SDR calling playbook for power dialer teams

What this playbook covers

SDR work is calendar arithmetic with a compliance floor: fill AE calendars with meetings that hold, and keep the lists clean enough that nobody has to apologize for a call. This playbook covers trigger-based list building, block structure, the six-touch sequence, dispositions, the three-line workflow, and KPI ranges against production reference points.

List building and hygiene

In this workflow, trigger-led rows are worth more than title-only rows: a funding round, an expansion, a hire into the role that owns the pain, or a job post naming the problem all say the budget conversation is starting without you. Sort the list by trigger freshness and title match together; every row carries the trigger fact the opener will quote, which is also the discipline: if the trigger is thin, the row goes to a nurture pile, not the morning block.

Hygiene rules:

• Internal do-not-call suppression before import; the stop-request log is checked daily, because in B2B a missed stop request burns an account, not just a number.
• The business-to-business exemption in 16 CFR 310.6(b)(7) covers most calls to induce a business purchase, but it is narrow and does not touch TCPA wireless rules at 47 CFR 64.1200.
• Calling hours stay inside 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. local at the called party’s location as standing policy, computed per row by the dialer.
• Bad numbers die on second confirmation; stale rows are the hidden tax on every SDR’s connect rate.

Call block structure

Block 1, 8:30 to 10:00. Fresh triggers. Decision makers answer before noon, and the morning block is where the week’s meetings are actually won.

Block 2, 10:15 to 11:45. Second attempts and no-show recycles. Recycles re-book with the same agenda inside five business days.

Block 3, 1:30 to 3:00. Warm callbacks, callback-requested rows, and promised follow-ups. Afternoon is where morning promises get honored; an SDR who leaves promises unworked is borrowing next month’s pipeline.

Between blocks: agenda invites out, AI summaries edited, handoff tasks set. Admin never eats the morning.

The six-touch sequence

Days 1, 3, 6, 9, 13 and 17, rotating dayparts:

1. Day 1. Live call, trigger opener, ownership question, double-date close.
2. Day 3, different daypart. The catch window. Voicemail if no answer.
3. Day 6. Live attempt plus the agenda email attached, not instead.
4. Day 9. Live attempt with the honest exit line drafted: “I will close the file unless you tell me otherwise.”
5. Day 13. Voicemail, 18 seconds, tied to the trigger.
6. Day 17, final. Last live attempt; the exit line gets used.

After six, the lead exits to dated nurture with a trigger-based re-entry or out of the board. Attempt caps in the dialer enforce every stop, and the exit line converts often enough that skipping it is leaving meetings on the table.

Dispositions and what they mean

• Meeting booked: slot, agenda sent, summary edited. The AE sees the trigger and the ownership answer before the prospect parks.
• Not now, revisit dated: an honest timing no with a date and a trigger. The board treats it as a future meeting, not a rejection.
• Gatekeeper referral: a named person and title; the referral becomes a new lead row with the context attached.
• Wrong persona: logged to the account map, because the next trigger may land on the right seat and the map is why.
• Bad number / No answer / Left voicemail / Do not call: the mechanical set; stop requests honored the same day.

The three-line workflow and AI summaries

Three lines turn an SDR into a connect handler. The rhythm: trigger order is queue order; one connect at a time (when two lines answer at once, the first bridges to you and the second hears your recorded disconnect message and the call ends, logged as a multi-line no-connect); the double-date close on every qualified connect; the AI summary edited before the next dial with trigger, ownership, timing, tooling, skip-this and slot. The agenda invite leaves from the SDR’s own address within the hour, because that email is the show-rate lever. Recording disclosure on in all-party consent states; a cross-country call never asked which state it was dialing.

KPI targets

Ranges against production reference points. In production use across 3-line sessions over 90 days, the median operator ran about 85 dials per active hour and roughly 600 dials per operator day, with a person-connect rate of 17.8 percent measured separately over the last 30 days. Planning inputs (not measured outcomes):

• Dials per active hour: measured median about 85 per active hour, p90 about 134.
• Person connects: 17.8 percent measured over the last 30 days in production use; your list mix will move it.
• Meetings booked: track it weekly and set the target from your own first two weeks of data; measure trigger-led and title-only lists separately.
• Show rate: track it weekly and set the target from your own first two weeks of data; agenda invites and day-before texts are the levers you control.
• Recycle conversion: track it weekly and set the target from your own first two weeks of data; re-book no-shows within five business days.

Only the dial-volume and person-connect figures above are measured (production use, three-line sessions, one operator; 90-day window for dial volume, its final 30 days for the connect rate). Every other range in this section is an uncited planning input, not a measured result or a promise.

When the trigger is thin

Some weeks the event list runs dry, and the temptation is to dial titles without triggers. Resist the middle path: a thin trigger still works if the opener admits it. “No news from your shop, which is why I am calling before there is” outperforms a manufactured event every week, because security-minded buyers, and buyers generally, already suspect fabrication. If the queue truly has nothing, spend the block on research for next week’s rings instead of dialing hollow rows; the dial count drops for a day and the meeting count rises for a month, and that trade is always worth it.

Compliance guardrails

The B2B exemption in 16 CFR 310.6(b)(7) narrows the FTC Telemarketing Sales Rule for business calls but does not waive TCPA wireless rules at 47 CFR 64.1200 or the Impersonation Rule at 16 CFR 461.3, and state telemarketing statutes and all-party recording consent still reach the workflow. Stop requests are honored the same day regardless of context. DialBreeze applies your internal DNC list, quiet hours and attempt caps; list provenance and claims discipline are yours. This guide describes rules, not legal advice.