Answers · Follow-up
How fast should I respond to a lead?
Within five minutes if you can, within an hour at most. Studies going back years show the odds of reaching and qualifying a lead drop sharply after the first hour and collapse after a day. Locally it's simpler: the customer is calling three businesses, and the first one that answers usually gets the job.
The often-cited research (from Harvard Business Review and a lead-response study by MIT and InsideSales) found that responding within five minutes made a lead many times more likely to be reached than responding in 30 minutes, and that after 24 hours, most leads were effectively gone. You don't need the studies to believe it. Think about the last time you asked three contractors for a quote.
Speed matters most for the first touch, and the first touch doesn't have to be a person. An automatic text or email in the first minute ("Got it, we'll call you by 2pm") keeps you in the running until a human is free. That's the single highest-value thing a follow-up system does.
A realistic standard for a small business
Automatic acknowledgment in under a minute, every time, every channel. A real reply within an hour during business hours. First thing next morning for anything that came in overnight. And a second follow-up two days later for anyone who didn't answer, because a surprising number of jobs come from the second try.
Ready when you are
Let's talk about your business.
A 30-minute conversation about where things stand and what would help most. No pitch deck, no pressure.