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Summary:
- As customer behavior and technology evolve over time, sales tactics need to evolve alongside them in order to be effective.
- The right technology can support better sales tactics by making outreach more efficient, streamlining lead management, improving call quality, and more.
- Focus on tactics like unifying data, automating efficiently, and setting clear next steps with prospects.
- Avoid outdated approaches like rushing sales, neglecting training, or skipping meaningful follow-ups.
- Tools like PhoneBurner can help teams boost productivity, streamline workflows, and have more quality conversations with prospects so you and your agents can make more sales.
As technology and customer behavior both evolve, sales tactics need to keep up. Anything likely to get your team making more sales or conversions is worth trying, and anything weighing your team down or driving customers away needs to be cut loose.
Our platform improves outreach for sales teams so that you can have more quality conversations with prospects—but you’ll still need to know what to say (or not say) when a lead picks up the phone. Here are our top dos and don'ts for your 2025 sales strategy.
The Right Technology Supports the Right Sales Tactics
The tactics we’ve listed below can improve the way you navigate sales calls—but you also need the right technology to connect with prospects for high-quality conversations. That’s why we developed PhoneBurner to include features like:
- ARMOR® (Answer Rate Monitoring, Optimization, and Remediation): improve your live answer rate with spam flag protection plus cutting-edge analytics.
- Local Presence Dialing: Call your prospects from area codes they recognize, so they’ll be more likely to answer you and stay receptive during your opening.
- Over 200+ Integrations: Give your calls a boost by connecting our dialing platform to popular CRMs like Salesforce, add seamless video calling functionality for demos with Zoom, and more.
PhoneBurner is also the first outbound dialing platform with a Tier-1 carrier, which improves call deliverability, quality and number reputation. Set your team up for success by starting a free trial here—then keep reading to learn how to take full advantage of the opportunities you’ll have when your prospects pick up.
4 Sales Tactics to Improve Team Performance
Staying up to date with current technology and using it to enhance the quality of your communication is vital for keeping your sales conversations on track and maintaining a high conversion rate. Here’s what we recommend in 2025:
1. Unify and Elevate Your Data
Data is the lifeblood of modern sales teams, but siloed information across departments can hinder success. When sales, marketing, and customer success teams operate on disconnected systems, valuable insights are lost, creating gaps that weaken follow-up and customer engagement.
The key is to centralize your data and enrich it through cross-department collaboration. Marketing insights, such as lead behaviors or campaign responses, should flow seamlessly into sales processes, while customer success feedback can inform tailored outreach and retention strategies. Sales teams equipped with unified data gain a clearer picture of the customer journey, allowing them to approach each interaction with greater relevance and impact.
Dialing software with built-in CRM support like PhoneBurner takes this concept further by acting as both a communication hub and a data powerhouse. Features like built-in CRM integration, call transcriptions, and AI-generated notes ensure critical details are captured and stored in one place. Sales reps can access enriched profiles that combine marketing activity, service history, and conversation insights, empowering them to deliver personalized, informed interactions.
2. Improve Lead Distribution Processes
Effective lead distribution remains a persistent challenge for many sales teams, and the rise of remote work has only intensified the issue. Manual lead distribution, often plagued by delays and human error, can leave leads unassigned or in the hands of reps who are unavailable or ill-suited for follow-up. This increases the risk of missed opportunities and frustration for both sales teams and prospective customers.
One major hurdle is the critical importance of speed to lead—the faster a lead is contacted after expressing interest, the higher the likelihood of conversion. But ensuring leads are promptly and properly assigned is often easier said than done. Delays in follow-up can cause even the warmest prospects to go cold, especially in a remote work environment where managers may struggle to oversee every interaction in real-time.
To overcome these challenges, modern sales teams are turning to tools that automate and streamline lead distribution. PhoneBurner’s LeadStream is a prime example of technology designed to ensure no lead falls through the cracks. With LeadStream, you can create custom rules to automatically assign leads to the most appropriate agents based on criteria such as availability, performance history, or geographic location. This eliminates the bottlenecks of manual distribution and ensures every lead is routed quickly to the right person.
Additionally, LeadStream addresses another key issue: accountability. If a lead isn’t contacted within a specified time frame, the system can automatically redistribute it to another rep, preventing missed opportunities and maximizing your team’s efficiency. These features ensure that leads are worked promptly, even in the dynamic environment of remote or hybrid sales teams.
3. Know What to Automate
You already know automation can give you speed and accuracy over manual processes. The problem is that thousands of automation tools exist in the sales and marketing sector, and too much automation can be a bad thing. How do you know which tools deliver value, and which don’t?
Always consider the speed/quality trade-off. Sales is about relationships—so don't let automation or AI drag down the quality of your communications, or your conversion rate will suffer.
For example, many high-call volume sales teams are tempted to use parallel or auto dialers. This type of software calls many prospects at once, and uses AI to determine if someone answers live. When they do, the call is transferred to a live agent.
There are significant downsides to parallel dialing including the dead-air delay that follows “hello” (and the associated increase in hangups), increased risk of spam flags, and the stress it causes agents who come into calls rushed and underprepared.
