Speed to Lead: Reply in Minutes, Follow Up Without Thinking About It

RULE: The first reply goes out within 5 minutes, any hour. Every later message checks first whether the lead has replied, booked or opted out, and stops if so.

A lead who has to wait calls the next business on the list. Research on web leads (Harvard Business Review, "The Short Life of Online Sales Leads", 2011) found that firms that replied within an hour were about 7 times as likely to qualify the lead as firms that replied an hour later. Most small businesses reply the next day, or never. Automation closes that gap.

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