300 leads a month, weighing a paid CRM build against a virtual assistant
Consider an operator running direct mail at about 4,000 pieces a month, generating roughly 300 inbound leads a month including the low quality ones. Response rate runs around 1.2% on new lists, better on repeat drops. Closing 2 to 3 deals a month at an average spread of $19k after everything, with leads regularly sitting untouched for two days before anyone follows up. A systems consultant might quote $6,500 for a full build, lead intake from the mail campaign and the website, speed to lead text inside 60 seconds, a staged pipeline, task assignment, and four follow-up sequences by lead temperature, plus $1,100 a month managed, with the consultant owning the system going forward. The alternative many operators circle back to is a full time virtual assistant at around $1,600 a month who calls new leads within an hour and keeps a spreadsheet honest. No build cost, and a human can pick up on a seller who's lying. The downside of the managed build is that $1,100 a month adds up to $13,200 a year to have someone else own the system a business runs on. The downside of a VA is inconsistency, since even a good one can let leads pile up unnoticed over a slow week if nobody is checking in. Most operators eventually need both, but at 2 to 3 deals a month, both isn't always affordable at once, and the honest question is which gap costs more left unaddressed.
