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The All Aboard Newsletter

Hey everybody, and welcome back to another edition of the All Aboard Weekly Newsletter.

Today, we’re tackling a question that’s been top of mind for my team and me. That question is :How many times should you call your leads before you give up on them?

I’ve heard all sorts of strategies—some people say you should call them 8 times in one day! Others say if you’re not calling your leads at least 13x you’re wasting your money!

Its likely that the answer to this question is going to vary from person to person.

Here is the real truth: the number of calls you make should be driven by data and not just “gut feeling” or random recommendations from social media.

So today, I’m going to walk you through how we’ve figured out the best approach, share some strategies that work, and give you a few actionable tips on how to improve your lead follow-up process.

Note - Just because these numbers work for me, it doesn’t mean your data or results will be the same.

Lets dive in!

How many times should you call your leads?

If the embedded link doesn’t work, you can access the video here: Click Me

For the best experience and most information, I highly suggest you click the video!

P.S - This week I’m trying a new experimental feature that allows people to listen to the newsletter using an AI clone of my voice. Lets see how it goes (I couldn’t proofread!)

When to call, and when to move on!

First, let’s talk about your call cadence. Whether you're calling internet leads, outbound prospects, or following up with previous customers, having a structured call schedule is crucial.

Here’s what we’ve found works best at Peachy Insurance and Next Call Club:

1. Call Immediately: When the lead comes in, make that first call right away.

2. Follow-Up: If they don’t pick up, call 30 minutes later, then an hour after that.

3. Cool-Off Phase: If you’ve called 6 times in 3-4 days and still haven’t gotten a response, we hit the cool-off phase—we wait 3 to 4 days before calling again.

*If you want my full call cadence, I’m happy to share it. Just shoot me an email*

Why cool them off for a few days you might ask?

Well, a lot of leads that haven’t picked up may have started dodging your calls and hiding out (lol). They've either moved on or been inundated with other offers.

But after a few days, most agents give up on calling. That means the phone stops ringing and that client is no longer screening their calls.

So when you come back a few days later, you get a much higher pickup rate.

This approach works.

But here’s the key: Don’t just keep calling endlessly. You need to know when to switch it up.

More on that later

Call Cadence: Finding the Balance

To optimize efficiency, you need to strike the right balance between persistence and overload. Aka calling often vs calling wayyyyyy too much.

Calling a lead a bunch in a short time might work for some people.

It will royally piss off others, so try to find some balance. But also…..

• Think like a customer: If you were bombarded with calls, would you appreciate it, or would you be annoyed? Most people don’t have time for long phone calls. So think about how you would want to be called or contacted.

• Multichannel outreach: Phone calls are just one tool in your arsenal. Texting and emailing are equally important—especially for customers who don’t pick up the phone. A well-timed text or a helpful email with a link to your site can go a long way.

At Peachy Insurance, we don’t text before calling, but once we get in touch, we’ll text them, and a lot of times, that boosts reachability later.

But don’t just text—emails are another great tool. We’ve been working on perfecting our outbound emails, not to sell directly, but to guide leads back to a phone call or a visit to our site where they can enter our Facebook Ads retargeting funnel.

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The Real Question: How Many Calls is Too Many?

Every few months we’ll grab some data, run some numbers, and look at quote rate by call attempt.

This is diminishing returns in action. Every additional call yields results, but at a slower rate. For us, the first four calls give us the most lift, with almost 60% of quotes coming on these attempts.

Then the curve starts to flatten and we land in our sweet spot of 6 to 7 calls.

As you can see, we’re averaging 6.96 calls in the last 90 days. If we start to see more than 7.5, we start to ask ourselves… should we just buy more leads? That number gets too close to 5 and we ask… should we buy less leads?

So, you get the idea. We’re trying to balance our lead flow against the average number of calls that we’re making to stay in that sweet spot.

We’ve decided that we’re optimizing more for items than we are for ROI, so once we hit that 7 call mark, we’d rather just buy more leads to ride the efficiency wave.

If you’re instead trying to maximize ROI and don’t care as much about items, calling more times is a way to get better ROI in the long run.

Maximizing Efficiency: The Best Leads to the Best Closers

Its important to note, you can have the best of both worlds.

You can have your best people call your “new leads” and cheaper labor, such as telemarketers or new salespeople to work the “leftovers.”

This keeps your best leads, in the hands of your best and most skilled people without burning them out.

If you’ve got high-value leads, don’t waste them on your weakest closers. Its a hidden cost in every agency!

Give those to your top performers—the ones who can close quickly and efficiently. Whether it’s direct mail leads that cost you $100+ per contact or cheaper internet leads, make sure your best people are working the high-dollar leads.

For us, our best agents get the best and newest leads. But we’ll still work older leads some of the time, its just that an SDR or a new person is calling.

That lets our new people cut their teeth on lower value leads!

(Much more information on this in the video)

Wrapping Up: Optimizing Lead Follow-Up

Summarizing the tips they are:

• Call Cadence: Develop a call schedule. And use a CRM to preprogram that for your agents. Stick to the cadence!

• Multichannel Approach: Calls are great, but texts and emails are often just as important. Leave voicemails too - Mostly because nobody does anymore.

• Know When to Move On: Not every lead will convert. Accept that and move on. Don’t waste resources chasing leads that don’t answer the phone.

• Best Leads, Best People: Use your best closers for the best leads. Segment your leads to maximize efficiency.

At the end of the day, calls are just one part of the equation. Think holistically about your outreach strategy and always strive to be more efficient with your time and resources.

If you need help refining your lead follow-up process or want to dig into the data for your own operation, we offer Data Services to get a handle on your data and Sales Team training to get your people sharp and closing!

Until next time!

Three ways I can help you:

1.) If you need leads, calls, or data analytics - We’d love the opportunity to show how Next Call Club can help you grow faster and more profitably than before. We’re ready for the TCPA changes and can help you be ready too!

2.) Looking to scale in 2025? Maybe you’re shifting your strategic direction. Want a person you can work through plans with? Lets talk about 1:1 Consulting for you and your agency!

3.) Want to sponsor this newsletter? Lets talk about whether you’re a fit to reach 1,000+ agency owners every week!

As always - Thank you for the support! I’m looking forward to bringing you insights, ideas, and actionable strategies multiple times per month! If you enjoyed this newsletter or it gave you value, please consider sharing it with a friend!