The document presents findings from a study conducted by MIT Professor James Oldroyd analyzing data from six companies on when is the best time to call sales leads. Some of the key findings include: - Mid-week, especially Wednesdays and Thursdays, are the best days to initially call leads. Tuesday performs the worst. - Between 4-6pm is the best time of day to make initial contact with a lead, with odds 114% greater than the worst period of 11am-12pm. - The odds of contacting a lead drop over ten times if waiting past the first hour after they submit their information. Qualification odds decrease six times after the first hour. -

1. LeadResponseManagement.Org Presents…
THE INSIDESALES.COM
MIT
LEAD RESPONSE MANAGEMENT
RESEARCH PAPER
PRESENTED BY DAVID ELKINGTON, CEO OF INSIDESALES.COM
AND JAMES OLDROYD, PHD, PROFESSOR AT M.I.T.
AT THE MARKETING SHERPA’S BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS
DEMAND GENERATION 4TH ANNUAL SUMMIT, 2007

2. FIGHT
TO THE DEATH
THE BOASTING OF INSIDE SALES’ RAPID RESPONSE SOFTWARE
VS AN M.I.T. BEHAVIORAL STUDY
ARE WE STUPID FOR DOING THIS? SURE WE ARE… STUPID LIKE A FOX.
We cast trepidation aside and confidently forked over years of results from six major companies into the hands of one of the world’s
most respected schools of thought. Using a scientific approach to break our software down would leave no wiggle room to excuse
any short comings in our product. The results and our response? Excellent and ecstatic. Take that, Science.
Professor James Oldroyd—a faculty fellow at MIT—set out to answer one question: “When should companies call web-generated
leads for optimal contact and qualification ratios?” Or, more simply: “When’s the best time to call an interested contact to enter
them into the sales process?”
Information used for the study includes 3 years of data, 15,000 leads, and over 100,000 call attempts from six di¤erent companies
who generate and respond to web leads. This report details some of the more interesting findings o¤ered in two forms for your
convenience: a nice easy summary sifting through all the data, or, if you are more visual, some detailed bar graphs that show just
how much further one bar goes than another bar. Enjoy.
© 2009 INSIDESALES.COM
001 inside|sales

3. DR. OLDROYD SET OUT TO ANSWER ONE QUESTION:
WHEN IS THE BEST TIME TO CALL AN INTERESTED
CONTACT TO ENTER THEM INTO THE SALES PROCESS?
ROUND 1 DAY OF THE WEEK:
INITIAL DIALS TO LEADS
DAY OF THE WEEK:
INITIAL DIALS TO LEADS
DAY OF THE WEEK THAT BECOME CONTACTED * THAT BECOME QUALIFIED
It turns out Mid-week is prime.
2.80
2.38
Wednesdays and Thursdays are
2.25
the best days to contact leads
with odds 50% greater than the
worst day, Tuesday. 1
1.98
2.50
Who new Tuesday sucked so
2.40
bad? Friday did, because Friday
comes in last in its own right
2.31
when it comes to committing a
2.24
1.64
lead into the sales process. In
1.59
fact, the odds sink 25% lower
than the best day, Wednesday.
mon tues wed thur fri mon tues wed thur fri
Well done Wednesday. Have a
ta¤y. Just one. 2 1 ©2009 inside|sales 2 ©2009 inside|sales
ROUND 2 TIME OF DAY:
INITIAL DIALS TO LEADS THAT BECOME CONTACTED
TIME OF DAY
3.50e+08
3.00e+08
Between 4 and 6 p.m. is the best 2.50e+08
2.00e+08
time to make contact with a lead. 1.50e+08
The odds are a staggering 114% 1.00e+08
5.00e+07
greater than that of the worst 0.00e+00
8–9 9–10 10–11 11–12 12–1 1–2 2–3 3–4 4–5 5–6
time block, 11 a.m.–12 p.m. 3 ©2009 inside|sales
Eleven to Twelve, go stand with
Tuesday. No ta¤y. 3 TIME OF DAY:
INITIAL DIALS TO LEADS THAT BECOME QUALIFIED
The best times to commit those
2.00
leads are between 8–9 a.m. and 1.80
1.60
4–5 p.m.—164% higher than that 1.40
1.20
of the worst time, 1–2 p.m. So 1.00
don’t call when the Soaps are on; 0.80
0.60
8–9 9–10 10–11 11–12 12–1 1–2 2–3 3–4 4–5 5–6
wait until the evening news when
4 ©2009 inside|sales
you can grab people’s attention. 4
© 2009 INSIDESALES.COM
002 inside|sales * all values illustrated in the charts are in terms of odds ratios

