What to ask before you buy call analytics for your dealership
The questions that show what life will be like after you sign, with a checklist you can print and take into every demo.
Laurynas Sarka, Co-founder · Sales8 min read
Ask to see it working on your own phone system and your own calls before you sign. Then ask who does the setup, what happens to a flag, who can see what, where your data goes, and exactly how the price is worked out.
A demo is built to impress. It runs on the vendor’s best calls, on their phone system, with their data. The questions below are the ones that show what life will be like after you sign. They’re grouped in the order they usually come up, and there’s a printable checklist at the end.
Will it work with our phones?
- Does it work with our phone system, and who sets up the connection?
- Do we need new phones, hardware or software on our computers?
- What does our phone provider need to do, and who asks them?
A good answer names your system and says the vendor does the connecting, with a date to go live.
What will it actually do for us?
- Show me a sale it found that we’d otherwise have missed.
- Show me the tasks it made from one call, and who got each one.
- What does it do with service calls?
How do we know it’s right?
- Can I hear the moment in the call behind each flag or score?
- Who makes the final decision on a compliance flag: the software or a manager?
- What happens when it gets something wrong, and how do we tell it?
Who sees what?
- Can sales executives see each other’s calls?
- Can the AI send anything to a customer without a person?
- What can managers see that the team can’t?
Where does our data go?
- Where are recordings stored, and where is the AI processing done?
- Which other companies process our data?
- Is our data used to train AI models?
- How do we delete a customer’s data when they ask?
- Will you sign a data processing agreement before a trial?
How long until we’re live, and who does the work?
- How long does setup take on our phone system?
- What do you need from us, and from our IT or phone provider?
How is the price worked out?
- Is it priced per user, per call, per site, or a mix?
- Is setup charged separately?
- How long is the contract, and what happens to our data if we leave?
Can we try it on our own calls?
This is the one that matters most. A week of your own calls tells you more than any demo. Ask whether you can see results on your own calls before you commit.
Warning signs
- No clear date for when your calls will start coming in.
- Scores and flags you can’t trace back to a moment in a call.
- AI that sends messages to customers without a person seeing them.
- Claims about results with no source, or customer names you can’t check.
- Setup that’s mostly your job.
Your checklist
The most important question from each part, with room for their answer.
| Question | Why it matters | Their answer |
|---|---|---|
| Does it work with our phone system? | Nothing else works until your calls get in | |
| Show me a sale it found that we’d have missed | Recording isn’t the point. Finding sales is | |
| Show me the tasks from one call | Promises need an owner and a deadline | |
| Can I hear the moment behind a flag? | Without evidence, nobody trusts the score | |
| Can the AI send anything without a person? | Your name is on every message | |
| Where is our data stored and processed? | Your compliance lead will ask | |
| Who does the setup, and how long does it take? | It should be the vendor’s job | |
| Can we try it on our own calls first? | A week of your calls beats any demo |
How axleo would answer
We build axleo, so here are our own answers, including the gaps.
| Question | axleo today |
|---|---|
| Phones | Works with any phone system, including 8x8, 3CX, RingCentral, Vonage, Aircall and Avaya. Our team sets up the connection |
| Evidence | Every flag and case shows the words from the call |
| Who decides | A manager reviews every flag, and Leo drafts but never sends |
| Trying it | Before you sign, we run axleo on your own calls, as many as you can share |
More detail: phone systems and security.
Questions people ask
How long should a call analytics trial be?
Long enough to cover a normal week of calls, so you see the quiet days and the busy ones. A trial on your own calls tells you more than any demo.
What should a call analytics demo show?
A real call, start to finish: what the software found, what it told the manager to do, and the tasks it made, with the moment in the call behind each one.
Should we involve our compliance or IT lead?
Yes, early. They’ll want to know where data is stored and processed, who can see what, and whether there’s a data processing agreement. It’s quicker to ask before a trial than after.