A Beginner's Guide to Sales Call Tracking

How often have you asked a lead, "How did you hear about our company?" Thousands, right? And how many times have you gotten helpful answers? Chances are, not quite as often.

This is one of the most important (and often forgotten) questions to ask during that first interaction with a prospective customer. And even when you do remember to ask, expecting a lead to tell you where they heard about your company accurately can be problematic. In either case, it is difficult to know what marketing or advertising campaigns are working and which are not. So instead, you're throwing your budget at a wall hoping something sticks. 

That's why sales call tracking is critical to any sales team relying on the phone to communicate with leads.

With call tracking software, you'll automatically know which ad, promotion, campaign, or search term captured your lead's attention. No awkward questions are needed.

The process of tracking the source of leads is called attribution, and it is a powerful tool. However, Ruler Analytics reports that 53.3% of sales leaders do not understand attribution. Also, 62% admit that they don't attribute revenue to inbound calls. So, imagine your advantage over competitors when you implement attribution into your sales strategy. 

Many of the companies using lead attribution are not doing it efficiently. For example, 42% of marketers report attribution manually using spreadsheets instead of a software solution. Call tracking technology makes the process seamless. As a result, you'll have the information you need to make intelligent sales and marketing decisions and ultimately increase your ROI and sales.

What is Sales Call Tracking?

Inbound call tracking software like Calldrip identifies and records the source of each inbound phone call in real time. These tracked sources come from local phone numbers on ads, contact forms on a website, pay-per-click ad campaigns, and search keywords. 

Call tracking is typically used with other conversational sales enablement tools, including conversational analytics and automated text messaging. With these critical tools, your team can analyze the language used by your sales team, the conversation's outcome, and the next steps. You'll gain insight into your leads' demographics, strengths, weaknesses, and pain points in relation to their source. The source is also recorded in the lead's record in your CRM. 

In the end, you can use aggregate data to measure the ROI of every campaign.

How Does Sales Call Tracking Work?

Calls are attributed to their sources when the system tracks unique phone numbers for offline and online advertisements and marketing campaigns. The technology is known as dynamic number insertion (DNI). DNI uses a snippet of JavaScript, which pulls an available and trackable phone number from a pool of available and trackable phone numbers into your ad or landing page. Call tracking records these phone numbers as the source of every lead call. 

For example, a lead may see one of your ads on Facebook and call the phone number in the ad. That phone number is unique to just that ad, so when the lead uses it, the system attributes their call to that ad. Or, you may print a unique phone number in a direct mailer. If the recipient uses that phone number to contact you for more information, that mailer is recorded as the source in the software. 

You can use this method for any advertisement or marketing content with a phone number. You can attribute calls at the campaign, keyword, or customer level.

The best call tracking software will pair with separate software that offers voice response systems and automatic call routing to qualify prospects and provide more lead-based reporting. In addition, inbound call tracking products integrate with analytics and advertising tools to include offline conversions in the tracking function.

Why Use Sales Call Tracking?

Call tracking matters because it provides insight into your marketing and sales performance on phone-based channels. Once you install call tracking, there's no need to play twenty questions with leads about how they found you. Here are a few reasons to use a call tracking solution:

Know What’s Working and Act Accordingly

With call tracking, your team will know which campaigns and channels are netting the most viable leads. You can then use that knowledge to allocate your budget more strategically. Your marketing team can funnel your budget into the most profitable phone-based initiatives, stop advertising on the unsuccessful ones, and increase your advertising and marketing spend ROI.

Optimize Marketing Efforts

Not only will call tracking tell you which campaign or channel is returning the best ROI, but it can also help you optimize your messaging and placement. For example, you can measure which promotions drive the most phone calls, which ads are the most impactful, and what kinds of images and art are the most prominent. All of this information can be beneficial in creating more effective and strategic campaigns and give your sales team insights into how to talk about your product with leads.

Automated Data Collection

Any call attribution will generate essential data that your team can use to measure results and act more efficiently. Call tracking software handles the process automatically within your call response system and your CRM without requiring your sales team to ask pointed questions and distract from the sales conversation.

Fast Response Rate

Call tracking technology allows you to route calls to the best sales team member immediately. You set up the parameters that tell the software which salesperson will receive the call based on source, demographics, product, and other details. Having that kind of detail when receiving lead calls sets your sales team up for success.

Unlocks Insights About Sales Performance

Many call tracking systems integrate with call response software to record sales conversations, making monitoring and coaching interactions easy, identify common mistakes and pain points, and drive faster conversions. Calldrip's call response system offers unlimited call recording and sales coaching software, including customized KPIs, coaching scorecards, and purpose-built playbooks.

What Problems Exist with Sales Call Tracking?

Here are some challenges to keep in mind when searching for a call tracking solution.

Data integration

It may not be worth the investment if you can't automatically and accurately store the data collected through a call tracking solution. Ensure your chosen solution integrates with your call response software and your CRM to make the data collection process seamless.

Cost

Many call tracking systems can become expensive with plenty of bells and whistles. Make sure your team needs those extras and how much they are. For example, Calldrip's call tracking and response system includes a virtual assistant module at no extra cost. Some solutions also require a specific phone system to route calls. If you have to replace your entire phone system or CRM, that will add considerable cost to the project. Make sure your ROI is worth it. 

Missed calls

A call tracking software will not stop your team from missing calls. Only a 24/7 answering service would address that issue.

However, with a system like Calldrip's, you can set up a virtual responder AND automatically send a text message with an AI sales assistant to leads apologizing for missing a call and saying you'll be in touch soon. In the meantime, the call is automatically routed to the best sales team member, who can call the lead back as quickly as possible.

Who Should Explore Call Tracking?

Call tracking would enhance your business if:

• Your business relies on a one-to-one sales process between a lead and a sales team member
• Your company uses phone calls and text messages (or would like to use the phone more) as part of the sales process
• Your business advertises online or offline using a phone number as your main point of contact
• Your sales team struggles to attribute marketing and advertising campaigns to conversions

In other words, any sales team striving to optimize its efforts will benefit from call tracking software.

How to Get Started with Sales Call Tracking?

Finding the right partner is critical to successfully implementing a new call tracking solution. There are plenty of software solutions available. For example, Calldrip offers call tracking as part of our all-in-one conversational sales enablement software. So, your team will benefit from enhanced call attribution and increase your conversion rates with more just-in-time call connections, sales call recording and coaching, and advanced analytics of every step of your sales process. Want to see firsthand how this powerful tool can boost your sales team's performance?

Contact us for a demo today!