Most local businesses lose more revenue to slow responses than they spend on marketing. Enter your numbers and find out exactly what it's costing you.
The original research — published jointly by MIT Sloan and Kellogg School of Management in 2011 and replicated in 2019 — analyzed 100,000 inbound sales leads across industries. The core finding: leads called within 5 minutes were 21× more likely to qualify than leads called after 30 minutes. The decay is not linear. It's steep, fast, and permanent.
We apply the published decay curves to your response-time bucket. A <5-min response achieves the full baseline close rate for your industry. Every bucket above that applies a multiplier: 5–30 min (0.35×), 30 min–1 hr (0.19×), 1–4 hrs (0.12×), 4+ hrs (0.07×). Your "loss" is the revenue delta between your current bucket and the <5-min baseline.
We use published industry benchmarks for inbound lead close rates — roofing (18%), med spa (22%), dental (28%), realtor (12%), auto dealer (25%), law firm (15%). These reflect typical conversion on a qualified inbound lead when response happens promptly. Your current response time reduces effective close rate by the decay multiplier above.
Primary source: "The Short Life of Online Sales Leads," Harvard Business Review / MIT Sloan Management Review (2011). Secondary: "Lead Response Management," InsideSales.com (2019 update). Decay multipliers derived from published response-time-to-contact-rate curves.
InstantClose answers every lead in under 60 seconds, books the appointment, and recovers missed calls automatically. Your calendar fills itself.