Speed-to-lead playbook: respond to new leads in under 5 minutes

The leads you reach in the first few minutes are the ones you win. This playbook shows you how to wire a workflow that calls and texts every brand-new lead automatically, so nobody waits while they're still warm.

Why minutes matter

A lead who fills out a form is shopping right now — often on three other sites at once. Wait an hour and they've already talked to someone else. The fix isn't faster typing; it's automation. With a workflow that fires the moment a lead arrives, a SAMI Bot places a live AI call and follows up by text before you've even seen the notification.

Build the instant-response workflow

The pattern is simple: an inbound trigger, a call first, then a short wait, then an SMS fallback. Head to Workflows and create a new one.

1. Pick your trigger

   Choose Lead Received (Webhook) if your leads come from a lead provider or your website forms. If leads are created straight in the CRM, use Contact Created instead. Either one enrolls a contact the instant they appear.

2. Add the AI Phone Call first

   As the first step, add AI Phone Call and assign the SAMI Bot you want on the phones. Putting the call first means the lead's phone rings while their interest is at its peak — not after a text they might ignore.

3. Add a short Wait / Delay

   After the call, add a Wait / Delay step — a few minutes is plenty. This gives the call a chance to connect before any text goes out, so an answered lead isn't pinged mid-conversation.

4. Send the SMS fallback

   Add a Send SMS step with a short, personal message: introduce yourself and offer to help. If the call went to voicemail, this text is what brings them back.

5. Route to the right agent

   Add an Assign Agent step so the new lead lands with the right person on your team. Pair it with round-robin routing if you split leads across agents.

Cover after-hours leads without 2am calls

A lead at midnight still deserves a fast response — just not a phone call that wakes them up. Open your bot in SAMI Bots and check its callback hours. By default a SAMI Bot only places calls between 8 AM and 8 PM in the bot's time zone, so a late-night lead gets queued and called first thing at 8am instead of at midnight. The SMS step can still go out immediately as a courtesy touch.

Once it's live, watch the first enrollments in Workflows and confirm the call fires, the wait holds, and the text follows. From there, every new lead gets the under-five-minutes treatment on autopilot.

Related articles

• Designing a new-lead nurture cadence with workflows
• Best practices for setting up your first SAMI Bot
• Routing leads fairly across your team