Using Direct Dial Numbers to Stop Wasting Sales Time

Any experienced salesperson is familiar with the ordeal of making call after call, bouncing from the switchboard to the receptionist and back again. All only for the slight chance of reaching a decision maker.

Wrong number after dead dial tone. You’re on edge wondering if you’ll ever actually reap any reward from all this time you’ve already spent on the phone. It’s exhausting and eats away at your day.

Just how much time is wasted merely trying to get a prospect on the other end of the phone? How can you minimize those phone-tag headaches and save that time for making more sales?

The solution is to improve your connection rate by using direct dial numbers for your prospects. We’ll explain the issue and share how sales reps can start having more conversations and less dead calls.

Consider Your Connect Rate

The connect rate is the average number of calls a sales rep has to make just to get a prospect on the phone. The average connect rate is 18 calls to one connection.

With a team of 25 reps making the industry average 52 calls per day for 250 days, that’s 18,055 conversations per year. That’s a lot of numbers but stick with me. Because the numbers show some incredible results.

If the call-to-connect rate is decreased by just one (that’s 17 calls per connection) the conversations per year increases by over 1,000. That’s 1,000 more potential sales, and a whole lot less time spent dialing.

What’s the easiest way to improve your connect rate, and consequently the efficiency of your entire sales process? Direct dial numbers.

Why You Need Direct Dial

The initial benefit of having a prospect’s direct line is clear: better chances of connecting with decision makers. Studies have found when dialing a direct number at the director level, reps are 46% more likely to connect. At the VP level, direct dialing makes your reps 147% more likely to connect.

Dialing directly also cuts the time that you spend on the in-between tasks of phone calls, like time to dial and the number of dials it takes to connect. Dial time on a direct line is only 45 seconds, with an average of 12 dials to connect (instead of the usual 20 with a switchboard) All the time you save by getting directly to your contact adds up so that your reps can become more productive overall. In fact, studies also reveal that using direct dial can increase sales efficiency by 375%.

The numbers don’t lie: direct dial numbers are essential for getting prospects on the phone.

How To Get Direct Dial

Remember that not all data vendors are created equal, so some will offer more direct dial in their contact records than others. Others may only offer direct dial at a price.

But just like you deserve good data, you deserve the convenience and advantage that comes with direct dial.

Fortunately, SalesIntel contacts have direct dial information and are included as a part of their unlimited data plan for users. Those numbers have been checked by our research team and are re-verified every 90 days and if it’s not available users can request Research on Demand to locate the data. You can get to a decision-maker quickly and use that saved time for more important tasks than waiting on a switchboard operator.

With SalesIntel, you can start having the sales conversations you need today.