What is slow follow-up actually costing you?
The Speed-to-Lead Revenue Leak Calculator turns your enquiry volume, customer value and current response time into the euro figure slow follow-up quietly costs you every month. Every assumption is yours to edit, and the full sum is shown on screen. No black box.
Every assumption below is yours to edit, and the full sum is shown on the page. No sign-up needed to use it.
€4,400
a month, or €52,800 a year
That is the revenue moving from within 4 hours to under 5 minutes would put back in play, about 4.4 more customers a month on your own numbers.
How this is worked out
40 enquiries × 20% close × €1,000 = €8,000 of winnable revenue a month.
Reach at under 5 minutes (100%) − reach at within 4 hours (45%) = 55 points of that revenue recovered by speed.
Change any figure, including the reach percentages below, and this recomputes live.
The reachability assumptions behind this
The calculator needs one figure it cannot read from your business: how much of your close rate survives a given response time. The defaults below reflect the direction that published lead-response research is clear about, that reachability collapses fast in the first hour. The exact percentages are planning assumptions, not numbers lifted from any one study, and every one is yours to change to match your own data.
Reach % = the share of your close rate you still capture at that response time, relative to responding in under five minutes.
Where the default shape comes from
Contacting a web lead within 5 minutes rather than 30 made reps far more likely to reach and qualify it.
Lead Response Management Study, Prof. James Oldroyd (MIT Sloan / Kellogg), sponsored by InsideSales.com, 2007. Analysed roughly 15,000 leads and 100,000 call attempts. Widely cited for the finding that the odds of a meaningful contact drop sharply after the first five minutes.
Firms that responded within an hour were markedly more likely to have a real conversation with a decision maker than those who waited longer.
'The Short Life of Online Sales Leads,' James Oldroyd, Kristina McElheran and David Elkington, Harvard Business Review, 2011. Reported that responding within an hour left firms about seven times more likely to qualify a lead than waiting even an hour longer, and far more likely than waiting a day.
Both studies establish the shape of the decay, not our exact percentages. Treat the defaults as a sensible starting curve and replace them with your own measured numbers the moment you have them. The calculator recomputes live and shows the full sum, so nothing here is hidden.
0 / 5 in place
Reliable speed is a system, not a resolution to try harder. Tick what is genuinely running today. Whatever is unticked is where the leak above is coming from.
Every fast enquiry is going to someone else
Almost none of the response system is in place. The leak figure above is close to the full cost of slow follow-up, and it is also the cheapest revenue you will find all year.
The fix is a system, not trying harder.
The five components above run without new headcount: instant response, routed alerts, missed-call textback and tracked follow-up, working every enquiry from the first second. That layer is exactly what LeadLock installs.
Email me my leak report and the response playbook.
The Speed-to-Lead Playbook: the five-minute standard, the day 0 to 14 response ladder, a copy-paste message pack and a fill-in SLA one-pager, plus your leak figure, sent to your inbox.
Before you ask.
What is a good lead response time?
Minutes, not hours. The prospect is at peak interest in the moments after they enquire, and serious buyers usually contact more than one company, so the first genuine response tends to frame the decision. A practical standard is an instant automated acknowledgment plus a human touch within five minutes during working hours.
Where do the reachability percentages come from?
They are planning assumptions, shaped by published lead-response research that is clear on one thing: reachability falls fast in the first hour. The exact figures are not lifted from any single study, so treat them as a sensible starting curve and replace them with your own measured numbers the moment you have them. Every percentage on the page is editable.
Is the leak figure a promise of recoverable revenue?
No. It is a planning estimate built entirely from the numbers you enter and the assumptions you can see and change. It shows the size of the prize if you closed the gap between your current and target response times, not a guarantee. The full sum is printed on the page so you can check every step.
How do I measure my real speed to lead?
Timestamp both ends: when each enquiry arrived and when the first genuine response went out, across every channel including phone, forms and messaging. The mystery-shop self-test in the playbook is the fastest way to get a real number. Review it weekly and include evenings and weekends, because office-hours averages hide the worst leaks.
Can I fix slow response without hiring anyone?
Usually, yes. Instant acknowledgments, routed alerts, missed-call textback and scheduled follow-up sequences all run without headcount, and they buy your existing team the time to do the one thing automation cannot: hold a good conversation. Most businesses need plumbing, not people.
More free tools on the resources page, and the follow-up system in full on LeadLock.