Recruiting isn’t just about making calls—it’s about making smart, data-driven decisions that improve contact rates, efficiency, and hiring outcomes. Without tracking call breakdowns, outreach attempts, and connection rates, recruiters risk wasting time on unoptimized engagement strategies.

By analyzing outreach data, you can set better targets, identify inefficiencies, and improve hiring conversions. Here’s how to track, measure, and optimize your lead engagement strategy.

1. Track Your Outreach: Every Call Matters

📌 Why It’s Important:
You can’t improve what you don’t measure. Every recruiter should be logging each call attempt and its outcome to understand where time is being spent and how effective outreach efforts are.

📊 What to Track:

• Total Calls Made

• Call Breakdown:

  • ✅ Completed (Connected) Calls

  • 📞 Voicemails Left

  • ❌ No Answer

  • 🚫 Busy Signal / Disconnected

• Call Duration:

  • Average talk time per connected call

  • Total time spent on voicemails

  • Time spent on unproductive calls (no answer, busy, etc.)

📈 How to Use This Data:

• Calculate how much total recruiter time is spent on outreach based on the number of calls and their duration.

• Identify which call types are taking up the most time—are recruiters spending too long on unqualified leads?

• If connected calls have very short durations, check whether recruiters are engaging effectively or if drivers are dropping off.

• Bear in mind: Simply adding up call durations assumes calls are made back-to-back. In reality, recruiters spend extra time between calls for dialing, note-taking, and handling follow-ups.

  • To accurately measure recruiter time spent, assume at least X minutes between calls to account for workflow gaps.

💡 Pro Tip: A high number of short connected calls could indicate drivers aren’t getting the information they need—adjust your messaging for better engagement and conversions.

2. Optimize Follow-Up Attempts: How Many Calls Until You Connect?

📌 Why It’s Important:
Most applicants won’t answer on the first attempt. If you’re only making one call per lead, you’re leaving hires on the table.

🔢 How Many Attempts Should You Make?

• Best Practice: Aim for three attempts before marking a lead as unresponsive.

• Measure Your Connection Rate: Out of all leads, how many connected after 1, 2, or 3 calls?

• Target Contact Rate: Aiming for a +70% connection rate ensures that outreach efforts are effective.

📊 How to Use This Data:

• Track final connection status after multiple attempts.

• Identify diminishing returns—are 4th, 5th, or 6th attempts worth it?

• Adjust recruiter workflows based on when drivers are most likely to answer.

💡 Pro Tip: If +70% of your connections happen by the second or third attempt, focus efforts there instead of wasting calls past that point.

3. Analyze Your Qualified vs. Unqualified Leads

📌 Why It’s Important:
Not all connections result in quality leads. Tracking who is actually qualified helps recruiters focus on the right applicants.

📊 Track the Distribution of Outcomes:

• Qualified & Booked: Applicant is a fit and scheduled for an interview.

• Disqualified: Doesn’t meet requirements (experience, location, etc.).

• Not Interested: Decided to go with another company or changed their mind.

• Other: Unresponsive, postponed decision, etc.

📈 How to Use This Data:

• If too many connected applicants are disqualified, review marketing quality (are you attracting the right drivers?).

• If not interested numbers are high, analyze pay transparency, home time, or recruiter messaging.

• Compare booked interview rates per recruiter to see who needs coaching.

💡 Pro Tip: Set recruiter targets based on data—if 3 calls = 75% connection rate, what % of those should be booked interviews?

4. Measure Calls-to-Hires: Are Your Efforts Converting?

📌 Why It’s Important:
Lead engagement isn’t just about making more calls—it’s about hiring more drivers.

📊 Calculate Your Calls-to-Hire Ratio:

• If X number of calls = Y number of hires, how many calls per day should a recruiter aim for?

• Identify drop-off points—are you losing leads before interviews or after?

• Find out if your team is spending too much time on low-converting outreach.

📈 How to Use This Data:

• Define targets per recruiter based on calls, connections, and hires.

• If conversion rates decline after too many call attempts, adjust strategy.

• Use AI and automation to reduce manual work and focus on quality applicants.

💡 Pro Tip: If recruiters are burning time on leads that don’t convert, shift focus to higher-value prospects.

Final Thoughts: Make Every Call Count

Lead engagement is about efficiency, not just effort. The best recruiting teams track, measure, and refine their approach to maximize contact rates and hiring conversions.

✅ Track every call outcome—understand where recruiter time is going.
✅ Make multiple contact attempts—3 calls is the sweet spot.
✅ Analyze your connection rate—are leads engaging at the right pace?
✅ Improve qualification efforts—focus on quality, not just volume.
✅ Measure calls-to-hires—define how many calls actually lead to hires.

🔹 Want to streamline your lead engagement with automation?
📅 Book a demo today!