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SDR Aircall Tagging Guide

For: all SDRs using Aircall 

Why this guide exists: We are seeing inconsistency in how champion calls are tagged. This affects the quality of data that team leads, AEs, and Lead Gen use to make decisions.

The Single Principle:

Do not ask yourself: "did the call feel good or bad?" That question is subjective and is exactly why there is confusion.

Ask yourself this instead:

Is this call leaving the opportunity as alive or better than before I dialled — or is it dead?

  • Better or equally alive → Positive Champion Call Connected
  • Dead, with nothing left to follow → Negative Champion Call Connected

The tone of the conversation — friendly, tense, short, long — is not the criterion. What matters is what is left after you hang up.

Positive Champion Call Connected → Use this tag if ANY of the following happen:

  1. Follow-up agreed.
  2. Referral to the decision-maker.
  3. Info requested by email/LinkedIn.
  4. “Not now” with a specific future date/reason.

Negative Champion Call Connected → Use this tag ONLY if the following happens:

  1. Explicit rejection, with no conditions, no opening for the future.
  2. They explicitly ask not to be contacted again.
  3. They hang up or close the conversation without giving any new information — no name, no reason, no date.

If you are torn between the two, it is usually because the call actually belongs in Positive — pure, unconditional "no" is rarer than it seems.

Real-World Cases

Case

How to tag it

1. The referral

SDR talks to HR Manager. She says: "I don't handle this, talk to Marta, our Head of People" and gives the contact.→ Positive. You got a name and title of the decision-maker. The opportunity moved forward, it did not die.

2. Budget objection with an opening

"We don't have budget right now, but contact us in January when we close the new fiscal year."→ Positive. There is a specific date and reason to follow up.

3. Cold rejection

"We're not interested, don't call back."→ Negative.

4. Pleasant conversation that ends in no

Good conversation, they answer your questions, but at the end: "honestly I don't see the value, we're not going to move forward" — with nothing else opening up.→ Negative. The tone was good but that is not the criterion: there is nothing alive left after you hang up.

5. Abrupt hang-up with no substance

They hang up in seconds without saying anything meaningful.→ This is probably not Champion Call Connected at all. Check if Connected Busy or No Answer is a better fit — the Champion tag requires an actual exchange, not just picking up.

6. Asks for info with no clear commitment (gray area)

Right contact, no obvious pain, asks you to send a generic email without committing to anything more.→ Positive, because they asked for something — a concrete action on their part. It is only Negative if they actively reject continuing the conversation.

One Important Thing About the Data

Negative is not an SDR failure. It is honest information about an account that does not fit right now. An SDR who disqualifies well and quickly is doing their job correctly.

Tagging Positive to "not stack up too many Negatives" breaks the data for the whole team — team leads cannot coach well, AEs do not trust what arrives, and Lead Gen does not know if their leads work or not. A real Negative is worth more than a fake Positive.