Avoiding Spam Likely: Best Practices for Calls

Introduction

If you’re running outbound B2B sales in 2025, your biggest competitor isn’t another vendor-it’s the "Spam Likely" label on your caller ID.

Robocalls and fraud have exploded to the point where carriers are in full‑on defense mode. U.S. consumers were hit with roughly 52.8 billion robocalls in 2024, and the first half of 2025 alone has already seen 28.2 billion calls-over 10% more than the same period the year before. In response, carriers and analytics providers are turning up their filters and happily sacrificing a lot of legitimate business calls in the process.

At the same time, people’s behavior has shifted. Pew Research found that 8 in 10 Americans simply don’t answer calls from numbers they don’t recognize. And if your number is actually labeled "Spam Likely"? Quality Voice & Data’s research suggests more than 95% of those calls never get answered at all.

If you care about meetings set, pipeline created, and quota attainment, call reputation is not an IT problem. It’s a core sales problem.

In this guide, we’ll break down:

• How "Spam Likely" labeling actually works
• Behaviors that get B2B teams flagged (often without realizing it)
• Concrete technical and tactical best practices to avoid spam labels
• How to monitor and repair your number reputation
• Where a partner like SalesHive fits into all of this

By the end, you’ll have a playbook your SDR/BDR team can execute to keep calls landing, not disappearing into carrier filters.

1. Why "Spam Likely" Is a Pipeline Problem, Not Just a Nuisance

The macro environment: carriers are under siege

Carriers aren’t labeling calls as spam because they hate salespeople-they’re doing it because consumers are drowning.

• YouMail’s Robocall Index shows U.S. consumers got about 52.8 billion robocalls in 2024, with June 2025 continuing at over 4.4 billion calls that month alone.
• TNS reports Americans received around 70 billion robocalls in a recent year and notes that 70% of consumers say they’d never answer a call from an unknown number.

That pressure flows directly into stricter filtering and more aggressive labeling. Tools like Hiya, First Orion, and TNS Enterprise Branded Calling are now baked into how carriers decide what to show on the screen-or whether to let the call through at all.

Behavior shift: prospects don’t pick up unknown calls

Even if carriers don’t label you as spam, consumer behavior is doing you no favors:

• Pew Research: 80% of Americans generally ignore calls from unknown numbers.
• Hiya’s State of the Call data shows 46% of unidentified calls go unanswered and that 77% of consumers are more likely to answer when they know who is calling.

Add a "Spam Likely" tag on top, and you’re basically invisible. Quality Voice & Data found that more than 95% of calls labeled "Spam Likely" never get answered-and upgrading to A‑level STIR/SHAKEN attestation increased answer rates by over 500% for some businesses.

For a B2B SDR team, that’s brutal math. If half your numbers are quietly flagged, your reps can grind all day and never realize the game is rigged against them.

Hidden impact on revenue and morale

Hiya’s 2025 Caller Reputation launch highlighted that 80% of calls from numbers people don’t recognize now go unanswered, and 60% of sales professionals report losing a deal due to call‑related issues. That translates directly into:

• Lower contact rates → fewer meetings
• Inflated CAC as you buy more data to compensate
• Demoralized SDRs who feel like they’re shouting into the void

This is why treating spam labeling as a side issue is dangerous. If your numbers are dirty, every other optimization-copy, targeting, coaching-is fighting uphill.

2. How "Spam Likely" Labeling Actually Works

Before you fix the problem, you need to understand how the system thinks.

The players: carriers and analytics engines

Your calls go through two main layers of judgment:

1. Carriers, AT&T, Verizon, T‑Mobile, etc.
2. Analytics providers, Hiya (AT&T), First Orion (T‑Mobile), TNS and carrier‑run systems (Verizon and others).

These analytics engines maintain massive datasets of calling behavior and user feedback. They don’t care whether you’re a SaaS startup or a scammer in a basement-they care what your traffic looks like at scale.

What they look at

Providers like Flagman Telecom, JustCall, and others outline the main factors that influence your spam score:

• Call volume and velocity per number, Too many calls per day or per minute from the same caller ID
• Call frequency to the same recipient, Multiple attempts in a short window to the same number
• Answer vs. rejection/ignore rates, Lots of declines or no‑answers suggests people don’t want your calls
• Call duration, Tons of sub‑10‑second calls look like robocall or auto‑dialer behavior
• Historical reputation, What that number did before you got it; prior owners might have trashed it
• User feedback and complaints, Manual "block/report" actions, FTC complaints, etc.

None of this is reviewed by a human. Algorithms see patterns and assign a risk score. Cross a threshold, and your calls start showing as "Spam Likely," "Scam Risk," or even get silently blocked.

