Lead response time is the most studied number in sales, and the findings are brutal for anyone who replies "when they get a minute." Here is what the research says, and what it means on a car lot.
The most cited research on lead response, led by Dr. James Oldroyd and popularized by InsideSales, measured what happens as minutes pass after a lead comes in. Responding within five minutes versus thirty made reps roughly 21 times more likely to qualify the lead. After the first half hour, the odds of ever connecting fall off a cliff, because the shopper has moved on to whoever answered.
Harvard Business Review audited 2,241 US companies on how fast they responded to a web lead. Only 37% responded within an hour. 24% took more than 24 hours, and 23% never responded at all. Sales research firms have also reported for years that somewhere between a third and half of sales simply go to the vendor that responds first. Dealerships are no exception: industry mystery shop studies routinely find internet leads that never get a personal reply.
A shopper who asks about your Telluride asked two other stores about theirs in the same sitting. The first conversation that keeps moving usually wins the appointment, and the appointment is where car deals actually happen. That is the entire game: be the first name in their thread, and do not let the thread go quiet.
When a dealer group used Relay in its real sales flow, the AI booked 50% of all appointments and closing rates rose 40% once Relay handled the follow-up. Not because the AI is a better closer than a person, but because it answers every lead in minutes, at night, on Sundays, and while the rep is on a test drive, and it never forgets to follow up.
You cannot personally answer every lead in five minutes. You are on the floor, in the finance office, or asleep. The math only works if the first reply does not depend on you being free. That is the job Relay Solo does: it texts back in your name within moments, works the conversation, and hands you a booked test drive. From $49 a month. One extra sale can cover a year of Relay.