Power dialer versus multi-line dialer for life insurance: pick by lead type, not by speed

Every dialer vendor sells speed. Speed is the wrong metric. The right dialer depends on what's on the list.

Power dialer, one line. Dials the next number the moment you disposition the last. You hear every ring. Best for callbacks, appointment confirmations, aged leads you're working carefully, and any list where the contact rate is decent. The client never gets a pause on connect.

Multi-line dialer. Dials several numbers at once and connects you to the first human, dropping or voicemailing the rest. Best for cold data with low contact rates, where a single line would leave you listening to ring tones all morning. The cost is the abandoned call: when two people answer at once, one hears a click. Regulations cap abandonment rates, and the "click and hang up" is how seniors decide you're a scam.

The combination that works. Multi-line on fresh cold data in the morning, single-line power dial on callbacks and warm leads in the afternoon. Agents who run multi-line on their callbacks blow through their best leads with connection delays.

Voicemail drops. Useful on power dial for leads that never answer. On multi-line, a voicemail drop on every unanswered line can push you over abandonment limits fast. Know your dialer's rules.

Local presence. A number in the lead's area code lifts answer rates. It also makes callbacks land in the CRM instead of on a random number.

What to measure. Conversations per hour, not dials per hour. A multi-line dialer producing 600 dials and 18 conversations isn't beating a power dialer producing 200 dials and 22 conversations.

Which mode are you running on which list, and what conversations per hour are you seeing?