STIR/SHAKEN and attestation levels

To fight spoofing, the FCC pushed through STIR/SHAKEN, a framework that lets carriers verify that the caller ID you present is actually yours.

• A‑level attestation, Carrier is confident you own and are authorized to use the number.
• B/C‑level or no attestation, Looks more suspicious; you’re more likely to be filtered or labeled.

Quality Voice & Data and others have shown that upgrading to A‑level attestation can dramatically improve answer rates because calls stop looking like spoofed spam. If your voice provider can’t give you A‑level attestation, that’s a red flag for serious outbound programs.

3. Number Hygiene & Dialing Behavior: The Stuff That Gets You Flagged

This is where most B2B teams accidentally act like robocallers.

a) One main outbound number for everything

Many companies still route all outbound through one or two main lines: sales, success, support, finance-all using the same caller IDs.

Analytics engines hate this. First Orion’s call behavior guidelines explicitly recommend not using one main number for multiple use cases, because the mixed feedback confuses scoring and increases the chance of spam labels.

Fix:

• Create separate number pools for SDR/BDR, AEs, customer success, and collections.
• Keep use cases clean: if a number is dedicated to SDR outbound, don’t also use it for support callbacks.

b) High call volume from a single number

Carriers monitor calls per number per day and per minute. If your SDRs hammer a few caller IDs with hundreds of dials, you look exactly like a robocall operation.

While there’s no published universal threshold, multiple providers recommend:

• Keeping daily dials per number modest (often in the ~30-50/day range for cold outbound, depending on your vertical and provider guidance).
• Spreading volume across a properly registered number pool.

JustCall, Rozper, and CallHub all emphasize that heavy volume from a single number is one of the fastest paths to being flagged.

Fix:

• Use auto‑rotation features in your dialer so calls are evenly distributed across your pool.
• Scale number count with headcount and activity; don’t run 10 SDRs off three phone numbers.

c) Over‑dialing individual prospects

Even if volume per number is okay, hammering the same person is a different problem.

First Orion notes that recipients are generally tolerant of up to two calls per day from the same calling party. Beyond three per day, complaint and block rates spike, which feeds negative data directly into analytics systems.

Fix:

• Hard‑limit attempts per contact (e.g., max 2 per day, 6-8 over 14-21 days for cold).
• Mix in email, LinkedIn, and compliant SMS instead of calling five times in 48 hours.

d) Lots of ultra‑short calls

Carriers look at call duration as a proxy for quality.

• Tons of calls under ~10 seconds suggest robocalls, bad data, or reps hanging up quickly-none of which look legitimate.

Fix:

• Equip SDRs with strong openers and voicemail drops so they stay on the line longer when someone answers.
• Avoid click‑to‑dial workflows that abort calls as soon as voicemail is detected; let the call ride long enough to appear as a real interaction.

e) Time‑of‑day abuse

Calling outside of reasonable hours (especially evenings and weekends in the recipient’s time zone) looks spammy and can also create regulatory risk.

Fix:

• Enforce time‑zone aware calling windows (e.g., 9am–6pm local time) directly in your dialer.
• For global campaigns, segment lists by region and local business hours.

4. Identity and Trust: How to Look Like a Real Business (Not a Spoofed Scam)

You can have perfect dialing hygiene and still suffer if your identity is weak. In 2025, "unknown caller" is basically a dirty word.

a) Register with carrier and analytics registries

If carriers don’t know who you are, your calls start life under suspicion.

Most major analytics solutions offer business registration portals that:

• Validate that you’re a legitimate business
• Associate your numbers with your brand
• Give you visibility into spam labeling

Examples:

• Free Caller Registry, Centralized registration that feeds AT&T, Verizon, T‑Mobile, and others.
• Hiya Business Portal, Lets you register your business, manage numbers, and see spam status.

Action steps:

1. Inventory every outbound number used by sales, marketing, and CS.
2. Register your organization and number list with Free Caller Registry and analytics providers (Hiya, First Orion, TNS).
3. Keep registrations updated as you add/retire numbers.

b) Ensure strong STIR/SHAKEN attestation

We covered STIR/SHAKEN conceptually; now, the practical side:

• Confirm with your carrier/VoIP provider that your calls are being signed with A‑level attestation where possible.
• If you’re sending calls through complicated routing or third‑party platforms, verify the call path doesn’t drop attestation.

Providers in the call‑reputation space consistently report large answer‑rate gains when businesses move from weak or no attestation to A‑level signatures.

c) Fix CNAM and directory inconsistencies

Carriers cross‑reference your caller ID name (CNAM) and phone numbers against public data: business listings, your website, Google Business Profile, Yelp, BBB, etc.

If you’re "SalesHive LLC" in one place and "Sales Hive Inc" in another, or your caller ID shows something random, you erode trust.

