Call Your New Leads
Get new leads into careCycle, call them within moments of arriving, and get the interested ones to a licensed agent.
A new lead is worth the most in the first few minutes after they raise their hand. This guide puts the pieces together so every lead lands in careCycle with its source attached, gets called right away by your AI or your agents, and the people who want to talk end up on the phone with a licensed agent. Then you can see which sources are actually worth paying for.
What you'll set up
- A source for each place your leads come from, so every lead and call is attributed.
- A way in for your leads: the leads API, the import assistant, or both.
- A campaign that calls them: the AI with the MA Pre-Qualification template, or your own agents with an agent-first Outbound dialer.
- An automation with the Lead Created trigger, so new leads start getting called without anyone lifting a finger.
- Caller ID, compliance, and testing before you go live.
- Reporting to compare your sources.
Step 1: Create a source for each lead channel
Sources live under Configure > Sources. Click Manage Sources, then New Source. Make one per channel or vendor: each lead vendor, your website form, each mail drop. The more precisely you split them, the more useful your comparisons get later.
When you create it:
- Give it a Name and a Public Source ID. The Public Source ID is what your website or vendor sends with each lead.
- Fill in Deal Type and Pricing Model if you pay for these leads. That's what powers the spend and cost-per-acquisition numbers later.
- Turn on Assign on create and pick the campaign these leads will go into (leads campaigns show "(Leads)" after their name). You can also do this later with Assign to Campaign from the source's menu.
Assign the source to the campaign you call from
Assigning the source to the campaign is what ties the lead's calls, transfers, and sales back to that source in the campaign's reporting. If your leads go into a campaign the source isn't assigned to, they still get called, but the campaign's source reporting won't pick them up. A source handles leads or calls, not both, so keep inbound call vendors on their own sources.
The full details on pricing and assignments are in Source Tracking.
Step 2: Get your leads in
There are two main ways leads arrive, and they behave differently.
| Way in | Best for | Starts calls automatically? |
|---|---|---|
| The leads API | Website forms, lead vendors, and anything that can post leads as they happen | Yes, with a Lead Created automation |
| The import assistant | Spreadsheets and lead lists | No. You add them to a campaign during the import |
The leads API is the speed-to-lead path. Your website or vendor sends each lead to careCycle the moment it comes in, along with your source's Public Source ID.
- It needs an API key from Settings > Developer > API Keys. See API Keys.
- Every lead needs a phone number, plus a ZIP code or a time zone. That's how careCycle knows what time it is for the lead (more on that below).
- You can send up to 200 leads in one request, and include a per-lead cost if the source is priced that way.
- Leads are checked against your existing customers, so a repeat lead updates the record it matches.
Hand your developer or vendor the Upload lead records API reference.
For lists and spreadsheets, use the import assistant at Settings > CRM Settings > Import Contacts and pick Let the assistant do it.
Tell it what you want in plain English: "Import everyone as Lead, tag them Spring Mailer, and put them in Pre-Qualification." It shows you a review card before anything runs. See Import Your Book of Business.
Imported leads don't fire the Lead Created trigger, so add them to your campaign as part of the import, or afterward. See Add Customers to a Campaign.
Buying live calls instead of leads? That's a different setup. See Pre-Screen Inbound Calls and Track Your Sources.
Step 3: Decide who makes the first call
You've got two ways to work your leads. Pick one per campaign (or run both for different sources).
| AI calls first | Your agents call first | |
|---|---|---|
| Campaign | Voice AI, from the MA Pre-Qualification template | Agent-first Outbound dialer |
| Who qualifies | The AI asks a few quick screening questions | Your agents, on the call |
| What happens next | Warm transfer to a licensed agent, or a booked appointment | The agent works the call and picks a disposition |
| Great when | You have more leads than agent hours, or leads arrive after hours | You want a licensed person on every conversation |
Create the campaign
Go to Campaigns, click Create Campaign, and choose Voice AI campaign. Pick Medicare, then MA Pre-Qualification (it's tagged Revenue). See Create a Campaign from a Template.
Read the brief and fix Call 1
The template has a routing fix to make on Call 1 in the Pulse tab before you go live. The Pre-Qualification brief walks you through it, along with everything the AI says.
Point the transfer at your licensed agents
In the Employees tab, click Escalations. Point Transfer Call at the transfer destination your licensed agents answer, and Book Appointment at an appointment configuration, so leads who can't talk now (or call after hours) get a time on the calendar. Click Save changes. The campaign won't activate until those rows point somewhere.
A softphone destination keeps the lead on the line while the agent picks up, and with Wait for operator the agent reads the AI's summary before the call connects. See Transfer Destinations.
The AI isn't a licensed agent and it acts like it. It doesn't quote, compare, or recommend plans. Its job is to screen and hand off. To change what it says, use the Employees tab or ask your careCycle representative.
Create the campaign
Go to Campaigns, click Create Campaign, choose Agent-first campaign, name it, and pick Outbound dialer.
