How many calls can your sales team actually handle? Let’s do the math (without complex formulas)
Familiar situation: managers are on the edge, phones are blowing up, but clients still complain they can’t get through? Most likely, the problem isn’t that your team works slowly. The problem is the math that is often ignored when setting up telephony.
We at UniTalk have gathered 5 simple steps so you can check your team’s workload and stop losing leads out of the blue.
1. Forget about “pure” talk time. Count AHT (Average Handle Time)
If you think a call is just the time from “Hello” to “Goodbye,” your media plan is already wrong.
In telephony, there is a metric called AHT (Average Handle Time). This is the full cycle of attention given to the client.
Check the statistics of your Virtual PBX. If the average conversation lasts 4 minutes, boldly add time for searching for information during the call. The real load is always higher than just the voice in the receiver.
2. Don’t ignore the “aftertaste” of the call (ACW)
The manager hung up. Are they ready for the next call immediately? No.
They need to enter data into the CRM, place an order, or write a note to a colleague. This is called After Call Work (ACW).
Simple arithmetic:
- Talk time: 4 min.
- CRM work: 2 min.
- Real time per client: 6 minutes.
This means that even your top manager physically cannot handle 15 calls an hour. The maximum is 10.
Life hack: To reduce this time, set up IP-telephony integration with your CRM. The client card will open automatically, and the call recording will attach itself. This is real business process automation: minus routine — plus time for sales.
3. People are not robots (Occupancy Rate)
No one can talk for 8 hours straight with 100% efficiency. There are breaks, meetings, training, and simple fatigue.
A normal operator load (Occupancy Rate) is 70–80%. If you try to squeeze out 90–95%, you will get a burnt-out team and irritated clients receiving “robotic” answers.
4. The fatal mistake: Number of lines = Number of managers
This is the main insight of this text.
Imagine you have 10 managers. How many channels (simultaneous lines) do you need on your virtual number or SIP trunk?
If you say “10”, you are losing money.
Why?
Because when all your 10 managers are busy talking, the 11th client will hear short beeps (“Busy”) and go to a competitor.
How it should be:
The number of channels must be greater than the number of people. This creates a virtual “queue”.
- All managers are busy.
- The 11th, 12th, and 13th clients do not hear “Busy”. They hear the IVR greeting and music while waiting on the line.
- As soon as a manager becomes free, they pick up the call from the queue.
Solution: For 10 managers, connect a multi-channel virtual number or SIP-trunk with at least 15–20 lines. This is your “waiting room” that saves sales during peak hours.
5. Plan “B” for lost calls
Even with perfect calculations, there are days when a wave of calls covers you head-to-toe.
Do not make the client hang on the line forever.
- Configure a queue: Tell the client their position or estimated waiting time.
- Use Callback: If the client didn’t wait, the system should automatically call them back as soon as the first operator is free. This recovers up to 30% of “lost” leads.
Let’s summarize
To make telephony work for profit, not stress:
- Count talk time plus time for CRM work.
- Let managers breathe (load up to 80%).
- Ensure a reserve of channels on the number or in the SIP trunk (more lines than people).
- Automate call returns via Virtual PBX.
At UniTalk, these tools are ready to work. All you have to do is set them up for your business.