Best practices:

• Choose a single canonical business name and propagate it everywhere.
• Work with your telecom provider to update CNAM records for all key numbers.
• Once a month, have someone on the team call a few test devices (AT&T, Verizon, T‑Mobile) and screenshot how your calls appear.

d) Branded caller ID: from unknown to trusted

Branded calling is no longer just an enterprise luxury. Vendors like Hiya, First Orion, and TNS now offer ways for your brand name-and sometimes logo and call reason-to appear on the incoming screen.

Why it matters:

• Hiya’s research shows 77% of consumers are more likely to answer if they know who is calling, and 92% believe unidentified calls are fraudulent.
• TNS found that 70% of people wouldn’t answer an unknown number, but the same 70% would answer if they recognized the brand logo and name.
• First Orion reports answer‑rate lifts up to 200% and major improvements in first‑call conversion rates with branded communication.

For B2B, branded caller ID is especially powerful when:

• You’re calling warm leads from inbound or content downloads.
• You’re confirming demos and renewals where prospects expect a call.
• You have a strong, recognizable brand in a niche market.

It won’t turn random scraped lists into gold, but it will dramatically improve your chances when there’s some prior awareness.

e) Multichannel: warming people up before the call

You don’t have to fight the "unknown caller" problem head‑on. Make yourself known first.

• Use cold email outreach to introduce your company and value prop.
• Connect on LinkedIn and engage with relevant posts.
• Where compliant, send SMS reminders before scheduled calls.

By the time you call, prospects have seen your brand name in their inbox and feeds. When that matches what shows up on their phone, you get the compounding trust effect.

SalesHive leans heavily on this: our cold email and SDR teams work together so that calls don’t come out of nowhere-they’re one touch in a coordinated sequence.

5. Monitoring, Remediation, and Operational Discipline

Even if you do everything right, you’ll eventually see a number mislabeled. The goal is to catch it early and respond fast.

a) Set up ongoing reputation monitoring

Relying on reps to mention "hey, someone said we show as spam" is not a system.

Instead:

• Use analytics portals (Hiya Caller Reputation, TNS dashboards, your carrier’s tools) to check your numbers’ status regularly.
• Ask your voice provider if they offer real‑time spam monitoring or alerts.
• At least monthly (ideally weekly), review:
• Spam labels by number
• Answer rate by number
• Average call duration by number

Drop any number whose answer rate suddenly tanks or that gets flagged.

b) Rotate, rest, and retire numbers intelligently

You don’t want to churn through numbers blindly-that itself looks bad-but you also shouldn’t keep pounding from a poisoned line.

Framework:

• Rotate: Spread volume across your pool so no single line gets abused.
• Rest: If a number is labeled, park it for 30-90 days while you remediate.
• Retire: If a number has a long, ugly history (from previous owners or repeated flags), retire it permanently.

Tools like CallHub’s Spam Label Shield and other dialer reputation features automate pieces of this by detecting flags and swapping in clean numbers. Even if you don’t use those platforms, you can replicate the logic with manual reviews and clear rules.

c) Submit disputes and remediation requests

If you’re following best practices but still get labeled, don’t just shrug.

Most analytics providers allow you to:

• Submit dispute forms with your business info and use case
• Provide evidence of legitimacy (website, compliance program, opt‑in language, etc.)

Hiya’s Caller Reputation product, for example, is designed to give businesses insight into why calls are labeled and how to fix it.

d) Make reputation a formal RevOps responsibility

In high‑volume outbound environments, call reputation shouldn’t live in a random IT ticket queue. Treat it like:

• A RevOps/Sales Ops KPI with dashboards and owners
• A standing topic in weekly pipeline/ops reviews
• Part of SDR onboarding, so reps understand why adherence to dialing rules matters

You’d never ignore a sudden 50% drop in reply rates on your outbound email domain. Treat answer‑rate drops the same way.

6. Compliance and Ethics: The Foundation of Long‑Term Deliverability

You can’t brute‑force your way past regulation forever. The more you skate on the edge of TCPA and DNC rules, the more likely you are to get complaints-and complaints are the lifeblood of spam labeling.

a) Respect DNC and consent

At minimum, B2B teams should:

• Scrub outbound lists against the National Do Not Call Registry and any internal DNC lists.
• Track opt‑outs across all channels, not just phone.
• Get explicit consent where required (especially for SMS and voicemail drops).

Regulators, carriers, and analytics engines all watch for patterns that look like harassment (e.g., 8+ calls in 7 days to the same person in some contexts). If you’re even in the gray zone, you’re asking for trouble.

b) Train SDRs on compliance as a revenue lever

Too often, compliance training is a 30‑minute slideshow someone clicks through once a year.

