The short answer
Work a new lead four times a day for the first four days, across call, text and email, then once a day for the rest of the cadence — about three weeks in all — with the later touches automated where they can be. Most floors stop after two calls, which is before the majority of connections happen; the gap between a two-attempt cadence and a four-by-four one is usually larger than the gap between two lead vendors.
Ask a floor how many times they call a lead before writing it off and the answer is usually two. Ask them where their funded deals came from and a large share arrive after the fourth attempt. Both things are true at once, which is the whole argument for a written cadence — and Alex’s version of it is four times a day for four days, because one call is one swing of an axe at an oak tree.
| When | Touches | Channels |
|---|---|---|
| The first minute | A text, then a call, then a second call | Text first; double dial if no answer |
| Days 0–3 | Four a day, at different hours | Call, text and email |
| Day 4 to about day 21 | Once a day | Any channel, and this part can be automated |
| After that | Stop, and diarise for ninety days | None |
The calls are the expensive part of that, because they cost rep time; the texts and emails around them can run from the CRM. Two states cap it: Oklahoma and Maryland allow three calls to the same merchant in 24 hours, and a double dial uses two of them, so there the fourth daily touch is an email and the dialler has to enforce the cap by state.
Vary the hour, not just the day
Calling the same merchant at 10am every day for a week is one attempt repeated five times — you are sampling the same slot in their routine. Rotate through morning, midday and late afternoon and the connect rate moves without a single extra dial.
Channels are not interchangeable
- Call is what funds deals. Everything else exists to make the call get answered.
- Text works because it is read, but it is consent-bound and carrier-policed — keep it about the application, not about rates, and send the first one before the first call so the call arrives with a name on it (text first, then call).
- Email carries the documents ask and the breakup, both of which need to be re-readable.
- Voicemail is worth leaving on attempts one and four, not every time.
When to stop
At the end of the cadence, or immediately if they ask you to. A completed cadence with no contact is a diary date at ninety days, not a deletion — merchants who were mid-crisis in March are sometimes funded in June. A request to stop is permanent and propagates everywhere.