A new enquiry lands in your inbox at ten past two on a Tuesday. When does it get its first reply?
If the honest answer is “sometime this afternoon, or maybe tomorrow”, you could be losing business before you’ve even said hello.
The numbers behind the Golden 10 Minutes
Phone a new lead inside 10 minutes of them getting in touch, whether they’ve filled in a form or asked for a call back, and you have a 92% chance of reaching them. Your conversion rate will usually be about double the norm too.
Leave it 30 minutes and your chance of getting hold of them falls to 65%. Wait two hours, which plenty of businesses would be pleased with, and it drops to 39%, with a conversion rate that is no better than usual. And that’s before a day or a week has gone by.
Why speed matters so much
Every enquiry has a half-life. Someone filled in your form because they wanted something right then, and that interest fades by the minute. The longer a lead waits, the more likely they are to have spoken to someone else, or to have simply moved on to something else.
How to get inside the 10 minutes
- Get an instant alert. Every new enquiry should ping a phone, not sit in an inbox waiting for someone to check it.
- Name one person to make the first call, and one to cover when they’re away. If everyone owns it, nobody does.
- Keep the first call simple. That call isn’t for selling, it’s for starting a conversation and booking the next step.
- Send an instant acknowledgement as well. An automatic text or email confirming you’ve got their enquiry is useful, but it buys you a little time rather than replacing the call.
- Track it. Note the gap between enquiry and first contact for a month. It’s one more thing you can only improve once you know your numbers.
What if you can’t call within 10 minutes?
Be realistic. If an enquiry arrives at 9pm, nobody expects a call. Tell people when to expect one (“we’ll ring you by 9.30am”) and then make sure it happens. Aim to close the gap between enquiry and first contact as far as you sensibly can.
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