How to set up and use a sales dialer: first-week playbook

Most teams that buy a dialer spend week one fighting the tool instead of talking to people. The list import breaks on a column header. Nobody agreed on what "interested" means. Reps dial so fast that the first callback lands in a voicemail box nobody checks. And a pile of local numbers gets flagged as spam by Friday.

This playbook covers the five things to set up before the first real calling session: the list, the script, the dispositions, the pacing and the caller ID. We use the Ready Dialer as the worked example. Ready's dialer is click-to-call, not an auto dialer. If you need a true auto dialer that dials the next number for you, this post says where that fits too. For background on how auto dialers differ from preview and predictive dialers, see what auto dialers are and who needs one.

First, decide which kind of dialer you actually need

The word "dialer" gets used loosely. Three setups get sold under the name, and they solve different problems:

The Ready Dialer is the first row. You click to call from the dial pad in the Ready dashboard or inside GoHighLevel. Calls are recorded with consent and transcribed. Inbound calls ring the open pad, and missed calls show up as a Missed call card in the contact's Inbox thread. It doesn't auto-dial, queue-dial, drop voicemail, transfer calls, or let managers barge in or whisper. If your plan depends on any of those, buy a dedicated auto dialer. The comparison in CRM with a built-in dialer vs a standalone auto dialer is a good place to decide.

Plenty of teams find click-to-call is enough. If your leads come from forms, ads or referrals, you're calling dozens of people a day, not thousands, and each call matters more than raw dial speed.

Day 1: load and clean the list

A dirty list wastes every later step, so spend day one on it.

Standardize the columns

Before importing, make sure each row has:

• Phone in E.164 format (+12125550199). Mixed formats cause duplicate contacts and failed dials.
• First name and source (form, referral, trade show). Reps open differently depending on where the lead came from.
• Time zone or area code. You need this for calling hours.
• Consent status. Did this person opt in to calls, texts, both or neither?

Scrub before you dial

Run the list against DNC and known TCPA-litigator lists before anyone picks up a phone. Ready's standalone TCPA and DNC litigator scrub costs $0.005 per contact. Statutory TCPA damages run roughly $500 to $1,500 per violation, so the scrub is cheap risk reduction. It is not lawsuit protection. Compliance is still your responsibility, and a scrub doesn't replace consent records or honoring do-not-call requests. The scrub API is at GET /v1/scrub/:phone if you want to run it inside your own import flow. See the scrub docs.

Also strip out landlines you plan to text later. Calling a landline is fine. Texting one wastes a send.

Day 2: write the script and the opener

Keep the script to one screen. Reps who read a page out loud sound like they're reading a page out loud. A workable structure:

1. Opener (10 seconds): who you are and why you're calling this person. "Hi Dana, it's Sam from Ridgeline Roofing. You asked for a quote on our site Tuesday."
2. Permission check: "Got two minutes now, or is later better?"
3. Two or three qualifying questions, written out word for word.
4. One clear ask: book the appointment, send the quote, schedule the demo.
5. Voicemail version (under 25 seconds): name, reason, callback number, and one detail they'll recognize.

For full examples by scenario, our cold calling process guide has scripts and follow-up call structures.

Use day two for role-play. Two reps, ten calls each, recorded. Ready transcribes recorded calls, so you can read back where the script broke instead of trying to remember it.

Day 3: define dispositions before anyone dials

A disposition is the label a rep gives a call when it ends. If you skip this step, your CRM fills up with notes like "talked, maybe" and you can't report on anything by week two.

Keep the list short. Eight is plenty:

• Connected: booked. Meeting or appointment set
• Connected: interested, follow up. Needs a date and a task
• Connected: not interested. Close out
• Connected: do not call. Suppress permanently, today
• Voicemail left
• No answer
• Wrong number / bad data
• Callback requested. Exact time recorded

Write a one-line definition for each and pin it where reps can see it. Wherever you log dispositions (your CRM, a GoHighLevel pipeline stage, or a field on the contact), the rule is the same: every call gets exactly one, before the next dial.

"Do not call" is the one that carries legal weight. Make sure it suppresses the contact from future calls and texts in whatever system you use.

