A power dialer for SDR teams that run call blocks

What slows SDR and BDR teams down

• Reps lose minutes per call switching between a sequencer, a CRM tab, a dialer and a script document.
• Every rep logs calls differently, so “connects” and “meetings” mean something different in each person’s numbers.
• Dialer seats bundled with minutes or AI features can cost more per month than the rep’s tools budget, especially for a new team testing outbound.
• Managers see dial counts but not which openers, lists or times actually produce conversations.

A calling day for SDR and BDR teams in Rapidialer

1. Load the block’s list

   Import the prospects for this week’s block, with company and title kept as custom fields, and set calling hours to business hours in the prospect’s time zone.

2. Run the call block

   Each rep opens the list with Power Dial on. Contacts are claimed one at a time, so several reps can share a list without colliding.

3. Book meetings as outcomes

   A “Meeting booked” button maps to Connected and moves the prospect to the Meeting booked stage, so the pipeline and the leaderboard both count it.

4. Review and coach

   Managers compare reps on calls, connects, talk time and callbacks set, then listen to recordings of the calls that turned.

The setup we recommend

Use this as a starting point; every list, outcome and stage can be renamed in the app.

CSV columns to import

• phone
• first_name
• last_name
• email
• company
• title
• crm_id

Outcome buttons

• Meeting booked
• Callback
• Not interested
• Wrong person
• Gatekeeper
• No answer
• Voicemail
• DND

Pipeline stages

• New
• Contacted
• Interested
• Meeting booked
• Opportunity
• Lost

Calling hours

Weekdays 8:00–17:30 in the prospect’s time zone covers most B2B buyers, with the window enforced per list.

Follow-up rhythm

Use call follow-ups for the second and third attempts on engaged prospects, and power-dial the due queue at the start of each block.

How does Rapidialer work alongside a CRM?

With HubSpot, directly: import HubSpot contacts into a calling list, dial the block, and each call is logged on the matching HubSpot contact. With any other CRM, send Rapidialer’s signed webhooks (such as call.completed or lead.stage_changed) through Zapier, Make or n8n, or call the REST API with an API key.

The CSV route still works for teams that want no automation: import prospects with their CRM record ID as a column (it maps to the External/CRM id field automatically), and export leads or call history afterwards to match rows back. Salesforce has no native connector, so plan on webhooks or files there.

Set up a call block for the team

What an admin configures before the first block, all in the web app:

• One list per block or segment. Import with Leave unassigned so every rep on the block can pull from it, or use Assign new leads to for named accounts.
• Business hours on the list. Under List settings → Dialing rules, turn on calling hours and set 08:00 to 17:30 with Saturday and Sunday off; the window follows each prospect’s clock.
• Outcomes the whole team shares. In Settings → Dialing → Call outcomes, make “Meeting booked” count as Connected and move to Meeting booked, and make “Gatekeeper” count as Other.
• Retries that suit B2B. Turn on Retry unanswered contacts, then set Other to come back after 24 hours so gatekeeper calls get a second try the next day.
• A default talk track. Tick Set as default on Call on the block’s script so every rep opens the same opener and cold call objection handling.

Which numbers should an SDR manager coach from?

Start with Reach rate and Avg call on the analytics leaderboard, then listen. Each rep has a row with Calls, Reached, Reach rate, Talk time, Avg call, Callbacks set and Follow-ups done for the date range you pick. A rep with plenty of calls and a short average call is worth a listen: filter call history to the Connected outcome and the dates of their block, and play back the recordings.

Below the leaderboard, each list shows its Contacts, how many were Attempted, Reached, Qualified and Won, and how many are Left to dial. Comparing two lists of the same size tells you whether the list or the talk track is the problem before you buy more data.

What stops a rep in the middle of a block?

Usually an unsaved wrap-up. The Dialer refuses the next call with “Save the last call result before dialing again” until the rep picks an outcome and presses Done (Enter works too).

A rep who closes the tab mid-block leaves one prospect claimed. Their dialer stops sending its 30-second heartbeat, and after five minutes the prospect goes back to the queue for the next rep. Focus mode hides the sidebar during the block so fewer tabs get closed by accident.

What does a three-rep or ten-rep SDR team pay?

On monthly seats, a pilot with three reps runs about $79.95 a month and a ten-rep floor about $266.50 (Twilio US voice pricing). That allows each rep 1,000 billed minutes, recording and a local number.

Once the motion is proven, yearly seats at $49 cut the seat line for ten reps from $600 a year to $490, while the Twilio side stays the same. Seats can be added on the Billing page as the pilot grows, prorated for the rest of the period.

How many dials does an SDR need per meeting, and what does it cost?

Work it out from your own two rates: dials per conversation and conversations per meeting. Multiply them for dials per meeting, then divide a target of meetings by that figure to set dials per day. An SDR dialer gives you both rates; in Rapidialer they are Reach rate on the leaderboard and the meetings logged as a booking outcome. Published benchmarks vary too widely to plan from, so use two weeks of your team’s calls.

An illustration, not a benchmark: at one conversation per eight dials and one meeting per ten conversations, a meeting takes 80 dials. A rep making 1,000 billed minutes a month costs about $26.65 in seats and Twilio usage; if that rep books 12 meetings, the outbound SDR calling tool spend per meeting is about $2.22. Salaries dwarf that line, which is why the dialer’s price rarely decides the cost of a meeting.

Sequential, not parallel

Parallel dialers ring several prospects per rep and connect the first answer, which raises connects per hour but means some prospects answer to silence. Rapidialer dials one prospect per rep, after the rep is ready, so every conversation starts on time. Read parallel dialer vs power dialer for the tradeoffs. The same call-block rhythm works for recruiters calling candidates, and founders who make their own calls can start from the small business setup.

Compliance notes for SDR and BDR teams

Rapidialer and the dialers SDR and BDR teams often weigh

Competitor facts link to their sources below; the first column is our own product.

Full comparison: Rapidialer vs Kixie.

Features and scripts for this team

• Power DialSequential power dialing: the next contact is dialed after each wrap-up and a five-second countdown.
• Call outcomesCall dispositions in one click, with custom outcome buttons that can move a lead to a pipeline stage.
• Call analyticsCalls, talk time, connects, outcomes, a team leaderboard and list funnels.
• Call scriptsStaged talk tracks on screen during every call, with merge fields for contact, company and last notes.
• Team rolesOwner, admin and agent roles, seat-based invites and what each role can see.
• FeaturesWhat each Rapidialer feature does, how it works, and its limits.

SDR and BDR teams: questions and answers