Instead, position it as:

• Protecting their commissions (complaints → spam labels → fewer connects)
• Protecting the brand they’re proud to represent
• Protecting them personally from saying things that cross legal lines

Role‑play what to do when someone says "take me off your list" or threatens to report you. The smoother those conversations go, the less likely you are to generate the kind of anger that leads to carrier complaints.

c) Only call data you believe in

The sketchier your source, the sketchier your results.

• Random scraped lists are more likely to yield angry recipients and high block rates.
• High‑intent signals (product sign‑ups, webinar attendees, intent data) produce better answers and fewer complaints.

SalesHive’s stance here is simple: we’d rather work slightly fewer, higher‑quality leads with aligned expectations than burn through thousands of cold records that look and act like spam targets.

7. How This Applies to Your Sales Team (Very Practically)

Let’s bring all of this down to what your SDR manager and RevOps lead should actually do in the next 30 days.

Step 1: Run a call‑reputation health check

• Export a list of all numbers used by SDRs, AEs, and CS.
• For each, capture:
• Carrier/VoIP provider
• Daily/weekly call volume
• Answer rate
• Average call duration
• Manually test a handful on AT&T, Verizon, and T‑Mobile devices to see how they display.
• Use portals like Hiya Caller Reputation or carrier tools to see spam status where available.

You now have a baseline.

Step 2: Clean and segment your number pool

• Tag each number with a primary use case (SDR outbound, AE follow‑up, CS, etc.).
• Reassign numbers that are currently shared across multiple functions.
• Flag any numbers with:
• Very low answer rates
• A history of being used by other departments or external vendors

Decide which numbers will be part of your SDR outbound pool and which should be parked or retired.

Step 3: Register and attest

Working with your providers:

• Register your business and number pool via Free Caller Registry and analytics portals (Hiya, First Orion, TNS).
• Confirm every outbound trunk is STIR/SHAKEN‑enabled with A‑level attestation whenever possible.
• Update CNAM and public directory listings so your brand name is consistent everywhere prospects might look.

Step 4: Implement dialing guardrails

In your dialer or CRM, configure:

• Max calls per number per day (start conservative, you can always test up).
• Max calls per contact per day/week.
• Time‑zone aware calling windows.
• Basic sequence logic (e.g., call → email → LinkedIn → call), so you’re not brute‑forcing phone as the only touch.

Then roll this out as a policy:

• Train SDRs on why these limits exist (to protect answer rates and their quota).
• Make breaking the rules as hard as possible in the tools themselves.

Step 5: Add call‑reputation metrics to your dashboards

Alongside meetings set and pipeline, track:

• Answer rate by number and by campaign
• Average call duration
• % of calls flagged or labeled (where you have data)

Discuss this in your weekly revenue or SDR stand‑ups. If a line’s answer rate drops sharply, pull it from circulation and investigate.

Step 6: Explore branded calling where it makes sense

If you:

• Call a lot of warm leads or existing customers
• Operate in a regulated or high‑trust industry (finance, healthcare, security)

…then branded caller ID can create a huge edge.

Talk to your carrier, Hiya, TNS, or First Orion about options that fit your size. Start small-test on one segment of your outbound (e.g., event leads or current customers)-and compare answer and conversion rates.

Step 7: Decide what to own vs. outsource

If all of this sounds like a lot, that’s because it is. Managing call reputation is part telecom engineering, part RevOps, part sales leadership.

You have two real options:

1. Own it in‑house. Great if you have strong RevOps and enough outbound volume to justify the investment.
2. Partner with a specialist. Agencies like SalesHive live and die by connect rates, so we’ve already built the infrastructure, number pools, compliance, and monitoring platforms most teams don’t have time for.

Either way, make a conscious decision. Ignoring it is a decision too-the one where spam filters decide your pipeline for you.

Conclusion + Next Steps

"Spam Likely" isn’t just an annoying label-it’s a silent killer of B2B pipelines. In a world where tens of billions of robocalls flood U.S. networks every year and 80% of people ignore unknown numbers, you don’t get the benefit of the doubt.

The good news is that this problem is solvable for disciplined teams. If you:

• Treat call reputation as a core KPI
• Register your numbers and secure strong STIR/SHAKEN attestation
• Maintain clean dialing behavior and reasonable cadences
• Invest in identity-CNAM, branded caller ID, multichannel warming
• Monitor and remediate proactively instead of reactively

…you can keep your calls landing, your SDRs talking, and your pipeline growing.

If you want to shortcut the learning curve, SalesHive has already put these principles into practice across 100,000+ meetings booked for 1,500+ B2B clients. Whether you build the machine yourself or plug into ours, the key is the same:

Stop treating "Spam Likely" as an IT glitch and start treating call reputation as part of your outbound strategy. Do that, and your reps will spend far less time listening to ring tones-and far more time having real conversations with buyers.