Manual for agents

About this manual

This manual is for everyone who makes calls with mmDial. It explains the agent desk: how you sign in, how a call runs, what the buttons do and what to do when something goes wrong.

You need no prior knowledge. If you have used a browser before, that is enough.

A note on the interface language

mmDial is available in German, English, Spanish, French, Dutch and Turkish. The language belongs to your account, so your colleague can work in a different one from you. If your screen is in the wrong language, ask your team leader – it is a setting, not a rebuild.

Many installations still run in German. For that reason, wherever a button, a status or a message is named below, the original German wording is given in brackets. Look for the German wording on your screen if the English one does not appear there.

Not everyone sees the same thing

Your screen may look different from what is described here. That is normal and not a fault. What you see and what you are allowed to do depends on:

• the scope your company has booked
• the permissions your team leader has given you
• the campaign you are currently working in

Manual dialling, transferring, conferences, parking, recording and break reasons are typical examples: sometimes they are available and sometimes they are not.

Sections affected by this are marked like so:

If something you need for your work is missing, ask your team leader. Whether it can be switched on is for them to decide together with us – some of it depends on the plan booked.

Who sets up what?

You get your login details from your team leader, not from us.

Signing in

What you need

• a current browser (Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari)
• your user name and password
• a headset

You no longer need a telephone program of your own: the phone is in the browser. Only if your organisation deliberately stays with a softphone or a desk phone does that come on top.

The built-in phone

On the sign-in page, below the campaign selection, there is a tick box Use integrated VoIP connection (Integrierte VoIP-Verbindung verwenden?). Tick it before you sign in and allow the browser access to your microphone. There is nothing else to do.

Beside it you can set whether the browser should handle volume and echo itself. The default is off; switch it on if the person you are speaking to hears you too loud one moment and too quiet the next.

How to sign in

1. Go to the address your team leader has given you
2. Enter your user name and password
3. Select the campaign you are to work in
4. Sign in

After that you are in the Ready state (German: Bereit) – or in a break, depending on how your campaign is set up.

If signing in does not work

The screen at a glance

The desk consists of a few areas. You do not need any further windows.

If a recording is running, that is displayed clearly and visibly.

Coloured notices

Some campaigns colour the customer area and display a short guide – for particular groups of records, for instance. Read that notice before you go into the call; it is not there without reason.

Setting up the sound

Before you take your first call, check the sound once.

Choosing the microphone and playback

Under Sound settings (Toneinstellungen) you choose:

• the microphone – usually your headset
• the playback – the headset as well, not the PC speakers

With the built-in phone, the browser asks the first time whether it may access the microphone. If you refuse, you will hear but not be heard – and the permission can only be taken back in the browser's settings, not in mmDial.

If only Default device can be selected, your operating system determines the devices. In that case, change them there.

Muting

Mute (Stumm) switches your microphone off, Unmute (Stumm aufheben) switches it back on. Muting takes effect as soon as a call is connected.

If you cannot hear or cannot be heard

1. Is the headset plug seated properly?
2. Is the right device chosen under Sound settings?
3. Is the volume turned up on the headset and in the operating system?
4. Is the microphone muted?
5. If nothing helps: reload the page and sign in again

Your states

mmDial always keeps you in exactly one state. Your team leader can see it in the live view.

The change usually happens by itself: as soon as you have set the outcome and – if necessary – saved the form, you go back to Ready.

Making a call

The usual sequence

1. You are in Ready
2. The dialler puts a call through – the customer data appears
3. You have the conversation
4. You end it with Hang up / End (Auflegen / Beenden), or the customer hangs up
5. You set the outcome
6. If there is one: you fill in the order form and save
7. You are back in Ready

The most important buttons

If the customer hangs up before you do

You see the message The customer has hung up (Kunde hat aufgelegt). The call is over – set the outcome anyway, otherwise the record stays unworked.

If somebody else was quicker

When fetching a waiting call, the message Another agent has already taken this call (Ein anderer Agent hat diesen Anruf bereits geholt) can appear. That is not a fault – just take the next one.

Setting the outcome

The outcome is the result of your call. It decides what happens to the record: whether it is dialled again, whether a callback arises, whether it counts as a success.

Common outcomes

In addition, your campaign usually has outcomes of its own, for instance Not interested, Wrong target group or Wants information sent.

Hotkeys

In some campaigns keyboard shortcuts are set up. Then you set the outcome with a keypress instead of the mouse. Which key sets which outcome can be seen in the outcome list.

If the outcome is not saved

If The outcome could not be saved (Der Status konnte nicht gespeichert werden) appears, try again. If it persists, reload the page and report it to your team leader – otherwise the record could be left unworked.

The order form

If your campaign is to capture more than an outcome, you get an order form – the screen next to the customer data.

