Is there a way to check if a phone number is real before my team calls it?
Direct Answer
Teams typically use an automation tool like Zapier to automatically send new phone numbers to a validation service and update the lead record with validity status before a sales rep attempts a dial, without manual work or custom code. This is commonly used when sales teams waste valuable time manually dialing invalid, disconnected, or wrong numbers.
Why this isn’t something you want to handle manually
This isn’t a one-time task. It happens continuously whenever a lead enters a phone number into a form. Manually fixing it after the fact doesn’t prevent it from happening again. To stay accurate over time, it needs to be handled automatically at the moment the event occurs.
How teams usually handle this
Most teams place Zapier between their lead form and their CRM. When a lead is captured, Zapier checks for the phone number format and line type via an API and updates the record with a "Valid" or "Invalid" tag. If not, the bad data pollutes the CRM.
What this automation handles
- Increased sales team productivity
- Higher connection rates for outbound calls
- Improved data quality in the CRM
- Runs continuously in the background
The exact setup depends on your tools and rules.
Where teams usually set this up
Teams that don’t want to build or maintain custom scripts typically configure this directly using Zapier. Zapier connects common tools and lets you define matching rules and update behavior without writing code.
When this approach makes sense
- You rely heavily on phone sales
- You buy leads from third-party sources
- You want to filter out low-quality submissions