TL;DR
A call audit scores a small sample of recorded calls against a fixed checklist, then gives each caller one thing to fix. Audit 2 to 3 calls per caller a week on a 100-point scorecard: discovery, accuracy, objection handling and the next step carry most of the points, and a fatal error such as quoting a wrong price sets the call to zero.
A call audit is a scheduled check where a manager scores a small sample of recorded calls against a fixed checklist and turns the result into one coaching point per caller. For a 5-person sales team, auditing 3 calls per person (15 calls) with the 100-point scorecard below takes 75 to 105 minutes a week, at our planning figure of 5 to 7 minutes a call.
What is a call audit?
A call audit checks recorded calls against a standard you have written down: the right questions, correct information, a clear next step and courteous handling. The output is a score per call, evidence for every lost point, and one action per caller.
It is different from call analytics, which counts every call (answer rate, missed calls, talk time). The audit judges a few calls in depth; the counts tell you whose calls to open first.
Call audit parameters for sales calls
These nine parameters cover what goes right or wrong on an Indian sales or telecalling call:
- Opening: gives their own name and the company's, and says why they are calling within 20 seconds.
- Discovery: asks about the need, budget, timeline, location and who decides.
- Accuracy: price, offer, dates and terms match your current rate card.
- Objection handling: acknowledges the concern, answers it and checks the answer landed.
- Listening and language: lets the customer finish, and switches to Hindi, Hinglish or the customer's language when they do.
- Next step: a date, time, channel and owner that the customer agreed to.
- Recap: repeats the requirement and next step, and confirms the number or WhatsApp to use.
- Courtesy: calm tone, no talking over the customer, no pressure.
- Logging: the outcome and notes in your CRM or lead sheet match what was said.
Score parameters 1 to 8 from the recording. Check parameter 9 in your CRM or sheet, because a good call can still be logged as "not interested" and never followed up.
Fatal and non-fatal parameters
BPOs split parameters into fatal and non-fatal. A non-fatal miss loses the points for that line. A fatal error sets the whole call to zero, because it can cost you a customer, money or a legal problem.
Four fatal errors that fit most sales teams:
- Quoting a wrong price, fee or offer, or promising something the business cannot deliver.
- Rude, abusive or threatening language.
- Asking for an OTP, card PIN or password, or reading out another customer's details.
- Calling again after the customer asked not to be called.
Call audit scorecard (copy and paste)
CALL AUDIT SCORECARD (100 points)
Caller: ______ Date and time of call: ______ Lead ID: ______
Auditor: ______ Call length: ___ min Type: New enquiry / Follow-up
FATAL CHECK (any tick = score 0, go straight to coaching)
[ ] Wrong price, offer or a promise we can't keep
[ ] Rude, abusive or threatening language
[ ] Asked for OTP, PIN or password, or shared another customer's data
[ ] Called a customer who had asked not to be called
SCORE EACH LINE: full = done well, half (round down) = partly, 0 = missed
1. Opening: own name, company, reason for call ........ __ / 5
2. Discovery: need, budget, timeline, location, decider __ / 20
3. Accuracy: price, offer, dates, terms ................ __ / 15
4. Objection handling: acknowledge, answer, check ...... __ / 15
5. Listening and language match ........................ __ / 10
6. Next step: date, time, channel, owner agreed ........ __ / 15
7. Recap: requirement, next step, contact confirmed .... __ / 5
8. Courtesy and tone ................................... __ / 5
9. Logging: outcome and notes match the call ........... __ / 10
TOTAL .................................................. __ / 100
Evidence for each lost point (timestamp + customer's words):
Coaching point (the line with the most lost points):
Band: 85 to 100 Good. 70 to 84 Coach one thing. Below 70 Re-listen together.
Discovery, accuracy, objections and the next step carry 65 of the 100 points, because these four decide whether a lead turns into a sale.
Worked example: scoring one call
Illustrative example. The business, names and prices are made up to show the method.
A caller at a modular-kitchen studio in Pune phones a lead from an Instagram ad. The call lasts 3 minutes. The key lines:
Rohan: Hello ma'am, main Rohan, [studio name] se. Aapne Instagram pe modular kitchen ke liye form bhara tha.
Customer: Haan. L-shape kitchen ka rough kitna aayega?
Rohan: Ma'am, ₹2,40,000 se start hota hai, 10 saal warranty ke saath.
Customer: Itna? Ek aur company ne ₹1,90,000 bola hai.
Rohan: Ma'am, hamara material better hai. Main catalogue WhatsApp kar deta hoon.
Customer: Theek hai, bhej dijiye.
He then logged the lead as "Hot, site visit Saturday". No visit was agreed.
