Google Sheets Click to Call in 3 Easy Steps

If you have ever called several hundred potential customers listed in Google Sheets, then you probably thought that it would be nice to have a call-on-click function, and not have to copy each phone number into a softphone, or, even worse, dial it manually.

Have you noticed that, on many sites, phone numbers are highlighted as links? This is done for mobile phones: just click on the link and it will call the number automatically. Is it possible to do the same on a computer, so that a click on the phone number prompts the softphone to dial it?

For this, many specialized CRM systems have been created. All information about the client is entered there, including the phone number. The operator just needs to click on it and the softphone will automatically start a call. But contacts are not always stored in CRM.

In this article, we'll show you how to make numbers clickable in Google Sheets.

Why it is sometimes better to call from Google Sheets instead of CRM?

At first glance, it seems that all work with clients should be carried out only in the CRM system. This is true for basic sales processes. Every significant call that moves a customer along the sales funnel must be recorded in the system. The rule of good manners for a sales manager is not just to indicate the fact of the call ("I called about a commercial offer"), but also to write down a short summary of the conversation.

But what if the customer is not yet in the sales funnel? This is where the good old Google and Microsoft spreadsheets come in. While CRM systems have long supplanted them to automate the sales process, they are still the most convenient tool for telemarketing.

And this is easy to explain. A specialist who makes cold calls does not need to see the history of work with a client. His goal is to reach a decision maker, get them interested in the proposal and make an appointment with the manager.

Here are some examples of how to use Google Sheets when it comes to calling customers:

- Classic telemarketing - calls to a cold customer base

- Cross-selling - calls to existing customers in order to offer another product or service of the company

- Marketing surveys and questionnaires. This also includes various types of customer satisfaction assessments and campaigns to update the existing customer base

- Calling debtors

You probably know that customer calls can be conducted not only by company employees but also by an outsourced call center. So, Google and Microsoft spreadsheets can also act as a generic file that companies use to exchange customer lists.

How to Record Phone Numbers in Google Spreadsheets

There are some nuances to entering phone numbers in Google Sheets.

Since phone numbers are mostly digits, preceded by a plus sign (+), the problem is that, as soon as this sign is added to a cell in the spreadsheet, the program reads the input as a mathematical formula and tries to calculate the value.

There are two ways to get around this feature:

1. You can enclose a phone number in double quotation marks (”) and precede it with an equal sign (=)

2. Or you can use a single quotation mark (') in front of the phone number. After that, Google Sheets will interpret the cell value as text and the formatting of the phone number will be preserved.

How to make a number clickable in Google Sheets using the HYPERLINK formula

Returning to the main problem of how to make phone numbers within Google Sheets interactive, the obvious answer would be to use the = HYPERLINK () method with the tel protocol. Unfortunately, Google Sheets doesn't support it.

Therefore, a formula such as \=HYPERLINK(“tel:12345”, “Call”) will not work, as the extension only allows normal http and mailto hyperlinks. But there is a simple workaround.

You can create a regular hyperlink in a cell, pointing to a website, which in turn redirects to the actual phone link. To see this in action, https://ctrlq.org/call/ before any phone number in the Google Spreadsheet and it will turn into an interactive phone link.

Let's say you have a phone number in cell A1. Add this simple formula to any other cell and it will create a telephone link, just like you would on a regular web page.

The easiest way to make a click-to-call from Google Sheets

Despite the effectiveness of the method described above, the constant need to insert a link before the number can be a problem. Operators in a hurry will forget to do it or write it with an error, which will lead to additional time costs for searching and fixing.

Therefore, in order to save time and the nerves of your employees, as well as to simplify the work with spreadsheets, we have developed a special Softphone.Pro extension for the Google Chrome browser, which turns a phone number in a Google Sheet into a clickable link.

To do this, you need to install this extension; the link to the page is in our Knowledge base. Once installed, the operator will be able to call from Google Sheets in two ways:

1. By left-clicking on the phone number in the formula field:

2. By left-clicking with the Ctrl key pressed on the number in the table field:

If you're having trouble making a call, see our «Outbound Calling in Google Sheets».

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