Opt for technology that boosts productivity, without sacrificing quality. A power dialer increases dialing efficiency without any sign that software is being used. Using PhoneBurner, sales reps are on the line when contacts say "hello" so they can reply instantly as if they dialed by hand.
Learn More: Auto Dialer vs Power Dialer: The Difference and Obvious Choice
Instead of impacting live conversations, PhoneBurner automates time-consuming tasks that sap energy and productivity - such as 1-click voicemails, emails, and texts (with A2P 10DLC approval), automated note summaries, and much more.
With PhoneBurner, all calls are automatically logged and post-call workflows handled. The result is up to 4x more live conversations–all without compromising the genuine, 1-to-1 connection that today’s customers demand.
4. Integrate Your Technology to Make Reps Happy
Post-call workflow automation, lead distribution, and CRM support can all help your sales reps reach more prospects and have better conversations with them—but no one wants to have to log in to a dozen different sales and automation apps each day.
Your tech stack should be seamlessly integrated so that reps get the benefits without overhauling their processes.
Part of succeeding with modern technology is simply manageability.
PhoneBurner’s seamless integration with hundreds of tools and top CRMs, including native integrations with Salesforce, Zoho, Outreach, and others makes adoption easy. Features that protect against spam flags and improve live answer rates make outreach more rewarding too. Start your free trial here, then read on for our list of tactics to avoid.
4 Sales Tactics to Avoid
The tactics that worked even a few years ago aren't still driving sales today. Customer preferences are changing, so your team needs to stay proactive and informed.
Here are a few once-great practices to leave out of your sales strategy in 2025 and beyond.
1. Telling and Not Asking (a.k.a. Selling and Not Solving)
In the olden days of marketing and sales, the primary strategy revolved around telling. The power of suggestion ruled all. Sales callers told prospects what they needed, and they listened. However, if you're selling a solution to just anyone, they're bound to figure out pretty quickly when it isn't a good fit.
Learn More: 7 Common Conversation Mistakes You Need to Avoid in Sales
Today’s buyers are motivated to act when they see a credible solution to an underlying problem or need. So ask the right questions to identify pain points or gaps that aren’t being addressed with their current setup or solution. Otherwise, you're wasting their time, and your own. When you're on the phone with your key decision-makers, remember that 96% of them are more likely to consider you if you have a clear understanding of their business needs.
2. Leaving the Next Steps Unclear
Too many salespeople end calls without a firm plan for follow-up. If your reps are wrapping up with vague statements like, "Let me know if you have any questions," or "I'll check back in a week," they're leaving deals to chance and missing golden opportunities.
Learn More: How to Make the Most of Sales Follow-Up Calls
A well-structured sales process is essential. Go into every call with a clear goal and next step in mind. Whether it’s scheduling a discovery call, live demo, or proposal review, ensure you clarify what comes next and lock in a specific appointment. Without this, prospects can lose focus and move on to other priorities, leaving you chasing them through endless phone and email follow-ups.
By securing time on your prospect’s calendar before the call ends, you significantly reduce the risk of delays or no-shows—and keep the deal moving forward.
3. Avoid the “Always Be Closing” Mentality
It’s tempting to push for a quick close, especially when a deal seems within reach. But rushing the process can backfire if you overlook critical signals that the prospect may not be the right fit. Building a genuine connection and understanding their needs ensures long-term success, while neglecting this step risks high churn rates—84% of unhappy buyers report feeling their sales rep was too pushy.
Instead of prioritizing a fast sale, focus on becoming a trusted advisor. Ask thoughtful questions to uncover whether your solution aligns with their goals. For example, rather than saying, “Let’s sign you up today,” try, “Can we explore how this could work for your team in more detail?” This approach fosters trust and helps you secure clients who are more likely to stay and advocate for your brand.
Remember, pushing too hard not only risks alienating prospects but can harm your reputation. Satisfied customers will spread the word, but so will those who feel pressured into a decision they regret. Take the time to build relationships, and the rewards will follow.
4. Not Prioritizing Training
It's a common misconception that only new hires and entry-level sales reps need training. Everyone benefits from honing their skills, even the elites.
In fact, the best-of-the-best often demand it. How many chart-topping singers don't have vocal training? How many pro athletes walk on the field having missed practice all week? Exactly—none.
Your sales team is just the same. They need refreshers on the fundamentals and to stay up-to-date on the techniques that are driving conversions. They need to refine their scripts and their pitches. They need to know and analyze the competition. Your sales team wants nothing more than to make more sales, and training done right will give them that edge.
A virtual sales floor is a powerful way to provide live feedback, and it’s fun too.
Learn More About PhoneBurner's Power Dialer
Do you use the phone as a sales tool? Looking to grow your sales in 2025 and beyond? Learn how PhoneBurner can give your team more quality “at bats” and make outreach more personal, more productive, and more profitable.
To see how our dialer and sales acceleration platform turn good sales teams into great ones, start your free trial here.
