What Is a Parallel Dialer and Why B2B Sales Teams Need One

What Is Parallel Dialing? 

Simply put, parallel dialing is using a software application to make multiple outbound calls to prospects concurrently, through a computer. Instead of using a telephone to make manual calls one at a time, the parallel dialing software will call two, four, six – as many as 10 phone numbers at the same time. Since the average call-to-connect ratio for outbound sales calling is as much as 35-to-one, this speeds up the efficiency of reaching a live person on the phone by as much as 10 times.

When a call is answered by a live person, if the parallel dialing software is advanced, a pop-up from the CRM (or even their LinkedIn profile, if that’s been programmed) will appear on the salesperson’s computer monitor so that they can have a personalized conversation. Meanwhile, the dialer itself is paused automatically, so the call will be un-interrupted.

When the call is done, the results are logged automatically in the CRM database, so the salesperson will not have to try to remember later, or accidentally type in mistaken information.

Then, the salesperson can click a button on the computer and the parallel dialing will begin again, where it left off when the previous call was answered. 

Let’s look at how parallel dialing can vastly improve sales teams’ performance and job enthusiasm:  

Two Steps to Successful Sales Outreach 

B2B Sales is hard work. It’s: 

1. Hours and hours and hours of research about prospects and their businesses
2. Then reaching them with your message and selling! 

Step One: Research 

Best practices today in sales includes Account Based Management (ABM), which emphasizes learning as much as possible about target prospects and their business needs before engaging. In today’s world, most people research solutions themselves before they are willing to listen to a sales rep. They expect, when they do take a call, that the rep should be a knowledgeable insider to their industry, their pain points, and their ROI requirements. Doing research is therefore often crucial to making a sale. 

Most ABM programs require sales teams (often BDR or SDR teams) to research a few hundred top prospects each. In an ideal situation, marketing and sales work together to identify the likely personas of who would most appreciate your product. Marketing pulls leads from the information they gather about people who go to the website, sign up for webinars, fill out website forms or surveys, attend events or click-through social media or online advertising.  

But sales teams know that this is just the start of their work. Now that they know a lead exists, they do more research. Some salespeople do an extra 10-15 minutes of research before every single call they make. 

This can add up. It is time spent not selling. 

Step Two: Parallel Dialing 

What? Wait – aren’t there some more steps between identifying the lead, researching them, and calling two hundred leads in an afternoon?

Well, yes. While you’re learning it, put the data you’ve learned about each prospect and their companies into their account information into your CRM, like Salesforce. 

Generate a list of phone numbers from that CRM set. This can include office numbers and mobile phone numbers. Advanced dialers, or agent-assisted dialing platforms, can even handle main office numbers and navigate through gatekeepers and voice-mail trees (IVRs).  

Once the list is created, upload it into your Dialing application and start calling. Seriously, that’s it.  

All that time researching? Not wasted. The instant a live person answers, the CRM entry associated with that number pops up the information the sales rep (or BDR, or SDR) has included. It’s right there in front of you, no extra, “remind me” 10 minutes of research before an individual, manually dialed call.  

This not only saves hours – days’ worth – of time by salespeople. It allows for time to sell. It allows the time to do all the other things on the list: talk to the prospect in a relaxed way, learn their specific issues, assess and explain how your solution is the right one for them, and that your solution is the best deal for them. Set up meetings and demos. In a single dialing session, one afternoon, salespeople can talk to a dozen people that normally they would reach in a week – maybe – of manual dials surrounded by refresher research.  

Kind of a no-brainer, right?  

The Details: What to Consider in Choosing Your Parallel Dialing Technology 

There are a lot of competitors in the Dialing technology space now. Here are a few key functionalities and elements to consider before committing your sales team to one:  

• How Do They Integrate With Your CRM?: Most companies selling dialing technology will tell you that they “work with your CRM” but most require salespeople to toggle between the CRM and the application. Choose a dialer that is endorsed by Salesforce and Hubspot and available within their app exchanges (Salesforce App Exchange and Hubspot Marketplace). Koncer dialers, for instance, offer full Native integration with Salesforce and Hubspot. Don’t settle for less.
  
• Do They Offer A Variety of Reports/Dashboards: One of the greatest advantages of Sales Engagement technology (Dialers are just a part of this; we’ll go into it in a future article) is the data collection. How many calls made, how long do salespeople spend on calls, what are the dispositions (meetings booked, referrals gathered, etc). Data is only as good as the reports it appears in, and how easy those are to access, understand, and act upon. Koncert provides more reporting and dashboard options than any other dialing technology offered today. 
  
• Is a Cadence Supplied?: A cadence is sales-speak for the order of communications types that it takes to make a sale. How many phone calls (and when), interspersed with emails, along with documents sent, videos supplied, webinar invitations, etc. Most dialer providers leave designing a sales cadence up to the customer: you figure it out. Koncert has a product called “Cadence” (see what we did there?) and it comes with our two parallel dialing products, AI Parallel Dialer and Agent-Assisted Dialer. Cadence by Koncert is a flexible, powerful tool to make sure your prospects get the right touch, at the right time. Included. 

• How Long Have They Been In Business: Dialers are “hot” right now. Sales teams have discovered their power. This also means that, almost daily, another dialing “solution” pops up. This technology is easy to use, but it’s not easy to make. Stick with a company that has already proven the stability of its product. Koncert, formerly named ConnectLeader, is one of the creators and innovators of Dialing technology, having been in the business for more than 10 years.

• Do They Have A Platform of Dialers for Any Sales Role: Many dialer providers claim they have a “platform” when really all they have is a one-size-fits-all dialer product. Don’t be fooled. Different sales functions do better with different dialers, so choose a provider right for the whole team. Parallel dialing is ideal for BDR and SDR teams with long cold calling lists. It’s also great for Account Executives who have a few hundred accounts in their ABM programs. Other auto dialing solutions include single line dialers and click-to-call dialers, each with a workflow associated. Koncert has a full platform, and gives you a Cadence product with every format.

Remember, back at the top of this article, mentioning that salespeople will be more enthusiastic about their work using parallel dialing software? Yes, we didn’t forget.  

When the silo is stripped away and salespeople can do what they do best: sell – enthusiasm for the job increases. More time speaking to prospects means more time succeeding at selling, which means more commissions and feeling of accomplishment.  

Sales teams who use Koncert’s parallel dialing technology are often astonished at their increase in productivity. Once they are set up with the software, using parallel dialing is easy – it’s really the easiest part of the entire process.  

Speak to a Koncert rep about getting a demo of AI Parallel Dialer or Agent-Assisted Dialing. The right dialer is ready for your team. We know. At Koncert, we’ve been doing this a long time. Let us show you, today.