Voicent Agent Dialer can import comma separated text files (CSV files).

If your call list is saved in a Microsoft Excel file, you need to first save it as a CSV file. Please use File > Save as… from the Excel main menu. You normally will see the following format:

“Name”,”Phone”,”Status”
“”,”123, 456″,””
“”,”4567, 890″,””

The phone number and suffix are quoted. To import the file, select File > Import from Agent Dialer’s main window.

Actually, the easiest way to import your call list from Excel is simply copy-paste the list from Excel to Agent Dialer directly.

What format does the number need to be in? Does it have to have dashes or will periods be ok, i.e. 123-456-7890 or 123.456.7890? Is the area code required for each number? It is required in our calling area, even for “local” calls.

All the format will do. The software will take out any thing that is not a digit before dialing. Special characters (, * #) will be kept also.

You can also setup the dialing rule in Voicent Gateway. Please click on the gateway icon, select Setup > Options… from the main menu. With different dialing rule, the system will apply the dialing rule before dial the number. For example, if you set “Remove area code for local calls”, and the phone number specified in your license is “123 xxx-xxxx”, and you specify the phone number in BroadcastByPhone as “123 555-1212″, the system will remove area code “123″ first, and will only dial the local number “555-1212″.

This is one of the predictive dialer FAQ. The answer is copied here:

Predictive dialer is designed to help telemarketing agent to make outbound calls. It requires agents sit in front of the computers. In predictive dialing mode, the system will make a outbound call, if the call is answered by an answering machine, the system will automatically leave a message or skip to the next call; if it is answered by a live human, the system will pop up an alert window on an available agent’s computer. The agent can then pick up the phone and start talking.

An autodialer, on the other hand, is designed to have a computer to do all the work. The system automatically dials the next phone number on the call list, play a pre-recorded message after live pickup or answering machine prompt, collect touch tone feedbacks or speech command feedbacks. Once you start the voice broadcast, the system will take care of everything.

BroadcastByPhone also supports call transfer, i.e., the person who receives the call can press a key to talk to a live agent. The call can be transferred to a cell phone, for example.

From the customer’s point of view, when he answers the call, he will hear a pre-recorded audio message if call that is made by an autodialer; he will be connected to an available agent immediately if the call is made by a predictive dialer (he will not know that the call is dialed by a computer).

Based on the two very different usage mode, each program has different feature set targeted for that purpose.