Leads called back in minutes, not days

AssistBPO's inbound lead response service calls, texts and emails every new lead within minutes of the form landing, qualifies them with your questions, books the appointment and logs it in your CRM, with lawful consent and do-not-call scrubbing.

  • Sales & lead gen
  • Employed, screened, managed
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What is an inbound lead response service?

An inbound lead response service is a staffed desk that contacts new inquiries fast, usually within minutes, by phone, text and email, qualifies them against agreed questions, books an appointment or a call with the right person and records everything in the CRM. It exists because response time is the biggest single factor in whether a web lead turns into a conversation, and most businesses cannot answer in minutes with the people they have.

· Reviewed by Issabela Masters

  1. Inbound lead response: what we do and how it runs

    An inbound lead response service is a staffed desk that contacts new inquiries fast, usually within minutes, by phone, text and email, qualifies them against agreed questions, books an appointment or a call with the right person and records everything in the CRM. It exists because response time is the biggest single factor in whether a web lead turns into a conversation, and most businesses cannot answer in minutes with the people they have.

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  2. What it is

    An inbound lead response service is a staffed desk that contacts new inquiries fast, usually within minutes, by phone, text and email, qualifies them against agreed questions, books an appointment or a call with the right person and records everything in the CRM. It exists because response time is the biggest single factor in whether a web lead turns into a conversation, and most businesses cannot answer in minutes with the people they have.

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  3. What you get

    New leads contacted within minutes, in your hours, by a person who knows your offer

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  4. How it runs

    Web forms, ads, portals, chat and phone leads worked from one queue

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  5. Match

    A 20-minute discovery call on lead sources and volumes by hour, your CRM and calendars, the qualification questions that matter, who gets which lead and the hours to cover. Within 72 hours we propose a named responder with experience in your sector and an accent match for your leads, plus a trained backup.

    05 / 06

  6. A named assistant, a backup and a team lead

    In your hours, inside your tools, with a reply from a person within 1 business day. Call +1-657-777-0006 or ask for a staffing plan.

    Get a staffing plan 06 / 06
Self-playing walkthrough built from this page's copy, about 36 seconds. Static storyboard under reduced motion; every scene is readable without pressing play.

Who is the inbound lead response desk for?

Real estate and mortgage teams buying internet leads
Portal and ad leads answered while the buyer is still on the site, qualified on timeline and financing and booked for a showing or a call with the agent.
Home services and trades running ads
Estimate requests called back in minutes, job details captured and booked into ServiceTitan, Jobber or Housecall Pro before the homeowner calls a competitor.
SaaS, education and coaching programs with demo forms
Demo and enrollment requests qualified on fit and urgency and booked into the right rep's calendar, with the CRM record complete before the meeting.
Insurance agencies and law firms
Quote and consultation requests answered by a trained responder who captures the details your producer or intake team needs, in the hours you set.

What does the inbound lead response service include?

These 12 tasks are what AssistBPO's inbound lead response desk handles as standard for a sales leader.

  • One queue for web forms, ads, portals, chat transcripts, emails and missed calls
  • First call, text and email within minutes of the lead arriving, in your hours
  • Qualification questions you approve, with answers captured as CRM fields
  • Appointments booked into the right rep's calendar with buffers and time zones
  • Multi-touch follow-up cadence for leads who do not answer, with lawful consent
  • Lead routing by territory, product, language or round-robin rules
  • Duplicate and spam leads identified and merged or closed with a reason
  • Confirmation and reminder messages before every booked appointment
  • Hot leads flagged to a rep in Slack or by call for immediate handoff
  • Lead source and outcome tracked so you see which channels convert
  • Daily report: leads received, time to first contact, conversations, bookings
  • Monthly QA scorecard on speed, script, qualification and tone

Deliverables and KPIs

AssistBPO reports 6 measures on the inbound lead response desk: what lands on your desk, what we count, and how often you see the number.

DeliverableKPI we reportCadence
Speed to first contactMinutes from lead arrival to first attempt, by channelDaily
Contact rateLeads reached within the first 24 hoursWeekly
Appointments bookedBooked and held per week, by sourceWeekly
Qualification completenessRequired CRM fields filled before handoffDaily
Cadence disciplineEvery unreached lead attempted on the schedule you setWeekly review
QA scorecardSpeed, script, qualification, toneMonthly

KPIs are what we measure and report, agreed per engagement in the weekly review. Service-level commitments are set in your agreement, not on this page.

How does the inbound lead response desk work?

  1. Match

    A 20-minute discovery call on lead sources and volumes by hour, your CRM and calendars, the qualification questions that matter, who gets which lead and the hours to cover. Within 72 hours we propose a named responder with experience in your sector and an accent match for your leads, plus a trained backup.