4. THE ODDS OF CONTACTING A LEAD IF CALLED WITHIN 5
MINUTES VERSUS 30 MINUTES ARE 100 TIMES GREATER.
ROUND 3 RESPONSE TIME FROM CREATION BY HOURS:
INITIAL DIALS TO LEADS THAT BECOME CONTACTED
RESPONSE TIME
ANALYSIS BY HRS 1 HR
2 HRS 1,190
12,700
3 HRS 299
4 HRS 119
Data suggests that if you are 5 HRS 62
going to try to contact a lead, 6 HRS
7 HRS
32
13
your odds to reach them drop 8 HRS 3
over ten times if you wait past 5 ©2009 inside|sales
the first hour of shown interest.
And the odds of qualifying that RESPONSE TIME FROM CREATION BY HOURS:
lead decrease by a painful six INITIAL DIALS TO LEADS THAT BECOME QUALIFIED
times after hour one. 5 6 1 HR 10,384
2 HRS 1,680
3 HRS 664
How crucial is rapid response? 4 HRS 365
5 HRS 275
You can see how great the curve 6 HRS 215
is between Hour One and Hour 7 HRS
8 HRS 78
168
Eight. Once you pass hour 20, the
6 ©2009 inside|sales
results become even more grim.
ROUND 4 RESPONSE TIME FROM CREATION BY 5 MIN:
CONTACTED LEADS THAT BECOME CONTACTED / QUALIFIED ( / )
RESPONSE TIME
ANALYSIS BY FIVE
MIN. INCREMENTS
We wanted to push the level of
accuracy, so we took the first
three hours after a lead was
generated and broke it up into
five minute segments. What did
the good Professor find? The
odds of contacting a lead if called
within five minutes versus 30
minutes are 100 times greater. 7
Also extremely important to
note is that your odds increase
21 fold when attempting to enter
that lead into the sales process
5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90
if called within five minutes
compared to 30 minutes. 7 7 ©2009 inside|sales
© 2009 INSIDESALES.COM
003 inside|sales

5. FIGHT STOPPED DUE TO BLEEDING
INSIDE SALES
REIGNS TRIUMPHANT
THE STUDY HAS BEEN DONE, AND THE FACTS ARE FACTS. If you have the tools to
call within minutes of a generated lead, your odds increase 100∑ more than that if you delay. How many companies are unaware
that this strategy even exists?
When it comes to using rapid response technology, you literally up your odds of selling a thousand times over when calling a lead
within five minutes. And not literally when used in: “Last night I literally ate like a thousand pounds of ice cream, and like I am literally
going to die.” We mean it in the truest definition of the word. Maybe you find that interesting. Maybe not. But someone will. Well
done, Someone. Have a ta¤y.
inside|sales
What has always set inside|sales apart is its ability to remain on the cutting edge of product innovation.
Unafraid to explore new technology and willing to be an industry trailblazer, inside | sales continues to add
award-winning software to its arsenal of lead management, dialers, and voice-messaging tools—setting
itself apart as a vital component in the world of Remote Sales.
Our influence has reached beyond our headquarters in Provo, Utah, extending across the globe to assist
over 450 companies in reaching their unique and individual goals. This is the point where most
companies would shamelessly name drop. Not us. If Dun & Bradstreet, Omniture, and HP want to tell you
how we’ve helped them, then so be it. We’ll take the high road.
LEAD MANAGEMENT CRM | INBOUND TOLL-FREE TRACKING | OUTBOUND CALLING SOLUTIONS | NURTURING AUTOMATION ELF
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© 2009 INSIDESALES.COM
004 inside|sales