More leads won't help a funnel that leaks. Most small businesses lose more revenue between a lead arriving and someone responding than they ever lose to a competitor's price. The lead came in. Nobody answered. Nobody followed up. It never showed up in a report, so it never got fixed.
Set your numbers on the left. The volume in each vessel is how many leads survive that stage — the red tags are the exact ways they escape. Flip the switch to see the same funnel with the desk running.
Drop-off rates come from published speed-to-lead and missed-call research. Every lost lead is valued at only 60% of your close rate, because a lead that slipped away was always colder than one you reached. Deliberately conservative. Runs in your browser — nothing is sent anywhere.
You already work hard — that's exactly why these happen. You're doing the work, so you can't be at the desk.
Every unanswered call is a customer sitting with their phone open and a list of your competitors on screen. They don't wait and they don't leave a voicemail. They tap the next result. It's worst exactly when demand peaks — evenings and weekends, when someone with a job is finally free to call.
Speed-to-lead is the most under-priced variable in small business. The gap between replying in five minutes and thirty isn't a small penalty — it's most of the deal. By the end of the first hour the lead is functionally cold. Almost nobody loses on price. They lose on being second.
The biggest leak and the least visible, because the lead technically "went nowhere" rather than being lost. Most small businesses make one or two attempts and stop. Most deals close somewhere after the fifth. Following up isn't a discipline problem — it's a scheduling problem no busy owner has solved by trying harder.
Old quotes. No-shows. People who said "not right now" eleven months ago. Past customers who'd buy again if anyone asked. You already paid to acquire every one of them. This is usually where the first month pays for itself — no ad spend, no lead cost, just a conversation restarted.
No four-week onboarding, no implementation fee. Here's the real sequence, including the part where you decide whether it was worth it.
How calls reach you now, what you sell, and the questions your best employee would ask.
Your number stays yours. We forward the calls you choose and write the intake script.
Call in and try to break it. Change the script, tone, questions. We adjust same day.
Nothing changes in your setup. The desk catches what falls through and texts you each one.
Answered, booked, revived — against the plan price. If it doesn't clear it, you leave.
Prontela is young and I'd rather show an honest board than a wall of invented testimonials.
Years of quoted-but-never-closed contacts sitting in a phone and a spreadsheet, with no system to restart any of them. We built a reactivation campaign against the existing database, with the desk handling every reply so the owner isn't buried.
Every figure elsewhere on this page is either an industry average with its source named, or an illustration clearly labelled as one. Nothing here is a client result unless it says so. When your pilot ends you get your own numbers in writing — and I'll ask permission before putting them anywhere near this page.
Not an argument against hiring — an argument about coverage. A good receptionist in Mérida costs about $13,000 a month once you add IMSS, aguinaldo and equipment. She works one shift, speaks one language, and takes vacation.
Swipe the table sideways →
| What you get | In-house receptionist | Answering service | Prontela |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly cost | ~$13,000 with IMSS | $1,500–$3,000 + per call | $2,900–$7,900 flat |
| Hours covered weekly | 40 of 168 | 168 | 168 |
| Languages | Usually one | English, sometimes Spanish | ES · EN · PT |
| Texts, WhatsApp, web forms | No | No | All of them, one inbox |
| Follows up after first contact | If someone remembers | No — takes a message | Automatically, 14 days |
| Books onto your calendar | Yes | Rarely | Yes, with reminders |
| Works your old lead list | No | No | Yes — reactivation |
| Asks for reviews after the job | Sometimes | No | Every time |
| Sick days, turnover, retraining | Yes | Not your problem | None |
| Time to get running | 4–8 weeks to hire and train | 1–2 weeks | About 20 minutes of your time |
Receptionist cost reflects Yucatán wages plus IMSS, aguinaldo, vacation pay and equipment. Call-centre pricing varies by provider and per-call overage. All figures in Mexican pesos. Our honest read of the category, not a knock on any one vendor.
Month to month, cancel anytime, setup waived during your pilot. All prices in Mexican pesos. All three languages on every plan — that's not an upgrade.
Setup is $6,000 MXN one time, waived during your pilot. Fair use: 1,000 messages and 300 voice minutes a month, overage billed at cost. Every plan starts with a free two-week pilot. The desk runs alongside whatever you do now, you keep every booking it makes, and setup is waived. If it doesn't earn its keep, you walk — no contract, nothing to cancel.
Call it yourself before you decide anything — the number's at the bottom and nobody will ask for an email first. It answers naturally, handles interruptions, and if a caller asks for a human or gets frustrated it says so and hands off to you rather than pretending. The desk never claims to be a person.
It says it doesn't know, takes the details, and gets you involved — same as a good new hire in their first week. We load your services, pricing ranges, service area and policies during setup, and every unanswered question gets flagged so we can add it.
No. Your number stays exactly as it is. We set up forwarding on the conditions you choose — after hours only, or when you don't pick up in four rings, or everything. You decide how much it handles, and you can change it any time.
There isn't one. Month to month. First two weeks free, setup waived during the pilot. If you cancel you keep every lead, contact and booking it captured — they're yours and we'll export them.
It's the reason the business exists. Every script is written in Mexican Spanish first — not translated from English afterwards. It answers in Spanish, English or Portuguese depending on how the customer opens. I'm trilingual and I test every script personally.
No. Answering is the smallest part. The value is the next fourteen days — follow-up sequences, booking and reminders, reactivation of your old list, review requests. An answering service hands you a to-do list. This closes the loop.
Your contacts and call records live in your own account, not a shared pool. You get admin access, can export everything at any time, and nothing is sold or used to market to your customers. Recordings and transcripts are configurable to your state's consent rules.
You get a report showing leads in, answered, booked, revived, and what that's worth — not a dashboard of activity metrics. If the number doesn't clearly beat the plan price I'll tell you on the call and you should cancel. I'd rather lose a client than keep one who isn't making money.
No deck, no pressure. We go through how leads reach you today and where they're falling out. If nothing's leaking, I'll say so and you'll have lost a quarter of an hour.