Lead-gen playbook
Speed to lead: how to answer every lead within five minutes
Speed to lead is how fast you reply to a new enquiry. It matters because the first business that answers usually gets the conversation, and research shows replies within an hour qualify far more leads than replies even an hour later. Aim for five minutes in business hours, with a plan for nights and missed calls.
Published · 7 min read · 4 sources · By the AOS Sites team
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The speed-to-lead playbook
7 steps, in order. The detail behind each one is below.
- Put every lead in one placeCalls, voicemails, website forms, chat, texts and social messages should all land in one inbox or one list you check, not five apps.
- Get an alert on your phone for each new leadTurn on a notification for every new form, chat lead and voicemail, so a lead never waits for you to open your laptop.
- Decide who answers, hour by hourWrite down who replies during work hours, during jobs, evenings and weekends. If the answer is "nobody", that's the gap to fill first.
- Write three reply templatesOne for quotes, one for urgent jobs, one for after hours. Each uses the customer's name and details and proposes a next step.
- Reply within five minutes during open hoursA short personal reply now beats a perfect one in two hours. Call if they gave a number; text or email if they asked you to.
- Follow up three times, then stopIf they don't answer: try again the same day, the next day, and a few days later. Then let it rest.
- Check your response times every weekLook at last week's leads: how fast each got a reply, which got none, and which became jobs. Fix the slowest hour.
What does the research say about lead response time?
The best-known study is a Harvard Business Review audit published in 2011. The researchers audited 2,241 US companies' responses to web leads. 37% responded within an hour, 16% within one to 24 hours, 24% took more than 24 hours, and 23% never responded at all. Among companies that replied within 30 days, the average response time was 42 hours.[1]
The same research looked at what speed is worth. Firms that tried to contact a lead within an hour were nearly seven times as likely to qualify it (have a meaningful conversation with a decision maker) as those that tried even an hour later, and more than 60 times as likely as companies that waited 24 hours or longer.[1]
Why are most small businesses slow to reply?
Not because they don't care. The owner is on a roof, under a sink, with a patient or driving between jobs. Leads arrive in five places at once: a voicemail, a website form in an inbox nobody watches, a Facebook message, a text, a chat. Each one waits until someone has a free moment, and by then the customer has booked someone else.
- No single place where every lead shows up.
- No alert, so leads wait until someone opens the right app.
- No agreed owner: everyone assumes someone else replied.
- No plan for after hours, so evening leads wait until tomorrow afternoon.
- Starting from a blank page every time, so replies get put off.
Every one of these is a process problem, not an effort problem. Fixing them doesn't mean working more; it means deciding once and letting the routine do the rest.
Which leads need the fastest reply?
| Lead | Reply within | How |
|---|---|---|
| Missed phone call | Reply within: Minutes | How: Call back, or an answering service or AI receptionist that picks up when you can't |
| Website form or quote request | Reply within: 5 minutes in open hours | How: Call if they gave a number; otherwise reply the way they asked |
| Website chat | Reply within: While they're still on the page | How: A chat that answers from your facts and takes their details |
| Text from a customer | Reply within: 5 to 15 minutes | How: Reply by text; their message started the conversation |
| Reply within: Within the hour | How: A personal reply with a next step |
Urgent jobs jump the queue. If your form asks "Is this an emergency?" or "How soon do you need us?", read that answer first and call those people right away.
How do you reply in five minutes when you're on a job?
You don't do it alone. You set up three things once: a single place leads land, an alert that reaches you wherever you are, and a rule for who replies when you can't.
- Send all website leads to one email address, or one leads inbox, that rings your phone.
- Give your office person, partner or spouse the job during set hours, and say so out loud.
- Keep three saved replies on your phone so a good answer takes 20 seconds.
- For calls you miss, forward them to someone or something that answers, or at least text the caller back within a minute.
- After hours, an honest auto-reply that says when you'll call is better than silence.
On AOS Sites, every lead from your website is emailed to you as it arrives, with where the person found you, and AOS chat answers visitors around the clock from your own facts. On paid plans, AOS can also text your own cell when a visitor asks for a person. See where your leads land and getting chat alerts on your phone.
What should the first reply say?
Three things: you got their message, you understand what they need, and what happens next. Use their name and one detail they gave you so it's obviously not a robot pretending to be a person.
Propose a time instead of asking "when works for you?". It saves a round of messages. If an automated reply goes out first, say plainly that it's automatic and when a person will follow up; AOS's chat and AI Receptionist always say they're an AI.
Reply in the channel they chose. If someone texted you, replying by text is fine: Twilio's messaging policy notes that when an individual messages you, you may respond in that exchange. Texting someone who only filled in a form is different; ask first.[2]
How many times should you follow up?
More than once, fewer than many. A sensible rhythm for a lead that hasn't answered: a call or reply within five minutes, a second try later the same day, a third the next day, and a last one a few days after that. Then stop, and keep them on your list only if they agreed to hear from you.
Follow-up emails that market your business fall under the CAN-SPAM Act: the FTC's guide requires your postal address and a clear way to opt out in each message, with opt-outs honored within 10 business days.[3]
Texts need more care. Carrier guidelines expect consent before you text someone, and express written consent before marketing texts. If a person asked you to text them, a few follow-ups about their request are reasonable; adding them to promotions is not.[4]
AOS Sites can send a short series of follow-up emails automatically when a new lead arrives (up to four on Launch, with your mailing address and an unsubscribe link in each), stopping by themselves when you mark the lead contacted, booked, won or lost. See automatic follow-up emails.
How do you measure your response time?
Once a week, take last week's leads and write three things next to each: when it came in, when someone first replied, and what happened. You'll see your slow hours at a glance, usually lunchtime, the end of the day and weekends.
- Median time to first reply: the number to bring down.
- Leads with no reply at all: the number to bring to zero.
- Leads that became jobs, by how fast they were answered.
In AOS Sites you can mark each lead contacted, booked or won, add notes and reminders, and see where each one found you. See tracking a lead.