# How to work your INTENTchart leads Start within 48 hours of delivery. Write to the freshest, most senior leads first. Send three short emails over 10 days and call each lead up to three times. Log every touch, and judge the pack by held meetings per 50 leads. Tell us about a wrong lead within 7 days. We do not book meetings for you, and we do not promise replies. Each outreach number below names its source and date. ## What each lead gives you Each lead is one person in the US who fits your ICP. ICP means ideal customer profile: the roles, company sizes, industries and US states you sell to. The person engaged with content on your topic in the last 90 days. A person checked their name and title online. Then a phone call confirmed that they work at the company. Per lead, the file holds: - name, job title and level - work email - a phone number, marked "company phone" or "personal, may be mobile: manual dial only, check DNC before calling" - company, website, industry and size - office city, state and zip. The street too, when it is confirmed as an office - the content they engaged with, and its date - a proof link: a public page that shows the person at the company. We do not sell a lead without one Every email is accurate: they engaged with content sent to that address. If one bounces, it counts as a wrong lead, and you get a new one. The file does not say the person wants to buy. They engaged with content on a topic. They did not ask to hear from you. Treat each lead as a cold contact with a reason to care. ## The first 48 hours Day 0 is the day the file arrives. Do these five things before your first email. 1. **Check the file against your CRM.** Take out your customers, your open deals and anyone who asked you not to write 2. **Sort the leads,** as in the next section 3. **Write your three lines** for the emails: `{problem}`, `{result}` and `{proof}`. You write them once per topic, not once per person 4. **Check every number marked "personal".** Run it against the National Do Not Call Registry. Take the listed ones out of your call plan 5. **Set up your log.** One row per lead, with the columns in "What to log" below Then send email 1 to your first 10 to 20 leads. Call them the same day or the next. ## Who to contact first 1. **Freshest first.** Sort by the date on each lead, newest at the top 2. **Then most senior.** C-level, then VP, then director, then manager 3. **Then closest topic.** Start where the content sits closest to what you sell If two people at one company are in the file, start with the more senior one. Wait three days before you write to the second, with different words. Our opinion: last week's topic is more likely still on their desk than one from two months ago. No public study measures this. ## Three emails over 10 days Send from your own work mailbox, one email at a time. Fifty people is a small send. Send all three. In Hunter's study of 11 million cold emails sent in 2024, campaigns with follow-ups got replies from 4.9% of recipients. Campaigns without them got 3.0%. In Belkins' 2025 data, steps 2 to 6 of a sequence brought 58.6% of all replies. ### Rules for every email - **Open with the topic.** Never write "I saw you downloaded", "I noticed you opened" or anything that says you watched them. They may not remember it, and it reads as being watched - **No invented personal detail.** No praise for a post you did not read, no fake shared interest. Use the fields in the file and facts about your own product - **One ask per email,** under 100 words. That is our rule of thumb. No study backs the exact number - **Your postal address and a way to stop,** in every email. US law (CAN-SPAM) requires both, with an honest subject line and a true sender. The FTC also says it must be clear that the email is an ad. The law gives you 10 business days to honour a "stop". Do it the same day ### The fields Fill the fields in curly braces before you send. Nothing goes out with a brace in it. | Field | What goes in | From | |---|---|---| | `{first_name}`, `{company}` | Dana, Acme | the file | | `{topic}` | The topic on the lead, in your own words, such as "securing AI tools" | the file | | `{problem}` | The problem your product solves for people who work on this topic, in one line | you, once per topic | | `{result}` | What one customer got, with a number you can prove | you | | `{proof}` | One fact the reader can check: a public number, a customer type, a short guide | you | | `{asset}` | Something useful you can send by email: a checklist, a template, a benchmark | you | | `{your_name}`, `{your_title}`, `{your_company}`, `{your_number}`, `{postal_address}` | Your details | you | ### Email 1, day 1 **Subject:** {topic} at {company} > Hi {first_name}, > > Teams that work on {topic} often run into {problem}. > > We built {your_company} for that. {result}. > > If {problem} is on your list this quarter, I can show you how it works in > 20 minutes. If not, reply "no" and I will not write again. > > {your_name}, {your_title}, {your_company} > {postal_address} ### Email 2, day 4, in the same thread **Subject:** Re: {topic} at {company} > Hi {first_name}, > > One more thing on {topic}. {proof} > > Reply "send" and I will email you {asset}. No call needed. > > {your_name} > {postal_address} · Reply "stop" and I will not write