  2. Onboard

    We connect every lead source to one queue with alerts, write the call script, text and email templates, load routing rules and reps' calendars, set the follow-up cadence and calling windows per market and run test leads end to end. The desk goes live inside a week for most teams.

  3. Daily rhythm

    The responder watches the queue through your hours, contacts each new lead within minutes, qualifies and books, runs the follow-up cadence for unreached leads and flags hot leads to reps immediately. The end-of-day report shows leads by source, time to first contact, conversations and bookings, plus leads still in cadence.

  4. Weekly review

    20 minutes with the team lead: speed to lead by hour, contact and booking rates by source, leads lost and why, script tweaks and coverage for next week's campaigns. Monthly, the team lead scores a random sample of calls and messages on the QA scorecard.

Hours, coverage and models

AssistBPO staffs the inbound lead response desk on 4 models. Your business hours across US Eastern to Pacific, UK, Canadian and Australian time from the group's two offices. Evening and weekend coverage is an add-on; AEST shifts and bilingual Spanish or French responders are available on request.

  • Dedicated lead responder, 160 hours a month, for teams receiving 20 or more leads a day
  • Part-time desk, 80 hours a month, for lower volumes with a cadence to keep leads warm
  • Evening and weekend add-on for ad campaigns that run outside office hours
  • Responder pod of 3 to 6 for multi-brand or multi-region teams

See what is staffed in your zone on the coverage clock.

What are the terms on the inbound lead response desk?

The card, the contract terms and the inbound lead response desk's own numbers, in one place.

SpecificationWhat you get
Focus, 20 hours a week$800 a month, 80 hours
Dedicated, 40 hours a week$1,600 a month, 160 hours
Managed Pod, three seats or moreFrom $4,800 a month
Evening, weekend or overnight coverTier rate plus 20 percent
DeskSales & lead generation desk
Standard scheduleDedicated lead responder, 160 hours a month, for teams receiving 20 or more leads a day
CoverageYour business hours across US Eastern to Pacific, UK, Canadian and Australian time from the group's two offices.
Tools10 platforms, including HubSpot, Salesforce, GoHighLevel
KPIs reported6 measures: daily, weekly, monthly
Setup feeNone
Minimum termMonth to month, no lock-in
Notice30 days, to stop or to change hours
If the fit is wrongTrained backup covers the desk the same day, re-match at no charge
ContinuityOne named assistant, one named backup, one team lead
Who does the workEmployed by SS Support Network LLC, never freelancers or contractors

These are rate-card starting points. What you pay depends on the hours, the desk and the coverage window, which is what the staffing plan sets. Rates improve as you add assistants. Your staffing plan states the rate for the number of seats you need. The rate card carries the other currencies, the add-ons and the six things that move a plan off it.

How much does inbound lead response cost?

Plans start at $400 a month for 40 hours, at $10 an hour, and rates improve as you add assistants. Get a staffing plan within 1 business day.

What moves the plan

  1. Hours a week and whether the desk is dedicated or shared
  2. Phones: live answering needs a receptionist profile and a backup
  3. Coverage zone: business hours, after-hours, weekends or 24/7
  4. Tools and access to set up
  5. One person or a pod with a lead

What the market publishes

Other providers' published ranges, by market, so you have something to hold this against. These are not AssistBPO prices.

MarketPublished rangeSource
United StatesManaged remote sales support $640 to $2,400 a month full time; a loaded in-house inside sales hire $4,700 to $9,100 a month; PayScale average virtual assistant $19.45 an hourWishup, Cherry Assistant and PayScale via Wishup, 2026
United KingdomUK-based assistants £25 to £45 an hour; Time etc about £28 to £36 an hour equivalent; offshore full-time £900 to £2,000 a monthSVA rate surveys and Time etc published pricing, 2026
CanadaCanada-based assistants C$25 to C$60 an hour; managed offshore plans US$699 to US$899 a month; CASL consent needed for text and email follow-upVirtual Gurus and VantaStaff published pricing; CRTC CASL guidance, 2026
AustraliaOffshore managed staff A$8 to A$35 an hour with time-zone match the main buying criterion; onshore A$39.90 to A$65Virtual Coworker, ShoreAgents and DotVA published pricing, 2026

Get a staffing plan How we build a plan

Proof

Case study

One engagement on this desk, anonymized. Numbers appear only once the owner has verified them.

