I grew up in sales without inbound leads—if you wanted a deal, you had to go out and make it happen. So, to me, getting a lead was like gold. I valued them far more than the average person because I knew what it was like not to have them.

At the same time, I realized that salespeople weren’t following up because they found it too hard, too much work, or simply frustrating when they couldn’t reach people.

Host (NachoTuesday): Yeah, because sales used to be all about outbound before Google came along, right?

Sammy James (Leverly): Exactly. Before Google, sales was primarily outbound. For a hundred years, selling was outbound-driven—sure, there was direct response marketing and some inbound calls, but there were no web forms like we have today.

So, I realized it wasn’t just that salespeople didn’t like following up—it was also an operational issue. Many companies weren’t set up to handle inbound leads efficiently. Maybe a lead would pop up in their CRM and get assigned to a rep, but that process created bottlenecks.

Host (NachoTuesday): Right, and the reason leads are assigned is to ensure someone takes ownership of following up, correct?

Sammy James (Leverly): Exactly! If you're selling something that requires a conversation, but you never actually talk to the lead, you have no chance of closing the deal. Job number one is starting the conversation.

But here’s the problem: if I assign a lead to you, and you’re already on a call or busy with another task, that lead just sits there. It might sit for five minutes, five hours, or even five days—nobody really knows. That’s a major flaw in the process.

So I thought, Why build a bottleneck into the system? That didn’t make sense. My next question was: How do we eliminate that bottleneck and make it easier for salespeople to follow up on leads?

Now, I’ll admit, I’m probably the laziest salesperson in the world when it comes to administrative tasks. I love being organized, but I hate organizing. And I’m not alone—many salespeople don’t enjoy updating CRMs, checking long task lists, or manually following up on leads.

They walk into work, and their task list is a mile long. Every time they don’t reach a lead, they create another task—“left a voicemail, call back later,” and so on. Before they know it, they have 50 to 75 outstanding follow-ups, and then what happens? They start avoiding them.

Host (NachoTuesday): Right! At that point, they’re probably thinking, “It’s been two weeks—if I call now, the lead is going to be annoyed.”

Sammy James (Leverly): Exactly! They feel embarrassed, or they spend time deciding which lead to call instead of just taking action. The reality is, they have limited time in the day, and the process is overwhelming.

As a result, the average lead in the U.S. sits untouched for 45 hours. That’s the average—some are worse, some are better. And the typical lead only gets 2.1 follow-up attempts. But we know from data that to give yourself a 98% chance of reaching a lead, you need to call at least six times.

Host (NachoTuesday): Wow—six times? I bet a lot of sales reps give up after just one attempt, if they even bother calling at all.

Sammy James (Leverly): Absolutely. There’s a huge spectrum. Some companies are exceptional at this—about 1-2% of all leads receive a call within 60 seconds. Those companies are doing a brilliant job, and I want to give them credit.

But for everyone else, there’s a massive gap. That’s where Leverly comes in.

Back in the early days of telephony-based startups, I worked on a project that was essentially an early version of song recognition—similar to what Shazam does today. However, this was before smartphones, back in what I like to call the “cave painting days.”

At the time, if you wanted to identify a song playing on the radio, you had to dial a number—1-800-777-BUZZ—and the service, called Buzz Hits, would ask you to enter the station you were listening to. For example, if you were tuned in to 104.5 KFOG, Buzz Hits would play a short snippet and tell you, "That's Madonna—Holiday," or whatever song was playing at the time.

People loved it, and it worked well. I was the business development lead, responsible for productizing and monetizing the service. That experience made me realize I have a knack for connecting seemingly unrelated ideas in ways that create value and make sense to people.

That same mindset led me to a key insight: handling inbound leads was an inefficient mess.

At the time, lead forms were being emailed to sales teams, and in some cases, companies were even printing them out and physically handing them to reps. Believe it or not, 10 years ago, New York Life was still faxing leads to their agents!

I thought, There has to be a better way.

Turning a Form Into a Phone Call

I asked myself: What if we could turn a form submission into a phone call?