Attach your agent pool
On Routing & Handling, attach a softphone transfer destination with your licensed agents in it. That destination decides who rings and in what order.
Build the cadence
In the Pulse tab, lay out your call attempts. Your agents' wrap-up dispositions decide each lead's next step.
Set the pace
Under Routing & Handling > Dialing ratio, choose how many lines to dial per ready agent. Start at 1.0x and raise it once you see how often leads pick up.
careCycle dials, screens out voicemails, and only rings an agent once a live person answers. See Agent-First Dialer Campaigns.
Step 4: Make it automatic with Lead Created
This is the part that makes it speed to lead. On your campaign's Automations tab, click Create Automation (or Add automation if it already has some):
Choose the action
Leave the action as Enroll into a campaign. The target is the campaign you're on.
Choose the trigger
Pick Lead Created. It fires whenever a lead comes in through the leads API.
Narrow it by source (optional)
Add a Lead source filter to send only certain sources into this campaign. That's how you give each vendor its own campaign, or keep one out. Lead source filters only work with the Lead Created trigger.
Save it
Click Create Automation.
If the same lead gets posted again while they're already active in the campaign, they aren't enrolled twice.
Activate the campaign first
An automation can add leads to a campaign that's still a Draft. If their first call comes due before you activate, it's skipped for good. Finish setup and activate before you turn on the automation (or before leads start flowing). See Automations Explained.
Step 5: Pick the number you call from
New leads don't know your number yet, and lead campaigns can make a lot of calls. Both are good reasons to give the campaign its own numbers instead of your main line.
On the campaign's Phone Numbers tab, turn off Use organization main number for outbound calls (only while the campaign isn't active), then click Procure a number and pick a city. For higher volume, turn on Phone Number Rotation so calls spread across numbers and careCycle buys more when they hit their daily limit.
Agent-first campaigns start out on their own number already. See Which Number Your Calls Come From.
Keep in mind that when a lead calls one of those numbers back, they reach that campaign, not your Receptionist. And texts always go out from your registered texting number.
Step 6: Stay compliant
careCycle enforces the core calling rules for you, but a couple of them affect lead campaigns more than most.
- Calls and texts only go out between 8 AM and 9 PM in the lead's time zone, on top of your business hours. careCycle works out the time zone from the lead's time zone, ZIP code, or state. A lead with none of those can't be called, which is why the leads API asks for a ZIP code or time zone.
- Do Not Call sticks. When a lead says "don't call me" on a call or replies STOP to a text, careCycle marks them, and a later lead post or import can't undo it.
- Keep consent clean. Collect voice and text consent separately on your forms, and make sure your vendors can show consent for every lead they send.
- Register for texting before a template's texts can go out. See SMS and RCS Registration.
The full rules are in TCPA Compliance.
Step 7: Test and activate
Test the campaign, then click Activate on the Overview tab. Once it's live, send a test lead through the leads API with your source's ID and watch it get picked up.
Step 8: See which sources pay off
Open Wallboard and go to the Sources tab (you need wallboard access). Pick your campaign and a date range, and every source shows up side by side:
- Leads Dialed, Contact Rate, and Transfer Rate tell you whether the leads are real and reachable.
- Appointments, Sales, and Sale Rate tell you whether they buy.
- Source Spend and CPA tell you what each sale cost you.
Switch to Agent Performance to tell a source problem from a coaching problem, or Disposition Mix to spot a vendor whose leads keep ending in wrong numbers or Do Not Call. Your dashboard also has Leads by Source and Contact Rate by Source charts. See Source Tracking.
Tips
- Send your best sources to your best closers. Run the AI on high-volume sources and an agent-first dialer on your hottest ones, each with its own Lead source filter.
- Book what you can't transfer. Leads who say yes after your team goes home still get a time on the calendar, as long as Book Appointment is set up.
- Watch contact rate before you blame the script. A low contact rate usually points at the source or the caller ID, not the conversation.
- Keep ZIP codes on every lead. It's the most common reason a lead never gets called.
Common questions
Why didn't my imported leads start getting called? The Lead Created trigger only fires for leads that come in through the leads API. Add imported leads to the campaign during the import or afterward.
A lead came in but was never called. Where do I look? Check that the campaign was active when the lead arrived, the lead has a ZIP code or time zone, and it isn't marked Do Not Call. See Why Wasn't My Customer Called?.
Can one source feed more than one campaign? Yes. Assign it to each campaign. It can't mix leads and inbound calls, though.
Does the AI give plan advice? No. It screens and hands off to a licensed agent. It never recommends, quotes, or compares plans.
Sales Campaigns
The AI and agent-first options for prequalifying leads.
Pre-Qualification
Everything the template says, and when.
Source Tracking
Create sources, assign them, and read source performance.
Agent-First Dialer Campaigns
Your agents on the phone, careCycle doing the dialing.
TCPA Compliance
Quiet hours, Do Not Call, and opt-outs.