What is speed to lead?

Speed is not a nice to have in qualification, it is most of the outcome. By the time a lead reaches a person hours later, the moment has usually passed and the buyer has moved on to whoever answered first.

The research is old but directional. Oldroyd and InsideSales.com found in 2007 that the odds of qualifying a lead were about 21 times higher at 5 minutes than at 30, and a 2011 Harvard Business Review study found firms responding within the first hour were roughly 7 times more likely to qualify a lead than those waiting an hour longer. Both studies involve a vendor that sold response software, so treat them as directional rather than a current benchmark.

Measure it with the median, not the average. One lead answered in four days will hide a hundred answered in ten minutes. The practical fix is availability aware routing and follow up that reaches an available person within minutes, then lets the lead book on the spot.