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Process

The follow-up cadence that actually works

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.

On this page
  1. Vary the hour, not just the day
  2. Channels are not interchangeable
  3. When to stop
  4. Questions brokers ask

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.

Four times a day for four days, at 10:52. Chapters and transcript
WhenTouchesChannels
The first minuteA text, then a call, then a second callText first; double dial if no answer
Days 0–3Four a day, at different hoursCall, text and email
Day 4 to about day 21Once a dayAny channel, and this part can be automated
After thatStop, and diarise for ninety daysNone

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.

Questions brokers ask

How many times should you call an MCA lead?

Four touches a day for the first four days, across call, text and email, then once a day until about three weeks. Most floors stop at two calls, which is before the majority of connections happen.

What is double dialling?

Two calls back to back about a minute apart on the first attempt. One missed call from an unknown number is ignored; a second immediately afterwards reads as urgent, and it lifts the connect rate at no extra cost.

How long should a follow-up cadence run?

About three weeks: four touches a day for the first four days, then one a day, automated where it can be. Past that, uncontacted leads are better diarised for ninety days than dialled again.

Should you leave a voicemail every time?

No — on the first attempt and around the fourth. Every-time voicemails train the merchant to ignore the number, and they cost rep time that is better spent on the next dial.

When should a lead be dropped entirely?

When the merchant asks not to be contacted, which is immediate and permanent across every channel. Otherwise a finished cadence means diarise, not delete — funded deals do come out of ninety-day follow-ups.

Reference

Why the first five minutes decides the rest

The cadence only matters if attempt one happened when it should have.

AM

Alex Makowski

Founder, Infinite Bookings

Runs the lead generation operation behind Infinite Bookings — paid traffic, the funding application, and the delivery pipeline that puts records into brokers’ CRMs.

Reachable directly at alex@infinitebookings.com or 732-609-7182.

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