The short answer
A single call from an out-of-state number the merchant has never seen is screened out before it is heard — a 215 number calling a business in Texas reads as spam. What gets through is a text first, a second call straight after the first, a number from the merchant’s own area code, FaceTime audio past the spam filter, calls between 8am and 9pm in their time zone, and enough attempts: Alex’s rule is four touches a day for four days, then once a day.
Most of the floors that complain to Alex about pickup rates are, when he looks, calling once from a number the merchant has never seen. The merchant is in Texas and the screen says Philadelphia, and the call is declined before the second ring. The rep marks the lead as not answering, and the lead gets the blame.
What gets through, and what to watch
| Tactic | What it does | Watch for |
|---|---|---|
| Text first | Puts a name on the number before it rings | Consent, and iPhones filing unknown senders |
| Double dial | The second call straight after the first gets through the screen | It counts as two calls where calls are capped |
| Local presence | A number from their area code is not an out-of-state stranger | Real numbers you own, kept clean |
| FaceTime audio | Arrives outside the carrier’s spam filter | iPhone to iPhone only |
| 8am to 9pm, their time zone | The call lands when they can take it | Tighter windows in some states |
| Four a day for four days | Enough swings for one to land | Three calls a day in Oklahoma and Maryland |
The double dial is the cheapest thing on the list. One missed call from an unknown number is ignored; a second straight after it reads as something real, and in Alex’s words it is the one that gets through the screen. It is the first attempt in the follow-up cadence for that reason.
Local presence means calling from numbers in the merchant’s own state or area code, and a floor calling nationally can hold several. Alex says it helps a lot. It is a dialler feature worth paying for, with that post’s caveat attached: numbers rotated carelessly get labelled as spam by the carriers, which puts you back where you started.
FaceTime audio is the one most floors have never tried. A FaceTime call comes through Apple rather than the phone carrier, so the carrier’s spam labelling does not touch it. It only works iPhone to iPhone, and Alex puts it after the double dial, not before — the same idea as his advice for a merchant buried in calls from other brokers: send a FaceTime, anything that breaks through the noise.
Why one call is never the test
Alex’s picture of a single call is trying to fell an oak with one swing of an axe. The merchant is running a business — payroll, employees, a fridge that broke, a tractor-trailer off the road — and the call that lands is the one that arrives when they can take it. You only find that moment by making several. His recommendation to clients is four times a day for four days across every channel — call, text, email — then once a day, and the later touches can be automated.
And inside their hours. A 10pm call is not persistence, it is a reason to block the number: calling windows run on the merchant’s clock, 8am to 9pm federally and tighter in some states.