A free guide by Netlogic Media
The weekly number that shows whether your follow-up is holding or quietly slipping, how to find the minimum you can hit in your worst week, and the arithmetic that explains why a busy stretch costs you more leads than a slow one.
Quick answer: Pick the smallest number of follow-up touches per lead you could hit during your busiest week rather than your best one. Track weekly whether you hit it. A small number held every week reaches more leads than a big number you abandon the moment work picks up, because no lead ever experiences your monthly average.
Most owners measure follow-up by the month. A lead experiences it once. A lead who came in during the week your crew was short two people got one text and then silence, and no monthly total will ever tell you that happened.
The Cadence Rule: Every lead experiences exactly one follow-up sequence: their own. Averages are invisible to them.
Step 1 — See What Your Busy Weeks Actually Cost
Pull the last 90 days of leads, grouped by the week they came in. For each week, count how many got a full follow-up sequence and how many got a single touch and nothing after. The silent ones usually cluster, and they cluster in the weeks the business was busiest, which are often the same weeks the most leads arrived.
Step 2 — Find The Number You Can Hold In Your Worst Week
Ask what you could hit during a bad week (a launch, a vacation, a crew down, a slow season) rather than what you manage when you are motivated and the calendar is open. That smallest number is your real cadence. Everything above it is a bonus you cannot plan around.
Step 3 — Put The Minimum On A Timer Instead Of A Person
- The first touch goes out automatically the moment the lead lands, so it never depends on who happens to be at a desk.
- The middle touches run on a fixed schedule counted from the lead’s own arrival date, rather than from whenever somebody remembers.
- The human touch is saved for the point in the sequence where a real reply changes the outcome, so your team spends attention where it does work.
Step 4 — The Arithmetic On Why Bursts Do Not Compound
Take a month with 40 leads. Chase 10 of them through five touches each and leave the other 30 with one, and you have made 80 touches. Give all 40 leads three touches on a timer and you have made 120, using fewer hours of anyone’s attention. The first month feels busier. The second one actually reached the leads you paid for.
Where This Falls Short: A cadence you can hold will not rescue a weak offer or a lead source sending you the wrong people. It gets the leads you already paid for reached. Who those leads are is a different problem with a different fix.
Start Here: Count how many of last month’s leads got exactly one touch. That number is what a busy week is costing you.
The Payoff: A follow-up number small enough to survive your worst week, running on a timer instead of a memory, reaches more of the leads you already paid for than any burst of effort does.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many follow-up touches per lead should I send?
Pick the smallest number you could hit during your busiest week and hold that every week. A modest number you never skip reaches more leads than a larger one you abandon whenever work picks up.
Why do my busiest weeks lose the most leads?
Those are usually the weeks the most leads arrive and the least attention is available. Unless the sequence runs on a timer, leads that come in during a busy stretch get the thinnest follow-up.
Should I track follow-up weekly or monthly?
Weekly. A monthly total can look healthy while entire weeks went unanswered, and the leads from those weeks are long gone by the time the month closes.
Does automating follow-up make it feel impersonal?
Only when you automate the wrong part. Put the touches that simply have to happen on time on a timer, and save your team for the point where a real conversation changes the outcome.
Want This Running Without Anyone Remembering?
Instead of depending on how busy the week was, we can build the follow-up sequence and the timing behind it so every lead gets the same cadence.
