The math nobody wants to hear
Roughly half of all reps stop following up after two attempts. Roughly 80% of eventual conversions come after five or more attempts. That gap — between where most reps quit and where most deals close — is the single largest source of "wasted marketing spend" in service businesses.
You did the work to generate the lead. Not following up is choosing to throw it away twice.
The 8-touch cadence
A default cadence for a warm inbound lead who didn't answer the first call. Adjust intervals for your industry, not the sequence.
- Day 0, minute 0: Phone call (the fast one).
- Day 0, +2 minutes: Text — "just tried you, this is [name]."
- Day 0, +2 hours: Second phone call.
- Day 1, morning: Email with subject-line specific to the inquiry.
- Day 2: Phone call + voicemail.
- Day 4: Text with a specific value hook ("here's how we handled a similar job").
- Day 7: Phone call, "final attempt this week" voicemail.
- Day 14: "Breakup" email — permission to close the file.
Eight touches across two weeks. Roughly 15 minutes of rep time per lead, spread out. This is not "harassing" — it is the level of attention a prospect who filled out a form asked for.
Channel choice, per touch
The wrong channel at the wrong touch kills the sequence:
- Phone is for touches 1, 3, 5, 7. It's the channel with the highest conversion but lowest connect rate.
- Text is for touches 2 and 6. It's the highest connect rate but easiest to ignore, so save it for the "I actually have something to say" moments.
- Email is for touches 4 and 8. Long-form context and the graceful exit.
The breakup message
Touch 8 — the "breakup" — is the single highest-response message in the whole sequence. It works because it's short, gives the prospect an out, and respects their time.
Subject: Closing your file
Jordan — I've tried reaching you a few times about the water heater and haven't heard back, so I'm going to close out the request on our end. If your timing changed, just reply "still interested" and I'll pick it back up. No hard feelings either way.
Something like 15–20% of "dead" leads respond to a well-written breakup email. Yes, really.
What breaks cadences
- Manual reminders. Reps forget. Cadences must run out of a CRM or sequence tool that queues the next task automatically.
- Untailored templates. A cadence with fill-in-the-blank templates dies on touch 3. The first sentence of every touch must reference the specific inquiry.
- Skipped voicemails. Voicemail is not a wasted touch — it's often the prompt that gets the callback. Leave one, always, and keep it under 20 seconds.
When to stop
After the 14-day breakup, most leads should go into a lower-cadence nurture list — one email every 4–6 weeks with something genuinely useful. The deal-cycle for service work is often measured in months. The follow-up sequence ends. The relationship doesn't have to.