How to call every lead on a list before it goes cold

Why the usual way fails

Working a list by hand means dialing, waiting, leaving voicemails and writing notes, one contact at a time. Most small teams only get through the top of the list, so the rest quietly goes stale. Calls happen when someone has a free hour, which is rarely when the prospect is easy to reach, and each person asks slightly different questions. Without the same questions on every call you cannot compare one lead with another, so follow-ups go to whoever sounded keen rather than whoever fits.

How Assay helps

Assay takes the list and dials it for you with an outbound batch dialer, using a caller ID matched to the area code of the person it is calling. Every contact hears the same script, so every lead is asked the same qualifying questions. Each call ends with a score from 0 to 100 and the reasons behind it, and that score decides what happens next: hot leads get a slot on your calendar, warm ones go into a nurture sequence and cold ones are closed politely. Federal and state do-not-call lists are checked before every dial.

Step by step

1. Export your list from Apollo, a CSV file or your CRM, or send it in through a webhook.
2. Pick the script for that campaign and the qualifying questions it should ask.
3. Set the score thresholds; the default puts hot at 80 and up, warm at 50 to 79 and cold below 50.
4. Let the batch dialer work through the list inside your business hours.
5. Open the dashboard and read the transcripts and scores, starting with the hot leads and the reasons given for each one.
6. Keep the meetings that were booked for you and call back any hot lead that asked for a person.

Tips

• Check the list size against your plan before you upload it. Starter caps a list at 5,000 contacts and Professional at 40,000, so a bigger export needs splitting or a larger tier.
• Keep calls inside the hours people expect to hear from a business. The override rules respect business hours and do-not-call lists, but you still choose the calling window for each campaign. A list from another time zone is a good reason to split it into separate campaigns with their own hours.
• Read the reasons next to each score before you trust the number. If many cold scores share the same reason, the list source may be the problem rather than the script.
• Start with a small slice of the list, read twenty or thirty transcripts and adjust the script before it runs through everyone. A question that confuses people on call ten will confuse them on call four hundred too. Once the transcripts read the way you would talk to a customer yourself, open it up to the full list.

Questions