Filling it in and saving

1. Fill in the fields. Mandatory fields are marked
2. Save
3. Only then set the outcome

If Order form not filled in (Auftragsformular nicht ausgefüllt) appears, a mandatory entry is missing. Particular outcomes – usually the success outcome – can only be set when the form is complete.

Multi-page forms

Extensive screens have several pages. Page through them and save once at the end – not on each page individually.

Documents

If your campaign has document sending, you can send material straight from the call. The Documents area shows what is available.

If it says Documents locked (Dokumente gesperrt), the record has already been passed on by outcome forwarding – then sending from here is no longer possible.

Callbacks and follow-ups

Arranging a callback

If somebody would like to be called back later:

1. Set the outcome for callbacks (usually CALLBK)
2. Enter the date and time
3. Optionally leave a comment – your future self will thank you
4. Save

Your callback list

Under Callback list (Rückrufliste) you will find the follow-ups you have arranged. From there you make the call at the agreed time.

• Personal callbacks are assigned to you
• Global callbacks can be taken over by anybody in the team

Your team leader can move callbacks or convert them between personal and global.

Dialling manually

If your campaign permits manual dialling, you can enter a phone number yourself and call it, without the dialler giving you a record.

1. Open Manual call (Manueller Anruf)
2. Enter the number
3. Call

Manual calls are documented too and show up in the reporting.

Alternative number

If a second number is stored in the record, you can dial it using Alternative (Alternativ) when the main number cannot be reached.

Transferring, conference, parking

Transfer

Transfer passes a call on to somewhere else – to an extension, an external number or a colleague. After the transfer you are out of the call.

Conference

Conference call (Konferenzanruf) brings a third person in.

Parking

If Parking (Parken) is enabled, you put a call aside briefly and bring it back with Retrieve (Holen). The other party hears the on-hold music in the meantime.

Tone dialling (DTMF)

DTMF / tone dialling (DTMF / Tonwahl) sends digits into the running call – necessary when you end up in a voice menu at the other end.

Recording

Whether and how recording happens is set by your team leader for each campaign.

• Permanently – every call is recorded, you do not have to do anything
• Controlled by you – you start with Start recording (Aufnahme starten) and end with Stop recording (Aufnahme stoppen)

If a recording is running, that is displayed clearly to you.

When somebody does not want to be called again

If a person you have called objects to further contact, their number belongs on the blocklist. Set the outcome your campaign provides for that – the record will then no longer be dialled.

Taking a break

1. Click Break (Pause)
2. If asked: choose the break reason – break reasons are set up per campaign, so it may be that you are not asked at all – for example short break, lunch or training
3. You no longer receive calls
4. You end the break using the same button

For some break reasons a time limit is set. Your team leader can see in the reporting how much time went to which reason.

Signing out

At the end of your shift, click Sign out (Abmelden). Do not simply close the window: otherwise your session stays alive for a while and occupies a seat.

If the system says You are being signed in again by an admin (Sie werden neu eingeloggt von einem Admin), your team leader has stepped in – confirm and sign in again.

When something does not work

The most common messages

Re-establishing the connection

If the voice connection drops, mmDial tries to repair it automatically; you then see Connection is being re-established (Verbindung wird neu aufgebaut). If that does not help, click Reconnect (Neu Verbinden).

Reloading the page

If the interface looks unusual or buttons do not react, reload the page (F5). Your sign-in is kept.

What your team leader wants to know

When you report a problem, these details help:

• your user name and the campaign
• the exact time
• the exact wording of the message
• what you did immediately beforehand

Under Session (Sitzung) you will find technical details – server time, system time, time zone, script version and whether there have been errors since loading. Those details help support.

Appendix

Quick reference

Ten rules for clean data

1. Always set an outcome – even when nobody answered
2. Set the outcome that really applies
3. Create callbacks with a date, a time and a comment
4. Record objections immediately, not later
5. Fill in the order form completely before you set the success outcome
6. Do not stay in wrap-up longer than necessary
7. Use the break function for breaks, not the mute button
8. Give notice of the recording before you start it
9. Report technical problems early instead of experimenting for a long time
10. Sign out properly at the end of the shift

Terms

If your campaign takes incoming calls

If your team also takes incoming calls, little changes for you: a call can come in at any time, for known callers the customer data is there immediately, and using Take call you pick up a waiting call from the queue. Everything else – outcome, form, follow-up, break – works unchanged.

A fuller description is in the Supplement – Inbound.

If you are assigned to a workstation

In some older setups the telephony is tied to the workstation instead of to your login. Then after signing in you see which workstation you are assigned to. If a warning appears instead saying that you are not assigned to a workstation, you cannot make calls – in that case please report it to your team leader at once rather than carrying on trying.

Further documents

For your team leader:

• mmDial Comfort manual
• mmDial Direkt manual
• Supplement – Inbound
• Supplement – Workstations