A lot of conversations I have with sales managers start off with questions about dials. “How many sales calls should my people be making every day?” “Isn’t it always better to do more dials than fewer?” followed by “Don’t I need something that dials multiple lines per user to really maximize lead generation and appointment setting?” There is no question that when all is said and done, there are a limited number of variables that managers can play with to increase sales by phone, and dials-per-hour is certainly one of them. But, as in many things in life, more is not always better.
I sometimes like to compare the sales process to baking 
a cake. You need to have good ingredients – a product, a good group of contacts to call, a good sales script and good sales people are the basics. Now to make a cake rise you need to add the baking powder. In sales, dials are the baking powder which allows the whole process to rise. However, just as with a cake, simply pouring on more does not always lead to better results. You do not make money from dials, you make money from quality conversations. Anything that reduces the chances of getting into a quality conversation reduces your success, and this is exactly what concentrating too much on dials can do. Progressive auto dialing software – such as that offered by VanillaSoft – is designed to maximize the number of calls while keeping a one-to-one dialing ratio, insuring that a real person is on the line rather than a machine the instant the prospect answers. Just think about your own personal experience at home. Can you tell when you are getting a telemarketing call because of the slight pause? If you don’t hang up automatically, aren’t you already trying to think of how to get off the phone as quickly as possible? Now, imagine it is your sales person on the other end of the line, and you’ll understand what a hard job you have now given them.
Auto dialers and automatic dialing systems that predictively dial or dial multiple lines have a place in certain sales process, but don’t just assume that trying to pump up your dials will improve your telemarketing or inside sales efforts. Think carefully about all of the factors involved in your own particular business when deciding on what type of system to use. Just like a cake when you add too much baking powder you don’t want to leave a bitter taste in the mouth of your prospects by trying to increase dials at the expense of quality.
