How many dials does a meeting take? Work it back from the diary.

At published medians, it takes about 100 dials to book a meeting and about 120 for one that actually happens: roughly 12 dials for each conversation, 8 conversations for each meeting booked, and four in five booked meetings taking place. Ten held meetings a month is about 1,200 dials, or one phone-led rep working a full month. The calculator below runs the same arithmetic on your numbers.

What you need

Meetings held a monthMeetings that actually happen, with the right person

Show rateShare of booked meetings that take place; about 80% is typical in our markets

%

How the phone converts

Conversations per booked meetingThe Bridge Group medians imply about 8

Dials per conversation56 dials and 4.6 conversations a day is about 12

Capacity

Dials per rep per dayThe Bridge Group median for phone-led teams is 56

Calling days a monthAfter holidays, training and admin

Reps needed on the phone1.1

60dials a day, across the team

120dials for each meeting that happens

Talk through these numbers for your market →

Fifteen minutes. We will tell you which of the four rates your market will move, and which it will not.

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How the arithmetic works

1. Meetings booked.

   Meetings held divided by the show rate. Ten held at 80 per cent means 12.5 booked.

2. Conversations.

   Meetings booked times the conversations it takes to book one. The Bridge Group’s medians - 4.6 conversations a day and 10 held meetings a month - imply about 8 conversations per booked meeting once no-shows are allowed for.

3. Dials.

   Conversations times the dials it takes to reach someone. 56 dials and 4.6 conversations a day is about 12 dials per conversation.

4. Reps.

   Dials per calling day divided by what one rep can dial. The phone-led median is 56 a day.

It counts the phone only. Email and LinkedIn on the same cadence add replies and make the calls land, so treat the result as the work the phone has to carry, not the whole of it.

Which number moves most

• Conversations per meeting moves most with the research before the dial and the opener. Gong found that stating the reason for the call roughly doubled the meeting rate.
• Dials per conversation moves with the data and the hour. Direct lines beat switchboards, and Cognism puts the strongest hours at 10 to 11am and 2 to 3pm.
• The show rate moves with how the meeting was agreed. A meeting agreed with a person and confirmed before the day is kept more often than one taken from a calendar link.
• Dials per rep is the one to leave alone. Pushing it past what a person can do well lowers the other three.

Sources: The Bridge Group, 2025 SDR Models and Metrics report (351 companies, mostly North American SaaS); Cognism, Cold Calling Report 2026; Gong, cold call opening lines. The 80 per cent show rate is from our own engagements. More figures on UK SDR statistics.

Questions about the numbers