels during the same issue resolution. Train your agents to handle the different communication styles each channel requires while delivering a consistent customer experience regardless of how customers choose to connect.

Explore our ultimate guide to omnichannel contact centre software

15. Give clear feedback led by data instead of vague opinions

Vague feedback like “be more empathetic” or “sound more confident” is open to interpretation and rarely drives meaningful improvement. An advanced speech analytics platform provides call centre managers with detailed performance insights for their agents. This helps transition from generic feedback that often goes unactioned to specific, data-led coaching with actionable takeaways that measurably improve performance.

Learn how conversation intelligence enhances call centre training

By combining technology with proven training strategies, your call centre can turn every interaction into a coaching opportunity. Are you ready to take agent performance to the next level?

See how MaxContact’s Contact Centre Software can support you.

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Still not cracked the art of how to make a successful sales call? The answer isn’t just about having the right pitch.

A successful sales call is about understanding when to call, how to engage, and what to say. But here’s the challenge: only 6.74% of sales calls result in a sale according to our Benchmark Report.

That means sales professionals face rejection more than 90% of the time – even seasoned salespeople face an uphill battle.

So, how can teams improve their odds?

A sales team can improve call success rate by combining strategy, structure, and equipping call agents with the right tools and technology. The best sales calls don’t happen by accident. And the reality is, sales professionals will struggle if they don’t have the data, insights, and automation to support them.

That’s where MaxContact’s AI-powered outbound call centre software makes the difference, helping teams optimise every stage of the sales call process, from connecting with the right prospects to closing deals faster.

1. Timing can influence the success of your sales call

Have you ever had a sales call at the worst possible time? Like during dinner or just as you’re about to rush out the door? Calling at the wrong time can ruin even the best sales pitch.

But how do you know the right time to call?

Successful sales teams know the right time to call because they don’t guess; they use data. Getting the timing of a sales call right is half the battle. Without insights into when customers are most receptive, your team risks wasting dials, frustrating potential buyers, and losing opportunities.

MaxContact eliminates the guesswork, helping agents reach prospects at the right time. Smart call timings increase answer rates, reduce wasted dials, and improve conversion rates.

Successful sales calls = smarter timings

Use call data to schedule outreach when customers are most likely to answer – bonus points if you use a dialler to speed up the process.

✔ Analyse historical call data to understand when peak response times happen. You can assess this by day, time, and customer segment.

✔ Use predictive dialling technology so agents only connect when a customer answers. This reduces wasted dials and gives the sales team more time on the phone.

✔ Identify optimal calling windows based on real campaign data, increasing connection rates and first-call close rates.

MaxContact features that help:

• Custom Reporting
• Predictive Dialling
• Success Intelligence

2. Build rapport with customers quickly

Getting the timing right is just one piece of the puzzle. But even if you call at the perfect moment, customers won’t buy from someone they don’t trust. That’s why the next step in a successful sales call is building rapport – and fast.

But building rapport over the phone is a tough task. Agents have seconds to establish trust. MaxContact’s Sentiment Analysis feature gives clearer insight into customer emotions and engagement signals during past interactions. This means agents can tailor their approach and make conversations feel more personal and authentic.

So, how do you build trust on a sales call?

✔ Personalise the conversation using customer data.
✔ Ask the right questions and actively listen to responses.
✔ Mirror the customer’s tone to create a sense of familiarity.

MaxContact features that help:

• Contact Hub. Provides interaction history to personalise conversations.
• Sentiment Analysis. Helps agents refine their approach based on customer tone and reactions.
• Success Intelligence. Identifies which rapport-building techniques work best.

“One of the fundamentals that gets overlooked is building the relationship. Don’t just talk about the ‘deal’, find out more about the customer and build trust from day one. That’s what every successful sale needs.”Richard Coward, Enterprise and Strategic Partner Director, MaxContact

3. Structure your sales call around customer value

Building trust is essential, yes. But trust alone won’t close a sale. Once you’ve established rapport, the next step is to clearly communicate the value of your product and how it solves your customer’s pain points.

The most successful sales calls will always focus on the problem the product solves for the customer – never about the product features by themselves.

✔ Lean on the customer’s pain points and position your product as the solution.

✔ Avoid generic pitches, they rarely work. Instead, tailor messaging to the customer.

✔ Keep the conversation structured, but be flexible and prepared to adapt as you listen to the customer.

MaxContact features that help:

• Sales Call Scripting. Provides structured yet adaptive call scripts.

4. Test & refine your sales call scripts

No sales script is perfect forever. The market, customer needs, and competitors change  – and your call scripts should change too. That’s when testing and refining your sales call scripts comes into play.

TOP TIP: A/B testing your sales scripts helps to refine your messaging and check effectiveness.

