4 min
lead response time
from 4 hours
+40%
qualified pipeline
in Q1
+38%
demo show rate
+31%
SDR quota attainment
£77k
annual saving vs SDR hire
They had enough leads. They were losing them to slow, inconsistent handling.
The team ran paid acquisition across LinkedIn, Google, and content. Leads were coming in. The conversion from lead to demo was 11% — well below the 22% industry benchmark. The culprit: response time and qualification quality. A 4-hour average response time in a market where competitors respond in under 10 minutes is a structural disadvantage.
4-hour average lead response time — losing deals to faster competitors
Est. 30% of leads unreachable after 1 hour of delayInconsistent qualification — reps booking demos with unqualified leads
40% of demos were poor-fit, wasting 6 hours/week of AE timeSDR capacity capped at 80 leads/month — paid acquisition was ahead of it
£12k/month in ad spend generating leads that weren't followed upManual follow-up sequences written per-lead — unsustainable at scale
3.5 hours/day of SDR time on research and personalisationOne AI layer. Four sequential actions. No SDR required.
The system triggers on form submission or intent score threshold. It enriches, scores, personalises outreach, qualifies via conversation, and books the meeting — all before a human touches the lead. The SDR team now handles only qualified pipeline.
Lead Enrichment & ICP Scoring
On form submit, AI pulls firmographic data: company size, funding stage, tech stack, hiring signals, recent news. Scores against 14 weighted ICP criteria. Decision in under 30 seconds.
Personalised First Touch
If ICP score > 72, AI generates a personalised first email using 5 context signals. Not a mail-merge — a contextually researched opening. Sent within 4 minutes of form submission.
AI Qualification Conversation
If lead replies, AI conducts a 3-question qualification dialogue. Assesses budget, timeline, decision authority. Passes or routes to human based on confidence score.
Autonomous Calendar Booking
Qualified leads are booked directly into the right AE's calendar based on territory, deal size, and availability. Confirmation and reminder sequence automated. Human enters at the booked call.
Full deployment in 6 weeks. Results visible in week 3.
Audit & ICP Definition
- Win/loss analysis of last 6 months
- 14-criteria ICP scoring model built
- Lead source analysis completed
- Existing sequence audit
Enrichment + Scoring Live
- Apollo + Clearbit integration live
- Scoring model deployed on new leads
- First personalised sequences live
- A/B baseline established
Qualification AI + Booking
- Qualification dialogue logic built and tested
- Calendly API integration complete
- HubSpot pipeline stages updated
- SDR team briefed on new workflow
Optimisation & Handover
- ICP score thresholds tuned on real data
- Edge cases documented
- SDR team retrained on AI-assisted workflow
- 30/60/90 day metrics dashboard live
Q1 numbers. Audited. No spin.
Measurement period: 90 days post-deployment vs 90-day pre-deployment baseline. Pipeline figures from HubSpot. Show rate from calendar data. Quota from CRM.
“I was running paid acquisition at £12k/month and watching leads go cold because we couldn't respond fast enough. Now every lead gets a personalised message in 4 minutes. Our SDRs close more because they only talk to people who are ready. The system paid for itself in 6 weeks.”