Phone sales and telemarketing are still two of the most powerful tools available to sales organizations today. But both are numbers games, in which the key to success is making a large number of calls and then squeezing out every fraction of a percent of conversion rate possible. But high-volume calling is pointless if agents can’t get prospects to answer the phone, and that’s a problem that many sales organizations run into when they run out-of-area or out-of-state calling campaigns. The main issue is that call recipients are naturally less trusting of numbers they’re not familiar with. So, when a prospect’s call display shows an unfamiliar area code, the odds are high they’re just going to ignore it. It’s a trust gap that exists completely outside the sphere of the sales company – but there is a way to close it. 

 

The Solution: Calling from a Local Phone Number

The simple solution is to call prospects from a local number so that when their call displays light up, it’s with a number that doesn’t put them on edge or sound any alarms. By finding a way around that initial trust gap caused by unfamiliar area code, companies then give their agents a chance to get prospects on the line to start building trust in-person. Once that occurs, and a relationship begins to form, getting in touch will naturally be significantly easier – but that first touch is key, and a local number is “the” way to make it happen. So, how do companies go about putting local numbers to work for otherwise long-distance calls? It might sound like a difficult task involving multiple phones and hard-wired lines, but it’s actually an extremely simple process that can all be managed online in a matter of a few clicks. 

 

Using Local Presence to Manage Calling 

Local presence is a web-based service that uses voice-over-internet-protocol, or VOIP, to enable users to activate, store, and manage dozens of completely real phone numbers from all over the country (or even the world) all from an online dialer. With local presence, an agent simply has to organize their calls by area and then select the appropriate number from a list of available numbers. From there, all of their outgoing calls will be dialed from whichever local number they’ve selected. For instance, an agent in New York City calling prospects in Boise, Idaho, would simply have to select a 208 number and then begin working their call sheet without having to worry about not getting through, because local presence is so effective, it can boost answer rates by up to 65%

There are different ways to access local presence services, but arguably the most effective is through a customer resource management platform. CRMDialer, the leading customer resource management tool on the market, comes with a full-featured power dialer built right in, including a robust local presence tool. You can easily port in your own existing numbers, or add new ones based on area codes the system suggests to best match your lead locations. You can quickly select and manage your numbers using the intuitive calling dashboard, and because the dialer is fully integrated with the CRM, every detail on your out-of-area and out-of-state calls will be automatically captured in the relevant lead account. You can even access the dialer and local presence features right from your cell phone thanks to the new CRMDialer app! 

For more information on how local presence can supercharge your out-of-state sales calls, or on the complete list of sales and productivity features included in CRMDialer, start your free trial today!