How long does it take to set up automated lead follow-up?

For a basic setup, 3–5 days. Most teams see their first automated responses going out within the first week. More advanced setups with scoring and routing take 2–4 weeks.

Will leads know they're getting an automated message?

Not if it's done right. The messages are personalized with the lead's name, company, and inquiry details. The goal is speed, not spam — your team still handles the real conversation.

What if I already have a CRM?

We work with your existing CRM. HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive — the automation layer connects on top. No need to switch tools.

Do I need technical skills to maintain this?

No. Once set up, the workflows run on their own. We provide a simple dashboard and documentation so anyone on your team can monitor and adjust sequences.

Construction & Trades

A general contractor requests a bid on Monday — by Wednesday, three other firms have already responded and you haven't even opened the email.

In construction, the first firm to respond to a bid request wins the job 40% of the time. If your office handles 30+ bid requests per month and responds to fewer than half within the same day, you're leaving hundreds of thousands in revenue for competitors who simply replied faster.

Three ways to solve this

Pick the tier that matches where your team is today. Each includes a clear workflow, the tools involved, and what you can expect.

Starter

3–5 days

1–10 person crew, bid requests come by email and phone, tracked on a whiteboard or not at all.

Workflow

1Connect your website form to a shared Airtable base so every lead is captured automatically.
2Set up a Make scenario that sends an instant SMS and email to the lead within 60 seconds of submission.
3Add a Slack notification to the team channel so the right person can jump in and follow up personally.
4Create a simple follow-up sequence: day 1 intro, day 3 check-in, day 7 last chance — all automated.

Tools

Airtable Make Slack

Outcomes

Every bid request gets an acknowledgment within 60 seconds.
Crew leads see new requests instantly — no waiting for the office.
Follow-up sequence runs automatically for 7 days.
Win rate improves because you're consistently first to respond.

Growth

1–2 weeks

10–50 employees, leads arrive from multiple channels (website, ads, referrals), CRM exists but follow-up is inconsistent.

Workflow

1Route all lead sources — web forms, Google Ads, Facebook Lead Ads, referral entries — into HubSpot as a single pipeline.
2Build a Make scenario that scores each lead based on source, company size, and engagement signals.
3Trigger personalized email and SMS sequences based on lead score: hot leads get an immediate call task assigned to a rep, warm leads enter a nurture sequence.
4Set up a daily Slack digest showing which leads are stuck and who owns them.

Tools

HubSpot Make Slack

Outcomes

Hot leads are contacted within 5 minutes by a human rep.
Warm leads are nurtured automatically until they're ready.
Managers see pipeline health daily without pulling reports.
Lead response time drops from hours to minutes across the whole team.

Scale

2–4 weeks

50+ employees or high-growth company, high lead volume, needs intelligent routing and prioritization.

Workflow

1Deploy an enrichment pipeline: new lead enters HubSpot, Make triggers company and contact enrichment (firmographics, tech stack, revenue signals).
2Feed enriched data to an AI scoring model that assigns a 0–100 fit score and selects the best outreach playbook.
3Route leads automatically: enterprise leads to senior AEs, SMB leads to SDR sequences, unqualified leads to self-serve nurture.
4Pipe all activity into a real-time dashboard tracking speed-to-lead, conversion by source, and rep performance.