Custom Dialer Buttons for Better Prospect Management

Summary

PhoneBurner's custom dialer buttons let sales teams automate what happens after every call with a single click—sending emails, moving contacts to folders, tagging records, setting follow-up dates, triggering webhooks, and more. There are two types of button sets: Dialing Sets (displayed before a prospect answers) and Live Answer Sets (displayed after a live answer occurs). Sales managers can create, share, and standardize button sets across their entire team to ensure consistent follow-up workflows. This article walks through how to set them up and provides industry-specific examples for insurance, software sales, and loan modification teams.

What Are Custom Dialer Buttons?

Custom dialer buttons are one-click controls inside PhoneBurner that automate your post-call workflow based on each call's outcome. Instead of manually updating records, sending emails, moving contacts, and scheduling follow-ups after every call, you configure each button once and then execute the entire workflow with a single click during your dial session.

Each button can be configured to control up to 15 different actions simultaneously:

• Call Status: The disposition assigned to the contact (e.g., interested, not available, do not call)
• Note: An automatic note added to the contact record
• One-Touch Email: Which follow-up email to send, or none
• One-Touch SMS: Which text message to send, or none (requires A2P 10DLC approval)
• Transfer To User: Transfers the contact to another agent's account
• Move To: Moves the contact to a specific folder in your contact manager
• Next Action: Dials the next number, the next contact, or prompts you to choose
• Tags: Applies or removes custom tags based on the button
• Do Not Call: Adds the contact to your DNC list
• Delete Contact: Removes the contact record from your contact manager
• Webhook: Triggers a webhook, such as an API request to a third-party system
• Follow-Up Date: Sets a follow-up date for a callback
• Contact Rating: Adds a star rating (1–5) based on the call outcome
• Connected Call: Counts the call as connected (or not) for reporting purposes
• Successful Call: Counts the call as successful (or not) for reporting purposes

Every action fires simultaneously when a button is pressed. This eliminates manual data entry, ensures consistent follow-up across your team, and saves significant time over the course of a dial session.

Customizing your buttons can drastically improve your follow-up, reporting, prospect management, and overall agent productivity.

Dialing Sets vs Live Answer Sets

PhoneBurner gives you two different button sets—a Dialing Set and a Live Answer Set. Here's the difference between them:

• Dialing Set: The set of buttons you see before a live answer takes place. These handle outcomes like voicemails, busy signals, no answers, and bad numbers.
• Live Answer Set: The set of buttons you see once you mark a call as answered. These handle outcomes like interested prospects, demos scheduled, objections, and follow-ups.

You can add and edit buttons within each set, define the actions taken when each is pressed, and create unlimited sets to handle all kinds of prospecting scenarios. Admins can also create and share sets across their team using PhoneBurner's supervisor roles and admin tools.

How to Customize Your PhoneBurner Buttons

Customizing your buttons in PhoneBurner takes just a few minutes:

1. Click Settings > Dial Sessions > Dispositions.
2. In the window that appears, you'll see your Dialing Sets and Live Answer Sets listed.
3. Your Dialing Sets are for outcomes where you don't reach your contact (busy signal, voicemail, etc.).
4. Your Live Answer Sets are for outcomes where you do reach your contact.
5. Click + Add New to create a new button set, or click an existing set to edit it.
6. Inside the set, click + Add New to add buttons, or click an existing button to edit its configuration.

The configuration wizard walks you through every option listed above—call status, email, SMS, folder, tags, follow-up date, and more. For a detailed walkthrough, see PhoneBurner's support guide on dispositions and button settings.

Industry Examples: Button Sets for Different Scenarios

Dialing Sets are fairly straightforward since there are only so many outcomes for calls where you don't reach the prospect. The real power is in your Live Answer Sets, where call outcomes vary widely. Here are examples of how you might configure disposition buttons for different industries.

1. Insurance Agent

You sell insurance and are calling existing homeowner clients to cross-sell car insurance. Here are two disposition buttons you might create:

Car Interested

Your auto insurance rates are lower than the prospect's current provider, and they want to switch.

• The prospect gets moved into the "Car Interested" subfolder within the "Home Client" folder.
• The "Car Interested" email gets sent confirming you can save them money and that you'll send over the forms to sign.
• They're tagged "Car Interested" so you can search for these prospects and ensure timely follow-up.

Rate Not Lower

Your best rate wasn't lower than the prospect's current provider.

• The prospect gets moved to the "Car Not Lower" subfolder within the "Home Client" folder.
• No email gets sent.
• A note is added to their file and a follow-up date is set for 6 months later to try again when rates may have changed.

