What revenue operations actually need to know about dialer software

What revenue operations actually need to know about dialer software

Your sales team is burning through leads faster than they can convert them, and your cost per acquisition keeps climbing. Reps spend 70% of their time on nonselling tasks, according to Salesforce’s State of Sales research, including manual dialing. Apollo.io explains what revenue operations teams should understand about dialer software.

Key takeaways

• Manual dialing kills productivity: Reps spend 80% of their time on admin work, not conversations.
• Data sync failures create more work than they solve. Demand real-time CRM integration that actually works.
• Connect rates matter more than call volume: Focus on local presence and parallel dialing capabilities over pure speed.
• AI should surface prospect intelligence automatically and eliminate manual logging. If reps need to switch tools, it’s not working.
• The wrong dialer software will cost you more in lost productivity than the subscription fee.

The real problems revops face with dialer software

Your reps are professional button-pushers, not sellers

Manual dialing turns your sales reps into expensive data entry clerks. They dial a number, wait for it to ring, get voicemail, hang up, log the outcome, find the next number, repeat.

The administrative overhead dwarfs the actual selling time. They’re spending roughly 10 minutes on process for every minute of actual conversation.

The bigger problem? Your reps are calling blind. They don’t know the prospect just got funding, changed roles last week, or is currently sitting in an all-hands meeting. They’re dialing into a vacuum and hoping for the best.

Integration theater: When “native CRM integration” means manual workarounds

Every vendor demos seamless Salesforce integration. The reality?

Your team logs calls in one system, updates opportunity stages in another, and nobody trusts the data because nothing syncs in real-time.

You end up with three versions of the truth: what’s in your dialer, what’s in your CRM, and what actually happened. Revops spends more time reconciling data than optimizing processes. Your pipeline reports are fiction, and your forecasting is guesswork based on whichever system someone remembered to update.

What actually works in dialer software

Parallel dialing: Quality over quantity

Instead of rapid-fire sequential dialing, look for platforms that can dial multiple numbers simultaneously and connect your rep to whoever picks up first. This is actually how parallel dialer software works. For example, a user can dial five prospects at once and connect to the first person who answers.

Local presence that actually increases pickup rates

People answer local calls. Period.

Ask potential vendors: “Can I see the local numbers you have available for my territories? How do you handle number rotation to avoid spam flagging?”

AI that works behind the scenes

Skip the AI buzzword presentations. What you need is AI that researches prospects before calls and generates personalized talking points.

Your reps shouldn’t be reading scripts. They should have context about the prospect’s company, recent news, and specific pain points.

Here’s the ideal scenario. As they dial, your rep sees: “Sarah’s company raised Series B three months ago. They use HubSpot and recently hired two new sales managers.”

The metrics that matter for revops

Track activity efficiency, not just volume

Forget the number of calls. Track these instead.

• Conversations: Look at actual decision-maker conversations, not voicemails.
• Time to next activity: How quickly can reps move from one conversation to the next?
• Data completeness after calls: Are records actually getting updated with useful information?
• Connect rates: Are you actually getting through to the people?

Cost per conversation beats cost per call

For example, if your current solution generates 100 dials for three conversations at $200/month per rep, that’s roughly $67 per conversation. A platform that generates 40 dials for 10 conversations at $300/month costs $30 per conversation.

The “expensive” option saves money.

Implementation reality: What works and what doesn’t

Start with data quality, not dialing speed

The fastest dialer in the world won’t help if you’re calling disconnected numbers. Before implementing any dialer software, audit your data quality.

Look for platforms that include waterfall enrichment, checking multiple data sources to find the best contact information.

Common mistake: Revops teams focus on dialing features before solving data problems. You end up with a Ferrari engine in a car with flat tires.

Train on the integration, not the features

Your reps don’t need to become dialer experts. They need to understand how their existing CRM workflow changes (or doesn’t change) with the new system.

Focus training on: “Here’s how you prep for calls, here’s how you log outcomes, here’s how you schedule follow-ups.”

Most implementations fail because reps never adopt the new workflow. They fall back to manual processes because nobody showed them how the integration actually works day-to-day. Shadow your reps during the first week of implementation to catch these friction points early.

Making the decision: questions for your final vendor evaluation

Questions that separate real integration from demo theater

Ask these specific questions during demos:

1. “Show me a live call where the outcome automatically updates the opportunity stage in Salesforce without manual intervention.”
2. “What happens when a prospect requests to be called back next Tuesday? How does this appear in my CRM and my rep’s task list?” This reveals whether the integration handles scheduling and task management or just logs basic call outcomes.
3. “If I update a prospect’s phone number in Salesforce, how quickly does it sync to your platform?”

Real integration means your workflow doesn’t change. Your reps work in the CRM they know, and the dialer operates invisibly in the background.

Integration testing

• “Can we run a two-week pilot with live data flowing between your platform and our CRM?”
• “What specific Salesforce/HubSpot objects and fields will be updated automatically?”
• “How do we handle custom fields and our existing data structure?”

Data and compliance

• “Where is our call data stored, and who has access to it?”
• “How do you handle TCPA compliance and call recording consent?”
• “What happens to our data if we cancel the subscription?”

Real-world performance

• “Can we speak with three customers in similar industries who’ve been using this for at least six months?”
• “What’s the typical connect rate improvement customers see in their first 90 days?”
• “How long does full implementation and user adoption typically take?”

What success actually looks like

The right dialer software should feel invisible to your reps. They wake up, open their CRM, and start conversations. Everything else — logging, follow-ups, data updates — happens automatically.

If your team is thinking about the dialer during their sales day, it’s not working. The best implementations fade into the background while connect rates climb, data quality improves, and your reps spend their time actually selling.

That’s the bar. Demand vendors prove they can clear it before you sign anything.

This story was produced by Apollo.io and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.