again. ### Email 3, day 10, new subject **Subject:** Who owns {topic} at {company}? > Hi {first_name}, > > Last note from me. If {topic} is not yours, who at {company} should I > write to? One name is enough. > > If the timing is wrong, reply "later". I will write again in three > months. > > {your_name} > {postal_address} · Reply "stop" and I will not write again. ## The call plan Email alone rarely books more than one meeting from 50 people. At Hunter's 5.8% reply rate for campaigns of 50 or fewer, 50 people give about 3 replies. Instantly's 2026 model assumes 15–20% of replies become a meeting. That is under one meeting. Most of the rest has to come from the phone. An SDR in the Bridge Group's 2025 study made 44 calls a day. They had 4.1 quality conversations. That is roughly one conversation per ten calls. So three calls to each of 50 leads, 150 in all, give you about 15 conversations. ### When to call | Call | Day | Note | |---|---|---| | 1 | Day 1 or 2 | The same day as email 1, or the next | | 2 | Day 4 | After email 2 | | 3 | Day 10 | After email 3. Leave a voicemail | Call in the lead's morning, in their own time zone. The file shows their US state. ### Which number - **"company phone"** is the main line. Ask for the person by name and title - **"personal, may be mobile: manual dial only, check DNC before calling"** may reach the person directly. Check the Do Not Call Registry first. Then dial it by hand ### The phone rules - **Dial every number by hand.** No autodialer, no prerecorded or AI voice, no voicemail drops, no texts. US rules require the person's prior consent for autodialed or prerecorded calls to a mobile. A content registration is very unlikely to count as that consent - **Check the National Do Not Call Registry** before you call a number marked personal. The registry covers mobile numbers. A mobile used for work and home can count as a home line. Some states, such as Colorado and Pennsylvania, keep their own lists - **Stop when asked.** If someone says "stop calling", stop and log it the same day. The rule gives you 10 business days. Do not use them - **Tell us** about every stop or removal request. Reply to our delivery email, so we can keep that person out of future deliveries This section sums up the rules. Before you call at scale, check them with a lawyer. ### What to say in 20 seconds > "Hi {first_name}, this is {your_name} from {your_company}. This is a cold > call. Can I take 20 seconds, and then you tell me if I should go?" Wait for a yes. Then: > "We help people in your role with {problem}. {result}. I emailed you about > {topic} today. Is that on your list this quarter, or should I let you go?" - **"Yes, tell me more":** book the meeting on the call. Offer two times and send the invite while you are still on the line - **"Not now":** ask when to call back. Log the date - **"Not me":** ask who at {company} owns {topic} ### The voicemail, on call 3 Leave it yourself, live, in under 20 seconds. > "Hi {first_name}, {your_name} from {your_company}, about {topic}. I am > sending you an email today with the subject '{topic} at {company}'. My > number is {your_number}. Again, {your_number}." ## One connection request and one message On day 2, send a connection request on the professional network your buyer uses. Send it with no note, and do not pitch in it. In Belkins' 2025 data on 112,005 sequences, 27.56% of requests without a note were accepted. With a note, 25.31% were. After a request was accepted, a message with a short intro got a reply 8.18% of the time. Without one, 5.28%. So send the request bare. Once they accept, send one message: > Thanks for connecting, {first_name}. I work on {problem} for teams that > work on {topic}. I sent you a note by email this week. If it is not for > you, tell me and I will leave it there. ## Follow-up timing | Day | Email | Phone | Connection | |---|---|---|---| | 0 | Check against your CRM, sort, set up the log | Check numbers marked personal against the registry | | | 1 | Email 1 | Call 1 | | | 2 | | Call 1, if not reached on day 1 | Request, no note | | 4 | Email 2, same thread | Call 2 | | | 7 calendar days after day 0 | Last day to report a wrong lead | | | | 7 | | | One message, if accepted | | 10 | Email 3, new subject | Call 3 and a voicemail | | | 30 | Count held meetings | | | After day 10, stop. Put each "later" in a list you write to again in three months. A "no" or a "stop" ends all contact with that person. ## What to log One row per lead in a spreadsheet or your CRM. | Column | What to write | |---|---| | `lead_email` | From the file | | `delivered` | The date the file arrived | | `email_1`, `email_2`, `email_3` | The date you sent each | | `bounced` | Yes or no, and the bounce message | | `calls` | Date and result of each: no answer, voicemail, talked, wrong number | | `connection` | Request sent, accepted, replied | | `reply` | Interested, later, not me, no, stop | | `meeting_booked` | The date you booked it | | `meeting_held` | Yes or no | | `deal_opened` | Yes or no: a deal in your CRM | | `stop_or_removal` | The date, and whether you told us | | `wrong_data` | Bounce, left the company, or a field not as sent | ## How to judge the pack Count held meetings per 50 leads. The denominator is all 50 leads in the pack, including those who never