Instead of letting an email or fax sit idly, we could immediately convert the data into text-to-speech, create a prompt, and call the sales team in real-time.

Here’s how it would work:

The system would call reps in a round-robin format until someone picked up.

Instead of pre-assigning a lead (which can cause delays), the first available rep could press 1 to accept the lead.

The rep would then be connected with the prospect instantly—within 30 seconds—using their own caller ID.

Importantly, all of this would still be logged in the CRM, so it wouldn’t disrupt existing workflows.

At the time, I had no idea whether this idea would work or if it would even make a difference—it was just an experiment. But I was frustrated by seeing so many leads go to waste.

It turned out to be a game-changer.

The Power of Speed in Lead Conversion

Around the same time, MIT released a study that reinforced what we had discovered. They conducted experiments calling leads at different time intervals and found that the faster you call, the higher your chance of closing the deal.

At the time, MIT only measured up to five minutes—which they thought was “crazy fast.” But I wondered, Why stop at five minutes? Why not one minute? Or even one second?

The reality is speed is the #1 driver of lead conversion.

Consider these statistics:

If you wait more than 1 minute to call a lead, your conversion rate drops by 400%.

If you wait more than 5 minutes, it drops by 800%.

Yet, most businesses don’t operate with this sense of urgency. In our experience, about 50% of inbound leads (whether from phone calls or forms) are never followed up on fast enough.

That’s a huge missed opportunity.

Why Immediate Response Matters

People aren’t ignoring your call because they have short attention spans—they’re just overloaded with distractions.

When someone submits a form, they’re in an active buying mindset—they have a problem, they’ve searched for a solution, and they’re considering your company.

If you don’t call them right away, they’ll likely move on.

Up to 80% of buyers choose the first company that calls them.

We’ve handled millions of calls on behalf of our clients, and not one person has ever complained about getting a call within 60 seconds of filling out a form.

Some might ask, “If they really wanted to talk, why didn’t they just call instead of filling out the form?”

The truth is, people behave differently. Some are introverted, some are extroverted, and for whatever reason, many prefer submitting a form over making a call. That doesn’t mean they don’t want to speak with you—it just means they need a little nudge.

And that’s where speed, automation, and persistence come in.

Experiment and Insights on Speed in Sales

What actually made this experiment work was when I deconstructed it and asked, Why does this work? Aside from the obvious fact that people appreciate and think highly of you for calling them so quickly, there’s more to it. Before the sales rep even opens their mouth, the prospect is already thinking, Wow, this company must be so professional and organized. They have it together. I already trust them more than I did just a minute ago. That’s all happening before you've even spoken to them, which is amazing! It’s proactive.

The reason this happens is because the phone rings so fast, and you're already engaged with them. I had something else I wanted to add here, but I interrupted myself... that happens a lot.

The Importance of Phone Calls in Sales

We were talking about the importance of phone calls and how so many people miss out on that. Time really kills deals—speed is everything. Your platform helps people address this issue, which I think is crucial. Many marketers and salespeople forget that phone calls are a very important channel for engaging with customers.

Host (NachoTuesday): How many business owners or salespeople do you see relying too much on emails? Automated email follow-ups can be effective, but they often neglect getting on the phone with their customers.

B2B vs. B2C: The Role of Speed in Sales

Sammy James (Leverly): In my opinion, B2B is generally less responsive than B2C. If you're working on an enterprise deal, you might be dealing with a buying committee of 12 people, so a rapid response isn't always expected. Products designed to help you book a Discovery Call are common, and that call is often the key goal for those in the B2B space. In that scenario, speed might not be as crucial to them.

Host (NachoTuesday): I would politely disagree with this, though. I don’t think anyone will think less of you for calling them right away, even if it's just to introduce yourself. You don’t have to go straight into a full-blown Discovery Call, but at least you can say, “Hey, I appreciate your interest. I’ll send you a link, or let’s get a meeting scheduled. If you have any questions in the meantime, I’m here to help.”

This kind of approach goes a long way.