2. Software Sales

You sell payroll software and are calling small businesses to set up demos. Here are two disposition buttons you might create:

Demo Scheduled

You successfully set up a demo.

• The prospect gets moved to your "Demo" folder.
• An email is automatically sent with a link to your scheduling app so they can pick a time that works.

Send Video

The prospect isn't ready for a demo but agreed you could send them a product video.

• The prospect is moved to your "Video Sent" folder.
• An email is automatically sent with a link to the hosted video.
• A follow-up date is set for 3 days later to discuss their interest.

3. Loan Modification

You help people consolidate student loans and are calling leads who filled out an online form. The process involves confirming debt amounts, accessing loan info, providing quotes, and getting approval. Here are four disposition buttons that map to each stage:

Debt Amount Confirmed

You confirmed the debt amount but couldn't access their loan information yet.

• A note is added that only the debt amount was confirmed.
• Status is set to "Debt Amount Confirmed" and the prospect is moved to the "Debt Amount" folder.
• An email is sent thanking them and requesting a follow-up connection.

Accessed Loan Info

You confirmed the debt amount and accessed their loan information.

• A note is added confirming both steps were completed.
• Status is set to "Accessed Loan Info" and the prospect is moved to the "Accessed Loan" folder.
• An email is sent requesting a follow-up to move the process forward.

See also: The Ultimate Guide to Sales Follow-Up Emails

Gave Quote

You provided a quote.

• Disposition is set to "Quoted" and the prospect is moved to the "Quoted" folder.
• Using a custom field, the email includes the exact quote as a reminder and an invitation to move forward.
• A follow-up date is set for 3 days later.

Client Approved

The client approved you to move forward.

• A note is added stating the client approved.
• Status is set to "Approved" and the prospect is moved to the "Approved" folder.
• No automated email is sent because you'll be sending custom documents outside of the dial session.

These examples scratch the surface of what disposition buttons can do. PhoneBurner's team can help configure your account and button setup during your free onboarding.

Use Custom Buttons to Drive Sales Success

Custom dialer and disposition buttons have a tremendous impact on efficiency and can help you manage virtually any sales situation. No matter what industry you're in—insurance, mortgage, solar, recruiting, or anything else—you can customize your buttons to match your pipeline and prospecting workflow.

Combined with PhoneBurner's workflow automation, streamlined lead follow-up, and 200+ integrations, custom buttons turn every dial session into a repeatable, efficient process.

Find out how powerful custom buttons can be. Start a free trial of PhoneBurner or browse the FAQ below for more information.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many Dialing Sets and Live Answer Sets should my account have?

This depends on your business. Ideally, you should have a different set of buttons for each kind of call campaign you run. You'd have different sets for prospecting calls vs. aged lead calls vs. customer upsell calls because the outcomes are different for each. If you make calls for different clients, you'd use different sets for each client. When your existing sets don't adequately cover the needs of a campaign, it's time to create another one. You can clone and edit existing sets rather than starting from scratch.

Can I create Dialing and Live Answer Sets for my team?

Yes. Admins in PhoneBurner can create and share sets so that everyone on their team has access to the same buttons. This is a great way to ensure that best practices are standardized across your organization. Individual reps can also create their own sets, but they cannot delete sets that have been shared with them by an admin.

How many buttons can I have in a set?

There is no limit. Some customers have well over a dozen buttons to cover every possible call outcome. You can create separate voicemail buttons for different languages, set up multiple transfer buttons for different closers, or build detailed multi-step workflows for complex sales processes. The level of customization is entirely up to you.

Can custom buttons trigger actions in other software?

Yes. Each button can be configured to fire a webhook, which sends data to any third-party system with an API. This means a single button press in PhoneBurner can update your external CRM, trigger a workflow in your marketing automation platform, or push data to a custom application. PhoneBurner also integrates directly with HubSpot, Salesforce, Zoho, and Zapier for seamless data flow.

What's the difference between a Dialing Set button and a Live Answer Set button?

A Dialing Set button handles outcomes where you did not reach the prospect—voicemails, busy signals, no answers, and bad numbers. A Live Answer Set button handles outcomes where you did reach the prospect and had a conversation—interested, not interested, demo scheduled, callback requested, and so on. Both types can automate the same actions (emails, SMS, folder moves, tags, etc.), but they appear at different stages of the call.

Can I use custom buttons to automate follow-up emails and texts?

Yes. Every button can be configured to send a specific email template and/or SMS message when pressed. For example, a "Demo Scheduled" button might automatically send a confirmation email with a calendar link, while a "Not Interested" button might send a soft-touch follow-up email and set a callback date for 30 days later. This ensures every contact gets the right follow-up immediately, without the agent having to do anything manually after the call.