A buyer fills out your form. They want to talk to you. Right now.

Then nothing happens.. for 21 hours.

That's not a guess. Dave Hanson runs ClientTether, a CRM used by thousands of locations. His team went to companies they wanted as clients, found the best lead form on their websites, filled it out with real data, and timed the reply.

26% never responded. Not late. Never. Months later, still nothing.

Only 15% ever sent a text. The average first reply of any kind took 21 hours. A phone call took about two days.

Every lead already in your pipeline is leaking out of the bucket before anyone says hello.

The target is 3 minutes

Dave's rule is simple. Reach a new lead in three minutes or less. Here's the sequence he walked through on The Sales Show:

Minute 0: email with a video. A 20-second video of the person who will call them. The thumbnail or GIF sits right below the first sentence, big. Dave says that alone triples click-through. Add a link to book time.

Minute 1: a text. "Hi, it's Dave from ClientTether. I'll call you in a couple of minutes. Want to pick a time instead? Here's my link."

Minute 3: the call. Two minutes after the text.

Why two minutes? Within two minutes, more than 95% of texts have been read. And the phone itself reads the text. So when you call, the screen doesn't say "spam likely". It shows your name.

Text first, call second. Dave says that lifts the answer rate by 40%. Seven years ago it was the other way around. Robo-dialers changed the order.

Dave's data comes from franchise and multi-location brands. Your demo request or contact form works the same way. And the best part: it's a written sequence, so the new salesperson you're hiring can run it from day one, without you watching the inbox.

Most replies come at touch 7

On the B2B side, cold calls with nurturing are working again. After inbound web leads, they're ClientTether's best appointment source.

The catch: Dave's sales development lead sees more and more people reply at touch seven and eight. And most salespeople stop at touch one or two. One voicemail, no answer, "must be a bad list".

It isn't a bad list. It's a short follow-up.

Dave's number is about eight calls and ten to twelve emails, spread out over weeks or months. After six attempts you have roughly a 70 to 80% chance of reaching someone. After eight, about 90%. Past that, returns drop fast.

One condition: every touch has to give something. Chew on that: Dave tells his team that a "just following up" email is grounds for termination. Buyers know in a split second if it's a sales email. Give them an insight, a number, a story about a client like them. Then ask for the meeting.

Here's a simple way to find your ten touches. Write down five reasons someone buys from you and five fears that stop them. That's ten messages.

Ask for the referral before you close

Most founders ask for referrals at the end, if at all. Dave plants the idea in the first meeting: "If we work together, most of my clients send us a referral at some point, because they want their friends to have the same experience."

Jay Abraham does a version of this. His first question in a meeting: "Who referred you to me?" Even when he knows nobody did. It installs the idea.

Ask at least three times. And ask even when the deal is lost. A prospect who got real value from your time often feels they owe you one.

The welcome text that sells

Simon told a story from his own life. He's a rower, compared five Pilates studios, and bought the most expensive annual membership. Right when buyer's remorse was about to kick in, and that fresh-start feeling was starting to go stale, a WhatsApp arrived: welcome to the community, here's how to reach us, and you can bring three friends a year.

Fast. Personal. A direct line on his phone. And a referral flywheel built into the welcome.

Every business can send that message. A software company, a consultancy, a janitorial service.

Your one move this week

Fill out your own lead form. Time the reply. If it's longer than three minutes, you know where your next deals are hiding.

The first conversation is where control starts. Speed puts you in it.

Want the full 8-step process for what happens after that first call? Join Sprint Club, 7 days free, no risk: https://www.strategysprints.com

Ready to accelerate now? Book a Discovery Call: https://calendly.com/strategysprint/discovery-call

Watch the full episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qZgEFwrqVI

Happy hunting.

Simon & The Sprinters 🐬⚡️🐆