First-Response SLA
Create an explicit operating standard for what must happen after every new inbound inquiry — so 'respond fast' becomes a defined, owned, measurable commitment instead of an intention.
Link
2
Link Name
Speed-to-Lead
Loop Step
Repair
Role
standard
Purpose
Create an explicit operating standard for what must happen after every new inbound inquiry — so 'respond fast' becomes a defined, owned, measurable commitment instead of an intention.
What To Measure
Compliance against the target times defined here (acknowledgement, first attempt, meaningful response) and the completeness of ownership/escalation for every inquiry class.
Governing Principle
An SLA is only real if it names an owner, a time, a channel, and a failure path. A target with no owner and no escalation is a wish, not a standard.
Configuration Policy
This is a configurable standard, not a fixed rule set. Target times, owners, and after-hours behavior are operator decisions. Do NOT invent business-specific legal, medical, or regulated-industry urgency policies; provide templates and let the business set values. Where a ShiFt-approved benchmark exists, seed the target from it and label it; otherwise the operator sets the target using RLR-10's measured distribution as the starting reference.
Sla Definition Fields
Target acknowledgement time
- Key
- target_ack_time
- Description
- How fast an inquiry gets an acknowledgement (may be automated).
- Operator Set
- true
Target first-contact-attempt time
- Key
- target_first_attempt_time
- Description
- How fast a human/AI first attempts real contact.
- Operator Set
- true
Target meaningful-response time
- Key
- target_meaningful_response_time
- Description
- How fast the lead should reach genuine two-way contact.
- Operator Set
- true
Owner
- Key
- owner
- Description
- Primary responder accountable for this inquiry class.
Backup owner
- Key
- backup_owner
- Description
- Who acts if the primary does not.
Escalation owner
- Key
- escalation_owner
- Description
- Who is engaged when the SLA is breached (ties to RLR-15).
Channel priority
- Key
- channel_priority
- Description
- Ordered channels to use for first contact (e.g. call → SMS → email), operator-defined.
After-hours behavior
- Key
- after_hours_behavior
- Description
- What happens when the inquiry arrives outside coverage (ties to RLR-14).
Missed-call behavior
- Key
- missed_call_behavior
- Description
- What happens on an unanswered inbound call (ties to RLR-13).
Retry timing
- Key
- retry_timing
- Description
- Cadence of additional attempts if the lead does not answer.
Exception handling
- Key
- exception_handling
- Description
- How defined exceptions (duplicates, spam, existing customers) are treated.
Failure handling
- Key
- failure_handling
- Description
- What happens when an attempt/automation fails (ties to RLR-15).
Measurement responsibility
- Key
- measurement_responsibility
- Description
- Who reviews SLA performance and how often (ties to RLR-10/RLR-42).
Inquiry Classes
- Note
- Templates, not mandates. Fill target times with your own values. Classes let a business respond proportionally instead of treating every inquiry identically.
Must Answer
- Question
- Who responds?
- Resolved By
- owner + backup_owner per inquiry class
- Question
- How fast?
- Resolved By
- target_ack_time / target_first_attempt_time / target_meaningful_response_time
- Question
- By what channel?
- Resolved By
- channel_priority
- Question
- What happens if the lead does not answer?
- Resolved By
- retry_timing (and RLR-13 for missed calls, RLR-24 for longer no-response)
- Question
- What happens if the primary responder fails?
- Resolved By
- backup_owner → escalation_owner (RLR-15)
- Question
- What happens after hours?
- Resolved By
- after_hours_behavior (RLR-14)
- Question
- What gets recorded?
- Resolved By
- every attempt, channel, outcome, and disposition logged to CRM for RLR-10 re-measurement
- Question
- Who reviews SLA performance?
- Resolved By
- measurement_responsibility (owner of the weekly review / RLR-42)
How To Interpret
A complete SLA has no blank owner, no blank failure path, and a defined after-hours and missed-call behavior for every class you actually receive. Blanks are exactly where leads will leak.
Action That Follows
Publish the SLA, assign owners, then deploy the language (RLR-12) and workflows (RLR-13/RLR-14) that let people meet it, and wire breaches to RLR-15.
Owner
Revenue/operations leader owns the standard; each inquiry class names its own responder.
How To Implement
1) Pull RLR-10's measured distribution. 2) Set target times per class (from an approved benchmark if one exists, else a deliberate operator target). 3) Assign owner/backup/escalation. 4) Define after-hours, missed-call, retry, exception, and failure handling. 5) Publish and brief the team.
How To Test
Run test inquiries through each class you support and confirm the right owner is alerted, the target clock behaves, and a forced failure escalates per RLR-15.
When To Remeasure
Review compliance weekly at first (RLR-38 operating review) and formally at 14/30 days (RLR-42).
How To Know It Improved
%-within-SLA rises and never-attempted drops on comparable volume — with the SLA targets held constant so the improvement is real and not a moved goalpost.
Anti Gaming
Do not lower a target just to show compliance. If a target is unrealistic, change it deliberately, record the change and its reason, and treat before/after as separate baselines.
How to implement
Install the change exactly as the playbook describes; log it on the Repair Plan.
How to verify
Installing a workflow is implementation, not closure. QA the repair before you trust it.
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