What is speed to lead, and why does it decide who gets the job?
Speed to lead is the time between a new enquiry arriving and your first reply. The best-known research is the Oldroyd/InsideSales lead-response study of over 15,000 leads, which found the odds of qualifying a lead fall about 21 times when the reply slips from 5 minutes to 30, and the odds of even making contact fall about 10 times. That was B2B web-form data from 2007, so treat the exact multiples as directional rather than a promise. The everyday version is simpler and harder to argue with: the first tradie to reply usually gets the job, and most tradies are on the tools when the lead lands.
- Definition: minutes (or seconds) from enquiry to first reply.
- The 5-minute rule comes from a real study, though an old B2B one: 5 minutes vs 30 minutes was roughly a 21x difference in qualifying the lead.
- The fix is not trying harder. It is an automatic first reply the moment the lead lands, then a real call when you are off the roof.
Where the "5 minutes" number comes from
The most-cited research is the Lead Response Management study by James Oldroyd, then a research fellow at MIT Sloan, using InsideSales.com data, later written up in Harvard Business Review as "The Short Life of Online Sales Leads" (2011). It analysed three years of data across six companies, more than 15,000 leads and over 100,000 call attempts. Its headline findings: replying within 5 minutes versus 30 minutes made contact about 10 times more likely and qualification about 21 times more likely. Two honest caveats. It is usually called "the MIT study", but it was vendor data analysed by an academic, not an MIT publication. And it covered B2B web-form leads in 2007, not Australian homeowners ringing a tradie, so the shape of the finding travels better than the exact numbers do.
You will also see "78% of customers buy from the first business to respond" quoted everywhere, including by agencies selling you leads. Ignore that one: nobody can produce the original study, and it gets recycled between marketing blogs until it looks like a fact. The 5-minute research is the one with a paper trail.
Why it hits tradies harder than office businesses
A homeowner with a blocked drain or a dead power point fills in one form, then two more. Whoever calls back first books the job; the rest get "sorry, sorted". The problem is structural: a tradie is on the tools when the lead lands, the phone is in the van, and the reply happens at smoko or after 5pm. By then the job has gone to whoever had someone answering.
On shared-lead marketplaces this is even worse, because the same enquiry is sent to two or three of you at the same moment. Speed is the whole contest.
How to measure your own speed to lead
- Median time to first reply. For each enquiry, minutes from arrival to your first text or call. Median, not average, so one lost lead does not hide the pattern.
- Contact rate. Share of leads you actually reached, ever.
- Cost per won job. Spend divided by jobs booked. Faster replies move this number more than cheaper leads do.
How to fix it without living on your phone
- Automatic first reply in seconds. An SMS from your own number the moment the lead lands: "Got your enquiry, Dan from X here, I will call you shortly." That holds the lead while you finish the job you are on.
- One place to see every lead. Not a mix of email, missed calls and marketplace apps. If you have to hunt, you reply late.
- A real call within the hour. The auto-reply buys you time; the human call closes the job.
- Exclusive leads where you can. If the lead only came to you, minutes still matter, but you are not racing two rivals to the same phone.
Where Tradley fits
Tradley is built around this one number. The Speed-to-Lead engine sends the first SMS from your own number in under 60 seconds and every lead lands in one inbox in the app. The job then runs in the same app, so the enquiry, the quote and the payment live together.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good speed to lead for a tradie?
Under 5 minutes for the first reply, ideally under a minute with an automatic SMS. The research shows the biggest drop-off happens between 5 and 30 minutes.
Does an automated text really count as a reply?
Yes, as the first touch. It confirms the enquiry landed with a real business and holds the customer until you call. It does not replace the call.
Is the 78% first-responder statistic real?
No, treat it as folklore. It is quoted everywhere but nobody can produce the original study. The traceable research is the Oldroyd/InsideSales study (5 minutes vs 30 minutes, roughly 21x the odds of qualifying), and even that is 2007 B2B data rather than trade data.
Does speed matter if my leads are exclusive?
Yes. Even with no rivals on the same lead, a homeowner who hears nothing for hours often fills in another form. Speed keeps the lead warm; exclusivity stops the price race.
Lead Response Management study (Oldroyd, then MIT Sloan, using InsideSales.com data, 2007) and "The Short Life of Online Sales Leads", Harvard Business Review, March 2011. Vendor data analysed by an academic, on B2B web leads, not an MIT publication and not Australian trade data. External research, not Tradley results.
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