Speed to lead and polite persistence

OCS Influencer Rob Murray says the two most important ways contractors can prepare for success in 2026 are responding to leads immediately and being consistent with client communication.

Editor's note: The following is the transcript of a live video from Rob Murray Intrigue Media. You can Read the interview below, Listen to the podcast or Watch the recording.

Rob Murray: Hi everybody, Rob Murray here answering a question that came from Drake. So, hopefully I can provide some insight into what we're seeing from last year that's going to help set us up for success in 2026. That question is: what contractors, pool builders and suppliers should prepare for in the coming season.

There are a lot of things that we need to consider from a marketing and sales perspective, but I think the most important piece that has the biggest opportunity to make a meaningful impact in 2026 is speed to lead. In 2025 we saw on average about 18% of all phone calls weren't answered. We saw an average response time of 48 hours for form submissions, and people want answers when they're reaching out to buy. It's when they're the hottest. So when we work with clients, our goal is to get them to respond to leads within five minutes. You're 400% more likely to get a hold of somebody if you contact them within the first five minutes.

And this is all about just being more disciplined and efficient with what's already going on. You don't actually have to do anything differently. We just got to put focus on lead response. Whether it's a phone call or a form submission, getting back to people immediately is super important.

The other component is around consistency, or what we call, "polite persistence." It usually takes between five and eight follow-ups for a lead to get back to you. And it's always — we hear it all the time — somebody inquired, I reached out, they never replied, they're obviously not interested. I would say more than 90% of the businesses we talk to before we work with them only reach out once, maybe twice, never three times. And there's this idea that, well, if they've reached out and I've reached out and they don't respond, then I don't want to bug them, pester them, be pushy, salesy. But the reality of the situation is, it's Sunday night and I want to get a new landscape project done in 2026. I find some websites. I reach out. I go to work or I get up in the morning. I get my kids off to school. I go to work. I get back. I make dinner. I sit down. My inbox is full. I don't want to sift through my inbox right now. I'm going to watch a show on Netflix or go to bed Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, repeat. Saturday comes around; there're activities, whatever. It's just not top of mind and projects can be daunting for folks. So, we have an automated email workflow that is politely persistent and just essentially lets people know that we're not going to stop following up with them because we take care of our customers and we consider them a priority until they tell us to stop.

The feedback that they've gotten, the clients that have done this have gotten, has been extremely positive from the inquiries from customers. "You're the only company that kept reaching out. I really appreciate it. I've been super busy. Thanks for reaching out." Every once in a while, they say, "You know what? I'm not going to do this anymore. So, I appreciate the reach." But it's never anybody upset about it because it's not necessarily what we say, it's how we say it.

And being consistent and using polite persistence can be a huge opportunity to capture more leads because you demonstrate you're trustworthy and professional. That speed to lead piece is super, super important. When people inquire, get on the phone right away or respond immediately. You're 400 times more likely to get a hold of a prospect. That's 2026. I mean, that was 2025, too. But we have the data to back it up now. And so, it's a huge opportunity to make a significant impact 2026.