# Handling Replies

The sequence's job ends when someone replies. What happens in the next hour decides whether that reply becomes a meeting. This reference covers classifying replies, responding to each type, speed, booking, and what an agent can handle on its own.

## Classify every reply

| Type | Looks like | Action |
|------|------------|--------|
| **Positive** | "Sure, let's talk," "Send times," "Tell me more" | Respond fast, propose times, book (below) |
| **Information request** | "What does it cost?" "Do you work with X?" | Answer the actual question briefly, then offer a call |
| **Objection** | "We already use X," "No budget," "Not a priority" | Respond once, using the objection guidance below |
| **Not now** | "Reach out next quarter," "After our launch" | Thank them, set a reminder for the date they gave, stop the sequence |
| **Referral** | "Talk to Sam, she owns this" | Thank them; contact Sam citing the referral (with permission to use their name if unclear) |
| **Wrong person, no referral** | "Not my area" | Ask once who owns it; otherwise stop |
| **Out of office** | Auto-reply | Pause; resume after their return date. Note any named stand-in |
| **Unsubscribe or hostile** | "Remove me," "Stop," anger | Suppress on every channel immediately. Apologize briefly if you reply at all. Never argue |
| **Bounce** | Delivery failure | Remove; check whether the contact moved companies (a possible job-change signal) |

Every reply of any type stops all other channels for that person. See [multichannel-cadence.md](multichannel-cadence.md).

## Speed

Answer positive replies within minutes during business hours. The research behind the famous speed-to-lead multipliers is old (2007–2011), but the direction holds. Interest fades fast, and a prospect who replied to you has often replied to others too. Route positive replies to a person instantly (a Slack or phone notification), and keep someone responsible for them every working hour.

## Booking

- **Propose two specific times** in their time zone, and include a booking link as a fallback ("or grab any time here"). Two concrete options get a faster yes than a bare link, which can feel like homework.
- **Send the calendar invite immediately** once they pick, with a one-line agenda.
- **Confirm the day before** with something useful: the agenda, a relevant case study, or (for an agency) the teardown you'll discuss. Pre-reads raise show rates.
- **Reminder an hour before**, by email, or by SMS only if they've agreed to texts.
- **Reschedule no-shows the same day,** warmly, once. A second no-show goes back to nurture.

## Objections in reply to cold outreach

Early objections are usually reflexes. Answer once, briefly, and make it easy to say no:

| Objection | Response approach |
|-----------|-------------------|
| "We already use [competitor]" | Acknowledge it. Name the one situation where teams like theirs still look elsewhere. Ask if it applies |
| "No budget" | Ask when they plan budgets, or offer something that doesn't need one (an audit, a benchmark) |
| "Not a priority" | Ask what is a priority this quarter. If it isn't connected, step back and set a reminder |
| "Send me more info" | Send one specific thing (a one-pager or a two-minute video) and one question that makes a reply easy |
| "How did you get my email?" | Answer honestly with the actual source, and offer to remove them |

Deal-stage objections (pricing negotiation, security reviews, competitive bake-offs) live in the sales-enablement skill's objection library.

## What an agent can handle

| Reply type | Agent alone | Agent drafts, human sends |
|------------|-------------|---------------------------|
| Out of office | ✓ Pause and reschedule | |
| Unsubscribe | ✓ Suppress everywhere | |
| Bounce | ✓ Remove, flag for job-change check | |
| Not now | ✓ Set the reminder, stop the sequence | Polite acknowledgment |
| Positive | | ✓ Until accuracy is proven over 100+ replies |
| Information request | | ✓ |
| Objection | | ✓ |
| Referral | | ✓ |
| Hostile | ✓ Suppress | Any reply at all |

Before an agent sends anything on its own, check that every claim in the draft matches an approved source, that it contains nothing from your banned-phrase list, and that a daily cap applies. Sample-review a share of autonomous replies every week.

## Log it

Record on the CRM contact: reply type, date, the sequence and step that produced it, the signal and channel, and the outcome. That's what makes a weekly sequence review possible (the sequence-retro loop in the marketing-loops skill), and it's the outbound stage model in the revops skill.