A feature of standalone automatic call distributors (ACDs) that supports outgoing calling. A predictive dialer monitors the status of incoming calling activity and the level of availability of the agent pool. When the level of incoming calling activity drops to a level such that agents are idle for long periods, the system introduces outgoing calls.The predictive dialer statistically predicts the availability of an agent, searches a database of customers to be called, selects one and dials the associated telephone number, detects when the call is answered, and connects the call to an available agent. If no agent is available, the system serves the call to the first agent to become available. If the predictive dialer encounters a busy signal, does not get an answer after a predetermined number of rings, or senses an answering machine or voice processor at the target telephone number, it can simply hang up and dial the next number in the database. If the pool of agents is large enough, the predictive dialer can predict the availability of an agent quite accurately, and serve that agent a connected outgoing call within seconds. See also ACD.