Speed in B2C and Its Transfer to B2B

When it comes to B2C, speed is critical, and it should always be a priority. Hesitation can cost you the deal. I also believe that some trends from B2C eventually bleed over into B2B. After all, at the end of the day, you're still selling to people.

People in the research phase—whether they’re looking for software or something else—want quick answers. They’re gathering information to bring back to their managers, and although they may not make a decision immediately, they need to feel comfortable with the information they’ve gathered. The company that can answer all their questions in the most efficient way will be the one they feel most confident in.

I call this the HubSpot-ization of sales. Companies like HubSpot and Infusionsoft (now Keap) have made their mark by nurturing leads through automated email sequences. Lead nurturing is essential if you're cultivating long-term relationships. But I think some people misinterpret this model, thinking that if they just nurture the lead enough, the prospect will eventually call when they’re ready to buy.

The Importance of Conversations in Sales

Especially with younger salespeople—who may not be familiar with the old Yellow Pages as a lead resource—they often think nobody likes to use the phone. While it's true that people like texting, social media, and other channels, nothing in sales is more powerful than having a conversation.

You can’t sell without a conversation. The sooner you have that conversation, the better.

There’s something about picking up the phone that makes it feel warm—it’s not a cold call when the person has already inquired. They’ll probably be happy that you called so quickly, and it can lead to a positive interaction. I love making those calls because the prospect is already expecting it. They’ll often thank you for being so prompt!

The Problem of Being Solution-Aware vs. Problem-Aware

It could be that some people are not problem-aware, or they aren’t solution-aware. I can't tell you how many times people have said to me, “I wish I knew about this 10 years ago. I’ve never heard of this technology before.”

In today’s world of automation, people are starting to circle back to personalization. They want that human touch. You can’t just automate everything. There’s still value in having a real conversation with someone.

It all goes back to the basics of sales: a conversation is still the most effective tool you have.

(19:26) Getting on the phone or having a meeting with someone – you mentioned earlier that a lot of companies aim for a discovery call. It’s the same concept, right? You have that discovery call to have a conversation, go over the platform, and answer questions about features, pricing, and other sales qualifying details. But if you could just get that out of the way with a quick phone call in less than 60 seconds, you’re already one step ahead of everyone else.

(19:50) By doing so, you gain the first-mover advantage, which is key. I came up with an acronym for this: First Attempt Response Time (F.A.R.T.). I should probably use it in my marketing! But seriously, if you’re the first one to respond, it’s yours to lose. If you help the lead effectively, the competition that calls 30 minutes later will be at a disadvantage. The prospect will say, “Sorry, I already spoke with someone for 20 minutes.” So that’s another big advantage.

(20:28) The thing is, every business is investing a lot to get leads. It’s not easy, and it costs a lot of money, effort, and time, especially when inbound leads come from forms or are purchased from third-party lead aggregators. By the time you get these leads, you need to make sure you’re doing everything possible to convert them. That’s just common sense, right? But unfortunately, a lot of businesses don’t do it.

(21:00) I read an article years ago by Ken Krog, who started a company called Inside Sales, which has since been sold off and evolved into something else. He wrote in Forbes that 73% of all inbound leads are wasted. That’s a tough stat, but even today, it’s probably still true. Now, with AI, we’re finally able to tackle that issue. Our platform wouldn’t work unless you answer the call and press 1 to dial the lead. We track how many calls are answered, and it’s not 100%. You’d think it would be, but it’s not, for reasons like time of day or available resources.

(21:59) So now we’ve introduced what I call an AI Phone Rep. Everyone’s heard of AI voice agents, but the term “agent” can be confusing because there are so many definitions. So, I’ve coined the term AI Phone Rep. With our platform, you can assign an AI Phone Rep (we call ours Beverly, because it rhymes with Leverly) to call leads. If none of your human reps are available, Beverly steps in to call the lead, set up an appointment, and more. We’re measuring conversion rates, but the key is that now businesses can capture 100% of their inbound leads and never miss an opportunity.

