Leveraging Cold Call Dispositions as a Sales Leader

Revenue executives now have access to massive amounts of data at their fingertips. However, a lot of this data is often underutilized, sitting in silos, or simply not useful to make informed decisions.

Call dispositions are one of the most valuable pieces of data a sales leader can have.

They provide a quick overview of a call’s outcome and what the rep’s next steps should be. They provide everyone with visibility into the call’s composition in order to identify areas for improvement.

Call dispositions have been trending in sales development recently, with the topic popping up everywhere, from LinkedIn to niche subReddits. Here’s how you can make the most of this data to improve your sales leadership and help your team book more meetings.

What are cold call dispositions?

Call dispositions are a quick way of tracking the outcome of each conversation your sales team has with a prospect.

When the call is complete, the sales rep logs the outcome in their CRM or SEP (connected unqualified, voicemail, not connected, etc.). Over time, this data can provide an overview of what’s working in the cold call process and what’s not.

Using Disposition Codes

A good way to effectively use call dispositions is to mark the calls and sort them into various categories.

Here’s a few examples:

– Reason for calling: As a sales rep, the reason for calling might be obvious, but they can tag it having in mind if this is the first time you’re calling, if it’s a follow-up, etc.

– Type of lead: Tagging your leads will give you great visibility into the quality of leads that your team is reaching out to. You can mark the type of lead as ‘interested’, ‘not interested’, ‘nurture’, or ‘bought another service’. If you notice that a lot of your leads are not interested in talking to your reps, it may mean that the quality of your leads is not good.

– Type of contact: You may come across invalid numbers when contacting leads. If you tag these contacts as ‘invalid’ using call disposition tags, your entire team will be notified, and other team members will be prevented from contacting this contact in the future.

You can also implement call disposition codes that will help sort first calls (which could have a low conversion rate).

Cold Calling (Outbound Sales)

– No Answer; No Voicemail
– Hung up
– Left Voicemail
– Gatekeeper
– Callback
– Complaint
– Not a No; Not a Yes
– Meeting Scheduled
– No
– Referral
– Poor Fit
– Rescheduling
– Meeting Confirmation
– Invalid number
– Needs nurture
– DNC

Inbound Lead Follow-Up

– No Answer
– Left Voicemail
– Qualified, Follow Up
– Call Back Requested
– Qualified, Not Interested
– Disqualified
– Gatekeeper
– Needs nurture
– Poor fit
– Inactive/Wrong Number

You can modify these codes to fit your current sales workflow. These codes are just examples of how your call disposition function could look. To get the best results, consult with your sales team on what codes would be the most useful.

Leveraging call dispositions as a sales leader

Few sales leaders take full advantage of call dispositions. A better way to leverage this feature is to treat each call as a mini opportunity, map it onto a funnel, and log the different stages accordingly.

For example, your call dispositions may be: intro, value prop, objection handle, and booked meetings. This allows reps to see at a glance where each prospect is in the sales process. The rep can pick up where they left off, and their manager can see where they’re getting stuck.

Mapping call dispositions can also help sales leaders become better coaches. With a quick glance at the CRM, you can see overarching patterns for each rep and identify areas for coaching.

If most of a rep’s opportunities are lost on the opening, for instance, then you can provide targeted feedback to help improve that part of their pitch. Presenting call disposition data to the rep can also help them self-identify areas for improvement.

Making the most of call dispositions

One common mistake sales leaders make with call dispositions is having too many options. Limit the number of disposition options available and make sure your reps are clear on the criteria for each. Otherwise, each rep will follow a different process and the data will be skewed.

AI tools like Trellus can integrate with your CRM, listen to calls, and log dispositions. Other features include calculating the likelihood of booking a meeting, notifying reps when they should ask for a meeting, and tracking objections.

Final thoughts on cold call dispositions

Cold calling is still one of the most effective ways to generate leads.

LinkedIn has become less effective with the introduction of the “other” inbox, while according to Crunchbase, 57% of C-level executives prefer to be contacted over the phone. Tracking call dispositions can help you optimize your team’s process.

If you have a sales development insight you want to share on cold calling, email, or new tools, reach out to collin@predictablerevenue.com.

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