replied or picked up. A held meeting is one that took place. A booked meeting that nobody attends does not count. Count your free 10 on their own line. Count on day 30. A meeting booked on day 10 often takes place in week 3 or 4. Cost per held meeting is the price of the pack, divided by held meetings. Compare it with about $667. That is our estimate of an in-house SDR's salary cost per meeting. | Held meetings per 50 | Cost per held meeting | How to read it | |---|---|---| | 3 or more | a third of the pack price, or less | Compare it with $667 | | 1 to 2 | half the pack price, or all of it | Find the step that broke, below | | 0 | no meeting for the pack price | Read your log before you buy more | The $667 comes from the Bridge Group's 2025 study of 351 companies. An SDR earned $80,000 a year in on-target pay. The monthly quota was 10 first meetings. We divide one month of pay by 10. The report does not say how many of those meetings took place, so $667 is our estimate. Only 60% of SDRs hit quota. Salary also leaves out tools, a manager and 3 months of ramp. ### Find the step that broke - **More than 1 bounce in 50.** One bounce is 2%, the line where Instantly says to stop sending. Each bounce is a wrong lead: send it to us - **Fewer than 3 email replies.** That is below Hunter's 5.8% for small campaigns. Rewrite `{problem}` in your buyer's words before the next batch - **Fewer than 10 conversations from 150 calls.** Try another hour. At the switchboard, ask for the person by name and title - **Conversations, but no meetings.** Your 20 seconds need work. Open with `{problem}`, not with your product ## When to ask us for a replacement A lead is wrong if any field in its row is wrong: name, job title, level, work email, phone number, company, website, industry, company size, office address, the content they engaged with, the date they engaged, proof link. For example: - the email bounces, or it belongs to someone else - the phone number does not reach this person or their company - the proof link does not open, or does not show this person at this company It also counts when the person no longer works at the company. Tell us within 7 calendar days of delivery. Reply to the delivery email with the lead's work email, the reason and what you saw. That can be the bounce message, or what the company told you on the phone. We send a new lead in its place. We refund a lead only when we have no one left to send who fits your ICP. Your free 10 are a trial, so they are not replaced. A number may turn out to be a mobile, or be on the Do Not Call list. That is not a wrong lead. We tag each number as office or personal. We never say a number is clear to call. Before you dial a personal number, check it against the National Do Not Call Registry. Then dial it by hand. The person not remembering the content is not a wrong lead. They engaged with it, and the call confirmed where they work. It did not ask about their interest. No reply, "not interested", "not now" or "ask my colleague" are outreach results. They are not wrong leads. Log them. ## Questions ### Can I tell a lead how I found them? Say what is true: you write to people in their role who work on their topic. Do not say you saw them read, open or download anything. If they ask where you got their name, tell the truth. You work with a lead provider, and they fit the profile of your buyers. ### Can I text the numbers in the file? No. Do not text any number in the file. The person never agreed to get texts from you. ### Can I send the emails from a sequencing tool? Yes. Every email must still carry your postal address and a way to stop. Fill the fields yourself, and keep the send to the people in the file. The leads are for your own outreach. Do not share or resell them. ### What if a lead asks to be removed? Stop all contact and log the date. Then reply to the delivery email with the request. That lets us keep them out of future deliveries. ### How do I get more leads? Reply to the delivery email and ask. We tell you how many new leads fit your ICP, and when we can deliver them. ## A question about one lead Reply to the delivery email with the lead's work email and your question. ## Sources - [Hunter: The state of cold email 2025 (11M cold emails sent in 2024)](https://hunter.io/the-state-of-cold-email-2025) - [Belkins: sales follow-up statistics (data 2025, updated 2026-06-26)](https://belkins.io/blog/sales-follow-up-statistics) - [The Bridge Group: 2025 SDR models and metrics report (2025-02-06)](https://www.bridgegroupinc.com/research/2025-sdr-models-metrics-report-the-bridge-group) - [Instantly: email sequence benchmarks 2026 (2026-03-30)](https://instantly.ai/blog/email-sequence-benchmarks-2026-whats-a-good-open-rate-reply-rate-and-cost-per-meeting/) - [Instantly: AI sales agent benchmarks 2026 (2026-09-16)](https://instantly.ai/blog/ai-sales-agent-benchmarks-2026-the-complete-performance-report/) - [FTC: CAN-SPAM Act, a compliance guide for business](https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/can-spam-act-compliance-guide-business) - [47 CFR 64.1200: rules for calls, autodialers and the Do Not Call Registry](https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/47/64.1200) - [INTENTchart: how we make and check every lead](https://intentchart.com/how-we-check)