Day 4: set your pacing and do the cost math

Pacing

On click-to-call, the rep sets the pace. A realistic target for a focused rep is roughly 40 to 80 dials an hour, depending on how much they log between calls. Build the day in blocks:

• Two 90-minute calling blocks at the times your contacts actually answer, often late morning and late afternoon local time.
• Fresh inbound leads go first, every time. A form fill from five minutes ago is worth more than any row on an old list. Our post on the 60-second window covers why.
• Call log checked at the top of every block. Missed inbound calls show there.
• Calling hours: stay inside the TCPA's general 8 AM to 9 PM window in the contact's local time, and check whether your state rules are stricter.

What a week of calling costs

The Ready Dialer bills $0.025 per minute. Each started minute counts as a full minute, and only answered time is billed. Ring-outs and busy signals cost nothing. Voicemail answering counts as an answered call. There are no seat plans, and every answered minute bills at that same rate from the first one.

Worked example, with stated assumptions:

• 1 rep, 200 dials a day
• 30 live connects (15%, an assumed rate), averaging 3 minutes 20 seconds, so each bills 4 minutes
• 50 calls hit voicemail. The rep leaves a 20-second message, so each bills 1 minute
• 120 no-answers or busy signals bill nothing

Daily: (30 × 4) + (50 × 1) = 170 minutes × $0.025 = $4.25. Five days is 5 × 170 minutes × $0.025 = $21.25 for the rep's week of dialing.

Pair the call with a text, for consented leads only

If a lead opted in to texts and didn't pick up, a short text after the voicemail gives them an easy way to reply. Something like "Hi Dana, Sam from Ridgeline, just left you a voicemail about your roof quote. Text back a good time to talk." That's under 160 characters with no emoji, so it's 1 segment. On the Standard rate, that's $0.0075 + $0.0045 carrier fee per text. Thirty of those a day is 30 × ($0.0075 + $0.0045). Replies are billed the same way. Texting needs a registered 10DLC campaign. Most approvals take 2 to 7 days, so register before your calling week, not during it. For what to send, see follow-up texts after no response.

Ready's all-in prices per segment include the carrier fee but not screening: Scrub lists and Number validation, the two switches in Settings under Compliance, each add $0.003 per segment when switched on, shown as screening on your bill, and both are off by default. Unless you turn the opt-out footer off, the first text to each contact, and one again from time to time, also gets "Reply STOP to opt out" and your business name if the message does not already have them, so a text close to the segment limit can bill one more segment.

Don't text cold contacts. Cold outreach goes by phone. SMS is for people who opted in or already replied.

Day 5: set up local presence without burning your numbers

Local presence means the contact sees a number from their own area code. It's popular because people are more willing to answer a familiar area code. The risk is overdoing it. If you rotate through dozens of fresh numbers to dodge spam labels, carrier analytics can flag all of them at once. Our post on using local presence safely covers this in detail. The short version:

• Buy a few numbers per region, not one per area code. Start with your top three or four markets.
• Keep each contact on one number. If Dana got a call from your 512 number, her callback and follow-ups should come from the same 512 number.
• Keep volume per number modest so no single number looks like a robocaller.
• Make sure every number rings somewhere. A local number that goes to dead air on callback undoes the point.

On the texting side, Ready's Local presence setting sends from the account's number closest to the contact's area code. In GoHighLevel, the Local presence switch is the same setting, so GoHighLevel texts follow it too. Every number still sits on your registered 10DLC campaign. Local presence chooses among registered numbers and doesn't bypass registration.

What to review at the end of week one

On Friday, pull these numbers:

• Connect rate by calling block and by number
• Disposition counts. A lot of "wrong number" results means a data problem, not a rep problem
• Missed-call age. Anything older than a few hours is a lead you're losing
• Billed minutes against bookings. For example, $51 of dialing for six booked appointments is $8.50 per booking before rep time
• Three call transcripts per rep, read for where the script breaks

The short version

Choose the dialer type that fits your call volume. Clean and scrub the list on day one. Keep the script to one screen. Define dispositions before the first dial. Put fresh leads ahead of the old list. Use a small, stable set of local numbers. If click-to-call with recording, transcripts and a Missed call card in the Inbox thread for each missed call covers what you need, you can create an account and place a call from the dial pad in the dashboard or GoHighLevel. Per-minute and per-segment pricing are listed on our pricing page. If you need a true auto dialer, that's a different tool, and it's better to know that before your first week than after it.