What Is Speed to Lead? Definition for PT and Chiro Clinics
Speed to lead is the time between a prospective patient submitting a form, message or call and the clinic's first real reply; we hold clinics to five minutes or less, nights and weekends included.
Speed to lead is how long a new patient lead waits before your clinic actually replies. If someone fills in your Facebook lead form at 6:10pm on a Friday and the front desk calls back at 10am Monday, your speed to lead on that lead was about 64 hours. In that time they have probably booked somewhere else, and the ad money that produced the lead is gone.
How do you measure speed to lead?
Measure speed to lead as the minutes between the lead arriving and the first real reply, then look at the median and the worst cases. A real reply is a text, call or message that starts a conversation; an auto-confirmation email does not count. Pull the timestamps from your CRM, or test it yourself by submitting your own forms at awkward times. The Missed Patient Test we run with clinics uses three: a call at 5:40pm on a Tuesday, a call at 10:15am on a Saturday, and a web form at 6:10pm on a Friday. If all three get a reply fast, the rest of the week usually does too.
What is a good speed to lead for a clinic?
Our standard is five minutes, for every new lead, including nights and weekends. We call it the five-minute response: every new lead gets a human or AI reply within five minutes. The number is a rule we set with clinics, not an industry benchmark, and the reasoning is simple. A person with knee pain who just filled in a form is thinking about their knee right now. Five minutes later they are back on Instagram, and an hour later another clinic's ad has their attention. See speed to lead for clinics for the full setup.
How do you hit five minutes after hours?
Hit five minutes after hours with automation first and people second. An instant text when a form comes in, a missed-call text back when a call goes unanswered, and an AI receptionist or answering service for calls outside front desk hours cover most of the gap. Then the team works the conversations those tools start first thing in the morning. To put a dollar figure on slow replies, run the missed call cost calculator.
Questions owners ask
Does an automatic email count as a reply?
Not for speed to lead. A confirmation email is fine, but the clock stops when the lead gets a real reply that starts a conversation, by a person or an AI that can answer questions and book.
What about leads that come in at night?
They count. Many people fill in forms after work or after the kids are in bed. If nobody replies until 9am, the lead has had a whole night to book somewhere else.
How do I see my current speed to lead?
Submit your own web form and Facebook lead form at a few odd times, such as 6pm on a Friday, and time the reply. Most CRMs, GoHighLevel included, also log when a lead came in and when the first outbound message went out.