The sales calling glossary.
Plain-English definitions of the AI dialer, parallel dialer, and outbound terms that actually matter.
AI dialer
An AI dialer is outbound calling software that uses artificial intelligence to automate dialing and, in its most advanced form, to hold the conversation itself with an AI voice agent. It can place calls, detect voicemails, qualify prospects, and book meetings without a human on every line.
AI SDR
An AI SDR is software that automates the work of a sales development representative, such as researching prospects, sending outreach, and qualifying leads. Voice AI SDRs go further by placing calls and holding live conversations with an AI voice agent.
AI voice agent
An AI voice agent is software that holds a spoken, real-time conversation over the phone using speech recognition, a language model, and text-to-speech. In sales, it can call prospects, answer questions, qualify, and book meetings without a human on the line.
Answering machine detection (AMD)
Answering machine detection (AMD) is technology that determines whether an outbound call was picked up by a live person or a voicemail or answering machine. It lets dialers route live answers to a rep or agent and drop a pre-recorded message on voicemails.
Connect rate
Connect rate is the percentage of outbound dials that reach a live person rather than a voicemail, busy signal, or no answer. It is a core efficiency metric for sales calling because most dials never reach a human.
Conversation intelligence
Conversation intelligence is technology that records, transcribes, and analyzes sales calls to surface insights such as talk ratios, objections, competitor mentions, and next steps. It turns spoken conversations into searchable, coachable data.
Dials per hour
Dials per hour is the number of outbound calls a rep or system places in an hour. It is a throughput metric that, combined with connect rate, indicates how many live conversations a calling operation can generate.
Local presence dialing
Local presence dialing is the practice of displaying a caller ID with a local area code that matches the prospect's region, so the call looks familiar rather than out of area. It is used to raise the chance a prospect picks up.
Parallel dialer
A parallel dialer is outbound calling software that dials several phone numbers at once and connects a rep to whichever prospect answers first. By placing multiple simultaneous calls per agent, it raises the number of live conversations a rep can have in an hour.
Power dialer
A power dialer is outbound calling software that automatically dials numbers from a list one at a time, moving to the next contact as soon as the current call ends. It removes manual dialing so a rep spends more time talking and less time keying in numbers.
Predictive dialer
A predictive dialer is outbound calling software that uses pacing algorithms to dial more numbers than there are available reps, predicting when agents will free up. The goal is to have a live prospect ready the moment a rep finishes a call.
Preview dialer
A preview dialer is outbound calling software that shows a rep the prospect's record before placing the call, letting the rep review the account and decide when to dial. It trades raw speed for better-prepared, more personalized conversations.
Sales cadence
A sales cadence is a planned sequence of outreach touches, such as calls, emails, and messages, spaced over time to reach and engage a prospect. It defines how many touches happen, in what order, and on which days.
Speed to lead
Speed to lead is how quickly a sales team responds to a new inbound lead after it comes in, such as a form fill or demo request. Faster response sharply increases the odds of reaching and qualifying the lead.
Voice-to-voice latency
Voice-to-voice latency is the time between when a person finishes speaking and when an AI voice agent begins to respond. It is the key measure of how natural a spoken AI conversation feels, since long delays read as robotic or like a dropped call.
Warm transfer
A warm transfer is when a caller is handed from one person or agent to another along with context about the conversation, rather than being dropped cold into a new line. In AI calling, an AI voice agent briefs a human rep before passing the live call over.