All case studies

Every lead called while it is warm

Case study

Real Estate Team Doubles Appointments with an ISA

A six-agent residential team in the US Southwest was buying portal leads every month and working them whenever showings allowed. Speed to lead depended on who was between appointments, which meant the best inquiries were often called hours later, if at all. The database of past clients and old inquiries had not been touched in a year. AssistBPO placed a named inside sales agent on the team, employed by the group, with a trained backup and a team lead, working in the team's own Follow Up Boss account and calling in local market hours including evenings. New leads are now called within minutes, qualified on timeline, price and motivation, and booked into the right agent's calendar by area. Between new leads the ISA works a written revival cadence on the old database.

Real estate team

Security and compliance

  1. Employed, background-checked responders under NDA; never freelancers with access to your lead flow
  2. Leads, notes and recordings stay in your CRM and dialer; no local lists, no exports
  3. Managed devices with MFA, softphone only, no personal numbers used for calls or texts
  4. Consent captured on your forms is recorded per lead and governs which channels the responder may use
  5. No payment details, identity documents or health information taken by the responder; those go through your intake or portal

Full control list on the security page and country rules for calls, texts and email on the compliance page. Certifications are listed only when held.

Country rules for this service

AssistBPO makes outbound calls, texts and emails only with lawful consent and do-not-call scrubbing. Assistants never take card numbers. Country rules.

  • US: TCPA consent captured on your lead forms governs calls and texts; calling 8am to 9pm local; recording notices in two-party consent states
  • UK: PECR consent for SMS and email follow-up; TPS screening where the lead did not request contact by phone
  • Canada and Australia: CASL express consent for commercial texts and emails; Australian leads contacted within Do Not Call Register and Spam Act rules

Frequently asked questions

How much does an inbound lead response service cost?

Plans depend on hours, desks and coverage. Get a staffing plan within 1 business day. For context, 2026 cost guides put managed remote sales support at $640 to $2,400 a month full time, against $4,700 to $9,100 a month loaded for an in-house inside sales hire in the US (Wishup, Cherry Assistant). AssistBPO prices per named responder for a block of hours, with the backup, team lead and reporting included, so cost does not rise with lead volume inside the plan.

How fast is fast?

The target is minutes, not hours, and it is measured on every lead. During onboarding we connect each lead source to one queue with an alert, so the responder sees a new lead the moment it lands and makes the first call while the person is still thinking about you. Time to first contact is on the daily report by channel and by hour, so you can see exactly where the gaps are and decide whether to extend coverage.

Can you respond outside our office hours?

Yes, as an add-on. Ad leads often arrive in the evening and at weekends, so many clients add an evening and weekend desk to the daytime responder. Leads that arrive when nobody is covering get an automatic acknowledgment you approve and are first in the queue when coverage resumes. For true round-the-clock coverage across time zones, see the 24/7 support pod.

What consent do you need to call and text a lead?

Your lead form should say that submitting it means the person agrees to be contacted by phone, text and email, and that consent is stored with the lead. The responder works within it, with lawful consent and do-not-call scrubbing: manual calls in permitted hours, texts only where express consent exists, and CASL-compliant email for Canadian leads. If a form lacks consent language, we tell you what to add before the desk goes live.

Which lead sources can you connect?

Website forms, landing pages, Google and Meta lead ads, Zillow and Realtor.com portals, Angi and Thumbtack, HubSpot and Salesforce web-to-lead, chat transcripts, inbound emails and missed-call notifications from your phone system. Most connect through native integrations or Zapier into one queue in your CRM. If a source has no integration, the responder monitors it directly.

What happens when a lead does not answer?

The responder follows a cadence you approve: for example a call, a text and an email in the first hour, then further attempts over the next days at different times, all with lawful consent and do-not-call scrubbing. Each attempt is logged, and a lead that never answers is closed with a reason after the last attempt, or placed in a longer nurture sequence if you prefer. Cadence discipline is checked on the weekly review.

Does the responder qualify or just book?

Both, to the depth you set. A short qualification of three or four questions keeps the call quick and gets the meeting booked; a deeper one captures budget, timeline, decision process and any deal-breakers so your rep can prioritize. Answers land in CRM fields, not free text, so you can report on them. Leads that do not qualify are routed to a nurture list or closed with a reason.

How is this different from a receptionist or intake service?

A receptionist answers inbound calls in your name and handles the front desk. Intake captures structured details for a case or a job. Lead response is outbound to inbound: the lead came in through a form or a portal and someone has to reach out fast, qualify and book. Many businesses run all three from the same desk, but the speed-to-lead role needs its own queue, its own alerts and its own report.

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  • A named assistant proposed within 72 hours
  • Employed, screened and managed staff, never freelancers
  • Your hours, your tools, your data
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