(23:04) The two key factors here are speed and persistence. You need to call leads quickly and follow up consistently. This is based on data – knowing when to call, what the sequence should be, what the messaging should be, and when to send it. A lot of people think that speed just means an automated email or text response, but that’s not speed to lead. I advise against doing that. While text messages and emails are important, they should be part of an orchestrated cadence that you automate to help increase the likelihood of speaking to a lead.

(23:36) The AI side of things is a hybrid approach. Many businesses, especially in B2C, get inbound calls. On average, businesses miss about 27% of inbound calls in a 24-hour period. Of those, 80% of people who don’t get through to a live person will never call back. So now, you can do conditional call forwarding, and those calls will go to your AI Phone Rep, who will qualify the lead and set an appointment. This is where I think we’re headed – every business is going to have this technology.

(25:15) Our competitors are mostly new companies selling AI Phone Rep services to businesses. They charge a lot for setup and maintenance, but we believe that our 15 years of experience and the platform we’ve built gives us an edge in this space. We’re excited to help as many customers as possible.

(26:18) And I love your philosophy of using AI for getting people answers quickly and effectively, rather than as an outbound spam tactic. I wouldn’t use AI for outbound calling or auto-dialing. For outbound, I think the most powerful tool is human interaction, not AI. But AI is perfect for inbound interactions, like when you’re chatting on a website or getting answers on the phone. People are willing to interact with AI when they’re looking for immediate answers. But if you get an email from an AI or a phone call from an auto-dialer, it can feel like spam.

(27:15) The key to success with AI is being transparent. If you’re answering a call with an AI, just be upfront about it. For example, you can say, “Hi, I’m Beverly, your AI Phone Rep. All our live agents are busy helping other customers right now, but I can help you set an appointment with one of them.” People will appreciate the honesty, and they’re less likely to feel like they’re being deceived.

(28:09) Some people may still prefer talking to a human, but it’s better than no response at all. AI is getting better all the time, and even if it’s not perfect, it’s still good enough. Sometimes, a little imperfection makes it feel more human, which helps people trust the process.

(29:02) The next big step for us is adding a conversational AI layer to every phone call and Zoom meeting. This will save time, improve training, and provide valuable insights into buyer intent, call performance, and next steps. We can automate follow-ups like, “Hey, it’s time for your follow-up call.”

(30:04) The phone is still one of the most powerful sales tools, and we’re using it in creative ways to help businesses stay organized, identify hot leads, and streamline the follow-up process. Salespeople are great at spinning plates, but with AI, we can take some of that burden off their shoulders so they can focus on closing deals.

(30:42) That’s what we’re working on right now. We’re excited to make the phone a more efficient and effective tool for businesses.

(31:10) As for what’s next for LLY, you can try a demo of our core product, which is the form-to-phone application, on our website. You can also demo our new AI Phone Rep, which is in the process of being rolled out. We’re working on the backend complexities, like integrating calendars and prompts, to make it all seamless for users.

(31:40) To try it out, visit our product page and fill out the demo form. If it’s after hours, the AI Phone Rep will call you. We’re excited to continue evolving the platform, adding conversational intelligence, and making it easier for businesses to manage inbound leads and automate follow-up actions.

(32:53) In the future, we want to simplify the process for businesses to set up a complete solution for inbound leads. Whether they come in via a phone call or a form, we want to make sure everything is under one roof. We’re not a CRM, but we’re focused on one of the most important parts of the sales process: getting in front of your customer when they need help. The best way to do that is still through a phone call.

(33:17) If you want to close more leads faster and get better ROI from your marketing efforts, check out Leverly at lvrly.com. Our AI Phone Rep, Beverly, is here to help you handle inbound leads with ease.

(33:37) Well, Sammy, it’s been great talking to you. I look forward to working more with you in the future!

(34:07) Don’t forget to check out Leverly in the Nachonacho Marketplace for the best software tools, including Leverly. We’ve done all the research for you, so you don’t have to. Plus, you can get a 20% cashback discount!

(34:33) Thanks again, Sammy. Talk to you soon!