How is agent matching different in collections and in sales?
The method is the same on both kinds of floor: decide which agent works each account or lead from the floor’s own history, and measure it against a control group split at random and run in the same weeks. What differs is the outcome (a payment or arrangement in collections, a sale in sales), the score, the rules that govern the call, and the first step BestPair offers.
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What is the same on both floors
- People make every call. BestPair decides only which agent works each account or lead. It never dials, calls, texts or contacts anyone.
- The decision comes from the floor’s own history, calls and outcomes linked to the agent who worked each account or lead.
- Your routing rules stay in place. Matching chooses only among the agents your rules already allow.
- The proof is a control group. Accounts or leads are split at random, one group follows BestPair’s assignments and the other stays on current routing in the same weeks, and every account or lead stays in its group.
The team behind BestPair has applied it to outbound floors, collection campaigns among them, since 2011.
Side by side
| Collections | Outbound sales | |
|---|---|---|
| The outcome | A payment or an arrangement | A sale, by the floor’s own definition |
| Conversion | The share of right-party contacts that end in a payment or arrangement | The share of contacts that end in a sale |
| The score | Dollars collected per account contacted, both groups, same weeks | Per contact reached, on the floor’s own definition of a sale, both groups, same weeks |
| When the outcome is known | Payments land later, in the collection system | On the call, or later where a sale must survive cancellation |
| The rules on the call | Debt collection law, which stays with the agency | Telemarketing and consent rules, owned by the floor’s compliance team |
| The first step | A report on the floor’s own history, before anything changes | A fit call |
Why the score differs
On a collection floor, a promise to pay is not money until it is paid. Payments arrive later and are recorded in the collection system, and a payment that is reversed counts against the total. So the score is dollars collected per account contacted, counted for both groups over the same weeks. What RPC conversion is.
On a sales floor, the floor decides what a sale is: a sale made on the call, one that survives a cooling-off period, or an attended appointment where that is the product. The comparison is then made per contact reached, on that definition, applied the same way to both groups. What counts as a sale.
Both scores count each account or lead once, however many calls it took, and both weigh how much was collected or sold as well as how often.
The rules around the call
On collection floors, BestPair’s Standard Terms leave collection activity with the agency, including the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, Regulation F, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and state collection and licensing laws. BestPair changes only which agent works an account. It does not contact consumers, and it does not change whether an account is worked, what a consumer is offered, or any collection terms.
On sales floors, different rules govern telemarketing, consent and calling, and they vary with the product and where the floor calls. Your own compliance team owns them, and BestPair leaves them as they are. BestPair does not decide who is called, when, or what is offered. BestPair does not provide legal or compliance advice; where a rule applies to your floor, your counsel decides.
Where each one starts
Collection floors start with a report built from the floor’s own call and payment history, delivered before anything changes on the floor, with live pairing against a control group as the second step. The terms and what the report contains are set out on the collections pages and the two stages.
For outbound sales floors, BestPair has not published terms. The first step is a 45-minute fit call to see whether your floor’s history and setup give matching something to work with.
Common follow-up questions
Can one company use it on both its collections floor and its sales floor?
Yes, but each floor is measured on its own, with its own history, its own control group and its own score. A gain on one floor says nothing about the other, so each needs its own test.
Is sales an easier place to start than collections?
It depends on the floor more than the industry. A sale made on the call is known the same day, which makes a sales test quick to read; a sale that has to survive cancellation takes longer. Collections has a published offer and a published live test, so the path from first conversation to first result is set out.
Does the published case study apply to sales floors?
No. It was a collections test at a North American collection agency, on one telecom book in one month. The case study shows how such a test is run and counted. A sales floor’s result comes from its own test.
Where to next
How it works
See what BestPair does
Which agent works each lead or account, decided from your own floor’s history. People make every call; the dialer, scripts and offers stay as they are.
Read the overviewProof
How to prove a routing change worked
Split leads at random, run both ways in the same weeks and compare. Written for collection floors; the method is the same for sales.
Read the methodYour floor
Talk it through
A fit call, not a demo. If your floor is not a fit, you will hear it on the call.
Book a fit call
Would it be a bad idea to spend 45 minutes finding out?
If your shop does not qualify, you will hear it on the call, not after you have paid for a report.
Book a 45-minute fit call