How to choose a sales dialer: a buyer's checklist

To choose a sales dialer, start from your calls, not from a feature list: the countries you call, how many reps dial at once, and the CRM you log to. Then check 8 areas, from dialing modes and caller ID to calling rules, AI and total cost, and test each one in a demo with your own list.

Start with 4 facts about your team

Write these down before the first demo. They decide which features matter.

1. Countries and time zones. Each country has its own calling hours, do-not-call lists and rules on abandoned calls.
2. Reps and volume. How many reps dial at the same time, and how many calls each makes a day.
3. Lists and answer rates. List size and the share of calls a person answers today. Low answer rates on large lists favor parallel dialing. Small, high-value lists favor power dialing.
4. Your CRM. Where calls must be logged, and what managers report on.

The checklist: 8 areas to compare

Area	Questions to ask	Red flag
Dialing modes	Power, parallel, predictive? How many lines per rep? What happens when 2 people answer at once?	No answer on how abandoned calls are counted
Caller ID and numbers	Who buys, owns and registers the numbers? Is local presence included? What daily cap applies per number?	Numbers rotated to hide volume
Spam labels	How are labels checked and fixed? What happens to a labeled number?	“Our numbers never get labeled”
Calling rules	Are calling hours checked in the contact’s time zone? Which do-not-call lists are checked, and for which countries?	Rules left to each rep
CRM logging	What is logged: outcome, duration, recording, notes? As which record type? Can reps dial from CRM lists and reports?	Logging needs a manual step
AI	Which jobs use AI: answer detection, briefs, transcripts, summaries, pacing? Which are live today?	AI features shown only in slides
Pricing and total cost	Seats, minutes, numbers, registrations, recordings, AI and international rates	No sample invoice
Data and security	Where are recordings stored, for how long, and who can open them? Can you export your data?	No answer on retention

Dialing modes and abandoned calls

Parallel and predictive dialers call several numbers per rep, so sometimes a person answers when no rep is free. In the US, such a telemarketing call counts as abandoned if no live sales representative is connected within 2 seconds of the person’s completed greeting, and abandoned calls may not exceed 3% of answered calls per campaign over 30 days (47 CFR 64.1200(a)(7)). In the UK, Ofcom’s persistent misuse policy creates no safe harbor: its 2016 statement says the 3% rate in its 2010 policy was a criterion for prioritizing cases, not a safe rate (Ofcom). Ask each vendor how its pacing reacts as the rate rises. For the basics, see what a parallel dialer is.

Caller ID, numbers and spam labels

Whether people answer depends on what their phone shows. Under 47 CFR 64.6301, US voice service providers had to implement STIR/SHAKEN caller ID authentication in their IP networks by 30 Jun 2021, apart from the extensions the rules allow. Ask what attestation level your calls get. See STIR/SHAKEN attestation levels.

Call analytics also score numbers by how they call. In its 2019 call-blocking ruling, the FCC listed signals such as large bursts of calls in a short timeframe, low average call duration and low call completion ratios (FCC 19-51). A dialer that spreads volume across enough numbers, with a daily cap per number, works with those signals rather than against them. See how many calls a number can make a day and why calls show Spam Likely.

Calling rules, CRM, AI and cost

• Calling rules. Ask for the vendor’s list of countries and which checks run before each call. See legal calling hours by country.
• CRM logging. Ask to see a logged call in your CRM during the demo. For Salesforce, see how to log calls in Salesforce automatically.
• AI. Separate real AI jobs from labels. See what an AI dialer actually does.
• Cost. Build a full monthly estimate, not a seat comparison. See sales dialer pricing.

Questions to ask in the demo

1. Can we dial a sample of our own list, live, during the call?
2. How long does a person who answers wait before the rep speaks?
3. What does a call screener or a phone menu look like to the rep?
4. Who registers our caller ID numbers, and what is the daily cap per number?
5. Which calling rules are checked before each call, for each of our countries?
6. Can you show a call logged in our CRM, with the recording and notes?
7. Which features in this demo are live today, and which are on a roadmap?
8. Can we see a sample monthly invoice for a team our size?

Score the vendors the same way

Give each of the 8 areas a weight from 1 to 3 for your team, then score each vendor 0, 1 or 2 per area. Multiply and add. A team calling 5 countries might weight calling rules at 3, while a team calling only its home market might weight it at 1. Score only what you saw working in the demo, not what was promised.

How DialSavvy handles this

DialSavvy runs power, local presence and parallel dialing: 2 lines solo, 3 with a team of 3 or more, with an abandonment governor. DialSavvy is the carrier, so numbers, registrations and local caller ID are run for you, and each number makes up to 50 calls a day. Compliance checks before every call cover calling hours in the contact’s time zone and your do-not-call list, with rule packs by country. Salesforce is in early access. Spam protection, number health and HubSpot are coming. See the DialSavvy dialer.

Write your 4 facts on one page and send it to every vendor before the demo, so each one shows you the same things.