How to optimise sales call scripts

✔ Test different scripts regularly to see what works best.

✔ Use real call data and base scripts on customer responses.

✔ Remember, scripts shouldn’t sound robotic; natural and engaging is the aim.

MaxContact features that help:

• Call Scripting & Analytics. Track script effectiveness.

Success Intelligence. Highlight key phrases that drive conversions.

5. Focus on active listening

Even the best script won’t make an impact if an agent doesn’t listen. A great sales call isn’t just about delivering a pitch. It’s about understanding the customer’s needs and adapting in real time.

So, while the phrase “gift of the gab” is thrown around to describe a ‘good’ salesperson, active listening is an overlooked necessity. Because when agents talk more than they listen, they miss customer concerns.

TOP TIP: Active listening is a skill that builds trust and improves conversion rates.

What does active listening sound like in a sales call?

✔ Resist the urge to interrupt or “talk over” objections.

✔ Paraphrase customer concerns to show that you’re listening and understanding.

✔ Silence is a strategy. Allow the customer to fill the gap and learn more about their pain points and objections.

MaxContact features that help:

• Sentiment Analysis. Measure how well agents respond to customer concerns.
• Call Monitoring. Help managers provide listening-focused training.

“Far too many times, salespeople want to fill the silence. But the statistics are clear; do twice as much listening as talking, and ask the right open-ended questions.”Richard Coward, Enterprise and Strategic Partner Director, MaxContact

6. Master objection handling

So, you’ve actively listened to your customer and you have gained valuable insight into what’s holding the customer back.

And now? It’s time to overcome the objection.

It’s important to remember that even the best salespeople can’t overcome every objection. But what they can do is learn from each call, and improve their approach over time. This is where call recording and data insights become invaluable.

Every great salesperson knows objections aren’t the end of the sale, they’re an opportunity.

MaxContact’s Success Intelligence (a feature of our speech analytics platform, Spokn AI, ) helps agents identify, categorise, and learn from objections, giving them the tools to respond with data-driven confidence.

TOP TIP: Objections are predictable; the key is preparation. Consider what objections your customer might have and have a plan to overcome them.

Common sales call objections & how to overcome them

“It’s too expensive.” → Highlight ROI & long-term savings.

“I need to think about it.” → Offer a compelling reason to act now.

“I’m happy with my current provider.” → Emphasise unique differentiators.

MaxContact features that help:

• Success Intelligence. Identify common objections & effective responses.
• Spokn AI. Helps teams refine objection-handling techniques.

“Every salesperson has a fear of rejection, which can lead to a lack of confidence. But confidence breeds belief from the customer. Don’t stop at the first hurdle, as many objections are just the start of the conversation, not the end. MaxContact’s Success Intelligence and Spokn AI help agents anticipate objections and respond with data-driven confidence—turning hesitation into opportunity.”Richard Coward, Enterprise and Strategic Partner Director, MaxContact

7. Don’t forget the follow-up

Most sales don’t happen the first time someone is contacted – even if you do effectively address their concerns. The sales process usually relies on multiple touchpoints, and a well-timed, personalised follow-up can turn a “maybe” into a “yes.”

TOP TIP: Don’t rely solely on phone calls – use multiple channels such as email and SMS.

How to make follow-ups effective

✔ Schedule when you will follow up immediately at the end of each call.

✔ Use email, SMS, or other channels if calls go unanswered and it’s compliant.

✔ Keep track of customer interactions and read the notes to help you personalise before you make contact.

MaxContact features that help:

• Automated Call Scheduling means no follow-up is missed.
• Omnichannel capabilities integrates email, SMS, or calls

“How many calls don’t have a follow-up or are left without a follow-up call being arranged? Many deals are lost simply because there’s no follow-up.”Richard Coward, Enterprise and Strategic Partner Director, MaxContact

8. Record & review sales calls for continuous improvement

While quality assessment is a compliance measure, tracking and recording sales calls isn’t just about meeting regulatory requirements. It’s also about learning what works and scaling success across call teams.

TOP TIP: Data-driven coaching can improve individual performance and overall conversion rates.

Use call data to drive sales success through training

✔ Identify top-performing agents, analyse their techniques, and replicate them across the team.

✔ Instead of using call scenarios for training and script refinements, use real.

✔ Have shorter feedback loops and flag any issues early, addressing performance gaps proactively before they escalate.

MaxContact features that help:

• Spokn AI & Success Intelligence provides personalised coaching insights to call centre managers.
• Call transcription & analytics keeps track of key success drivers.

Sales success isn’t about luck. It’s about timing, rapport, active listening, and data-driven decision-making.

By using MaxContact’s AI-powered call centre software, your team can optimise every stage of the sales call process, from connection rates to closing deals.

Want to see how MaxContact can help you optimise every sales call?

Request a Demo Today

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