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The sales call landscape has shifted. Call volume is out; answer rates are in.
Outreach success hinges on maximizing quality conversations. The "make more calls, faster" playbook only makes sense if your answer rates are strong. If not, it's just kerosene to burn through good leads, faster.
Smart organizations focus on answer rates, and land more opportunities with fewer calls. Our customers consistently achieve answer rates above 10%, with a third exceeding 20%.
We've discovered that call data is a goldmine of untapped opportunities to boost answer rates—but only if you track the right metrics and know how to interpret them.
In this post, we'll equip you with both. We'll explore 5 essential call answer rate reports every sales leader needs, then show you how to use that data to get more calls answered.
Finally, we'll reveal how to access this data so you can take it to your leadership team and be the office hero. Let’s get started.
1. Answer Rate by Carrier
Spam/scam flags are assigned by each carrier independently so you can be flagged on one network but not another. You can even be flagged on some calls (to certain locations for example) but not others. Reviewing answer rates by carrier helps you identify isolated flags and remediate with that carrier to preserve your number reputation. Number monitoring is also a useful tool.
Example Scenario:
Sarah is surprised by a drop in opportunities, despite her 3 agents being active on the phones this week. She pulls up her answer rates by carrier report and sees that answer rates on one carrier are 50% lower than the others. This was not the case last week.
Big Win:
This intel helps Sarah pinpoint a flag and empowers her to remediate with the carrier.
2. Answer Rate by Lead Source
High-intent, quality leads answer calls and engage with your team. Low-quality lead lists are littered with bad data, rarely answer, and can even damage your number reputation. By comparing answer rates by lead source, you can optimize lead acquisition strategies and shift resources where they drive ROI. Focus on the leads most likely to answer and let go of the ones who aren’t.
Example Scenario:
Dillon’s team is testing out a new lead source this week. He filters weekly answer rates to compare by each of his 3 lead sources and sees that the new source has a 19% answer rate compared to his usual 10%.
Big Win:
Dillon goes to his boss with this intel and recommends allocating more marketing budget to scale up this lead source. Dillon’s agents have their best month of the year.
3. Answer Rate by Time of Day
Sales pros often ask “what is the best time of day for cold calls?” While much has been published on the subject, the answer varies widely across industries, job titles, and many other factors. Should you be calling in the morning, afternoon, or after 5pm? Look at your data.
Example Scenario:
Leslie has been telling her brokers to make calls in the morning, as many experts recommend. But pulling up a month’s worth of calls she realizes something interesting. Her team’s answer rates are higher in the afternoon, especially right after lunch.
Big Win:
Leslie changes up a long-standing office norm, boosting conversations and positive outcomes.
4. Answer Rate by Day of Week
Like time of day, call answer rates may vary significantly from one day to the next. Some smart SDRs have even found weekend dialing to be a surprising source of opportunities. Stop guessing, and let the data do the talking.
Example Scenario:
Henry’s team of agents make calls 3 days a week based on their choosing. Upon looking at his answer rates by day report, he notices Tuesdays are 15% above the average, and Friday is 20% below.
Big Win:
By prioritizing Tuesdays and avoiding Fridays, appointments are up 6% month over month.
5. Answer Rate by Agent
You can put a lot of mileage on a car, and not go very far. Similarly, agents today can make a lot of calls and not accomplish much. To see who is truly productive it’s critical to compare calls answered (followed by positive outcomes from those conversations) across your team. Disparities may key you into some good/bad habits, lead sourcing challenges and much more.
Example Scenario:
Victoria has 15 SDR on the phones and wants to better understand how they stack up. She pulls up her answer rates by agent report and notices a surprising delta between the highest and lowest performers - surprising, given they’re all calling from the same lead source.
Big Win:
Victoria uncovered a bad actor on her team who was dialing and hanging up, just to reach call quotas. She also discovered an SDR whose number was flagged as spam, and quickly fixed the issue.
Need a Hand? We Can Help
Your data is the key to unlocking your sales team’s potential, but you’ll need the right tools and reports if you want the insights that drive the biggest impact.
PhoneBurner is committed to leading the industry in answer rates, and our team is here to help.
Start a free trial or request a demo to learn how our tools and technology help you get more calls answered and drive more positive outcomes.
Get Access to These Reports
Ready to identify issues and spot opportunities no one else can see?
You’ll find all of the reports above (and many more) on the dedicated answer rate dashboard included with PhoneBurner ARMORTM.
What You Get with ARMOR™
- We register your numbers with the carriers to reduce spam risk
- We monitor your numbers for flags across all major US carriers
- We alert you of flags so you can avoid lost opportunities
- We negotiate with the carriers directly to help remove false flags (without you having to ask)
- We give you access to cutting-edge analytics that lift your answer rate IQ
Tired of flags? Ready to start dialing with confidence? Discover the most comprehensive and done-for-you spam safeguard and answer rate solution.
