The Myth of Calling Every Lead in the BPO Industry

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If they don’t pick up, you’re not hiring them – stop the chase.

Recruiters in the BPO industry have been trained to believe that more outreach equals more hires. It’s a numbers game, right? If you just call enough leads, someone will answer, and eventually, you’ll fill the roles.

But what if that’s not true?

A recent experiment in the industry challenged this long-standing assumption. The results? Manually calling every lead didn’t just fail to increase hires—it completely disrupted the recruitment process while driving up costs with no measurable return.

Let’s dive into what happened and why it’s time to rethink how BPOs approach high-volume hiring.

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Why the Old-School Approach Isn’t Working

Traditionally, the belief in BPO hiring has been that the more people you contact, the more hires you’ll get. It makes sense in theory. If a candidate doesn’t respond, just call them again. And again. And again.

But what if those calls are doing more harm than good?

The Automated Funnel: A Smarter Hiring Flow

In this experiment, we analyzed a hiring process built around automation:

• Candidates were guided through a structured, automated funnel that nurtured and engaged them until completion.
• Automated reminders ensured consistent follow-ups without requiring human intervention.
• The completion rate was 69%, meaning nearly 7 out of 10 candidates reached the final stage independently.

The Manual Calls: Breaking the Process

Despite the strong results from automation, the team felt uneasy. What about the candidates sitting in the inbox, the ones who hadn’t completed their applications? Were they just waiting for a call from a person?

To address this, they decided to call every unfinished lead to push them through manually.The logic was simple: “Leads are too valuable just to sit there.” 

But here’s where the data told a different story:

The Live Experiment: More Calls, Zero Hires

A live test compared the automated funnel against manual intervention, and the numbers were striking.

Weekly Results

• Automated process conversion rate: 3.09% of completed leads became hires.

Manual calling conversion rate:0%. After calling 2,000 leads, not a single hire came from those calls.

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The True Cost of Manual Calling

• Over 200 hours were spent manually calling these leads in just one week.
• Even if one hire had come from these efforts, the cost in recruiter work hours alone would have been at least $1,500 per hire.

Meanwhile, generating more leads through automation would have been faster and cheaper—at $1–$2 per lead, bringing in higher conversions at 3-4%.

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Historical Data Confirms the Trend

The live experiment wasn’t an isolated case—manual outreach had been underperforming for months.

• In February, over 5,000 manual calls were made.

The result? Just one hire—mirroring the weekly experiment where 2,000 calls resulted in none.

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The Real Cost of Manual Outreach

• The recruiter work hours for those 5,000 calls added up to a $20,000 expense—all for a single hire.

Compared to automation, where each lead costs $1–$2 and the conversion rate is 3-4%, this manual approach is financially unsustainable.

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Automation vs. Manual Calls: A Clear Winner

Meanwhile, the automated funnel consistently converted completed leads into hires—without the excessive recruiter workload or high costs.

The takeaway? Manual calling isn’t just inefficient—it’s an expensive, time-consuming distraction from what actually works.

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Why Calling Every Lead Doesn’t Work

The experiment confirmed what automation advocates have been saying all along: calling every lead is not the answer.

If you text someone four times a day for two days, and they still don’t complete a step that takes two minutes, the chance of that lead converting is close to zero.

So why would you still want to invest more time and resources in chasing them?

Here’s why:

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1. More Calls Don’t Equal More Hires

Every single hire in this experiment came from a completed lead. Not one was the result of a manual call. That means if a candidate wasn’t motivated enough to complete the automated process, calling them didn’t change that.

2. Manual Calls Disrupt the Process

Automated hiring flows are designed to work without human intervention. Introducing manual calls messes up the system, creating inconsistencies and adding unnecessary steps.

3. The Costs Are Outrageous

Spending $20,000 on one hire? That’s unsustainable. If recruiters put those resources toward improving the automated process instead, they’d see better results without burning through budgets.

4. Automation Ensures a Consistent Candidate Experience

With automation, every candidate gets the same experience—timely reminders, clear next steps, and a structured journey. Manual calling introduces human error, inconsistent messaging, and unnecessary friction.

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What Should BPOs Do Instead?

If calling every lead isn’t the answer, what is? A smarter, more strategic approach.

1. Lean Into Automation

Instead of spending time and money on cold-calling unresponsive candidates, invest in stronger automation that keeps leads engaged before they drop off.

2. Be More Selective With Manual Outreach

Not all leads are worth a call. Instead of blanket dialing everyone, focus on high-intent candidates—those who are engaged but stuck at a crucial stage.

3. Improve Lead Engagement, Not Just Outreach

Rather than asking, “How many leads did we contact?”, shift the focus to, “How many leads are engaging?” Improve lead quality and the application process, and you’ll see higher conversions without chasing people down.

4. Regularly Review the Cost vs. Benefit

If manual calls aren’t converting, stop wasting money on them. Continuously analyze the cost of outreach versus the results and adjust accordingly.

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Conclusion: The Hiring Myth That Needs to End

For too long, the BPO industry has believed that more calls = more hires. The reality? That’s simply not true.

Calling them won't magically change if a candidate isn’t completing their application. Instead of chasing unresponsive leads, BPOs should:
✔ Trust automation to nurture leads efficiently.
✔ Focus on candidate engagement rather than volume.
✔ Eliminate unnecessary manual outreach and save valuable resources.

It’s time for high-volume recruiters to stop playing the numbers game and start playing smart.

Are you ready to rethink the way you approach hiring?

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