Why do these services quote a contact rate instead of just telling me how many calls they make?

Question

Reading two proposals side by side. One says 6,000 dials a month. The other says 4 percent contact rate and doesn't mention dials at all. I've been mostly reading about notes and paper so this is new ground for me, and I can't tell whether the second one is being more honest or hiding something. Is contact rate a standard measure or does each shop calculate it their own way?

dpatel_re · Answer

Contact rate is the only one of those two numbers that touches your outcome. 6,000 dials at 2 percent is 120 owner conversations. 4,000 dials at 5 percent is 200. Dials are an input the vendor controls and can inflate by dialing garbage numbers twice.

And yes, the definition drifts. Some count any answered call, including the wrong person, the spouse, the tenant. Ask specifically for conversations with a verified owner divided by unique numbers dialed. Then ask contacts per lead and leads per contract, and price the whole chain backward from what you can pay for a deal. If your cost per contract lands over your assignment spread the campaign doesn't work no matter how good the dial count looks.

Why do these services quote a contact rate instead of just telling me how many calls they make?

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