Fatal check: none (price and warranty match the rate card)
1. Opening ................ 5 / 5 name, company, reason in first line
2. Discovery .............. 0 / 20 no size, budget, timeline or location asked
3. Accuracy ............... 15 / 15 price and warranty correct
4. Objection handling ..... 7 / 15 answered, but never asked what the ₹1,90,000 covered
5. Listening and language . 10 / 10 matched her Hinglish, let her finish
6. Next step .............. 0 / 15 "catalogue bhej deta hoon" has no date or owner
7. Recap .................. 0 / 5
8. Courtesy ............... 5 / 5
9. Logging ................ 0 / 10 site visit logged, never agreed
TOTAL ..................... 42 / 100 (Below 70: re-listen together)
Coaching point: Discovery. Before quoting, ask
"Kitchen ka size kya hai, aur kab tak lagwana hai?"
The price objection lost only 8 points; the missing questions lost 20. Rohan had nothing to compare against the ₹1,90,000 quote because he never asked what the kitchen needed.
How many calls to audit each week
Our planning figure is 5 to 7 minutes per audited call: 1 minute reading the summary, 2 to 4 minutes listening, 2 minutes scoring. The table multiplies that out; time a few of your own audits and adjust.
| Team size | Calls per caller a week | Calls to audit | Manager time a week |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 callers | 3 | 9 | 45 to 63 minutes |
| 5 callers | 3 | 15 | 75 to 105 minutes |
| 10 callers | 2 | 20 | 1 h 40 min to 2 h 20 min |
| 20 callers | 2 | 40 | 3 h 20 min to 4 h 40 min |
Two or three calls a week is about 9 to 13 per caller a month. That is in line with practice guidance for support teams: a 2017 Customer Service Life article puts a typical phone-support QA sample at six to a dozen calls per agent a month. To see how the hours change with your own call volume, use the call review time calculator.
How to run a call audit every week
- Fix a slot. Block the same time each week, sized from the table above: about 1 hour 45 minutes for a 5-person team, for example Monday from 10 am.
- Pick the sample. For each caller take one random connected call longer than 2 minutes, one call marked lost or "not interested", and one call where a price, competitor or objection came up. Teams of 10 or more can drop the random call. Skip unanswered calls and anything under 30 seconds.
- Read, then listen. Read the call summary first. Then listen to three parts: the first 30 seconds, the objection, and the last 60 seconds. Play the full call only when something doesn't add up.
- Fatal check first, then score. Write the timestamp and the customer's words for every lost point.
- Check the log. Open the CRM or lead sheet and compare the outcome and follow-up date with what was said.
- Choose one coaching point per caller: the line with the most lost points across their calls. Our guide to call coaching from recordings covers the 30-minute session that follows.
- Track the trend. Keep one row per caller per week in a sheet: date, calls audited, average score, coaching point. Next week, check whether that line improved.
Calibrate once a month
Calibration keeps two auditors, say the owner and the sales lead, scoring the same way. Once a month, both score the same 3 calls separately and compare line by line.
If your totals for a call differ by more than 10 points, find the line where you disagreed. Rewrite that criterion with an example of full marks and half marks, then re-score one call together.
Where AI helps in a call audit, and where it doesn't
AI saves most time in steps 2 and 3. AI call summaries give you the requirement, objections, next follow-up and outcome before you press play, and call insights that flag objections or pricing discussions turn step 2 into a filter.
Automated scoring is a step further. Convin sells automated QA that scores 100% of conversations on custom plans, and offers a free manual QA tool with auto-fails for fatal parameters. Salesken's QA product also audits every call automatically, priced on request. Both are built for contact centres and larger sales floors, or calls with compliance rules.
Keep a human on tone, on whether the price suited this customer, and on whether "soch ke bataungi" meant yes. Check amounts and dates against the recording before you mark accuracy.
Recording rules before you audit
You can only audit calls you have recorded. India has no single law for a business recording its own customer calls, but recordings are personal data under the DPDP Act 2023, whose notice and consent duties are phasing in over 18 months from November 2025.
Announce the recording at the start of each call, tell your callers their calls are audited, and limit who can open recordings.
Call audits with TalkEasy by GrowEasy
TalkEasy by GrowEasy records calls on your shared business number with an announcement at the start, and stores recordings encrypted with access limited to the admins you choose. Its call summaries and AI call insights (objections, competitor mentions, buying intent, pricing discussions, follow-up commitments) give you the shortlist for step 2. Pro costs ₹999 a month plus GST, with unlimited users.
If you run a large contact centre and need every call auto-scored against a custom form, Convin or Salesken is built for that job.
See how TalkEasy's AI call insights work
How we compared: prices and features from each provider's official page, checked in September 2026. Prices exclude 18% GST unless stated.
Last reviewed 24 September 2026.
