Three different purchases share one name
“Lead generation company” can describe quite different arrangements. Compare the payment model before comparing the proposal.
| Arrangement | What you pay for |
|---|---|
| Shared-lead marketplace | Contacts that may also go to other businesses |
| Exclusive pay-per-lead seller | Each enquiry sold to you under an agreed exclusivity definition |
| Agency running ads on a retainer | Ongoing management, with the advertising budget identified separately |
Exclusive does not mean guaranteed to book. A retainer does not tell you how many calls will arrive. Ask the seller to explain the actual agreement in ordinary language.
Questions to ask before signing
- Is each lead exclusive? Get the meaning in writing, including whether it can be resold later.
- How is a lead defined? Establish the service, location and contact information required for an enquiry to count.
- What is credited or refunded? Ask about wrong numbers, duplicates and requests for work you do not offer. Get the claim process and deadlines.
- Who owns the ad account, domain and data? Confirm your access during the agreement and what you can take with you afterward.
- How long is the contract, and how do you leave? Read the notice period, renewal terms and any exit charges.
- How will you identify calls that came from them? Agree on tracking before the first bill. Include a way to record whether each call became booked work.
For example, a cleaning business should be able to distinguish a request for a service it does not provide from a suitable enquiry it failed to answer. Counting both as “no sale” hides the problem.
Treat ownership as part of the price
Lock-in deserves attention even when the monthly figure looks manageable. If the supplier owns your domain or controls the only access to your ad account, leaving may mean rebuilding something you thought you were paying to keep.
Treat unclear ownership, vague lead definitions and refusal to explain reporting as reasons to pause.
Fix the handoff inside your business
Any source can disappoint when nobody answers promptly. Decide who receives new enquiries, who covers absences and who follows up after a quote. Record the outcome instead of relying on memory.
You cannot judge the seller fairly if suitable calls disappear inside your own business.
What to do about it
- Find out which of the three arrangements you are being offered.
- Get written answers to the six questions above, especially on exclusivity, credits, and who owns the ad account, domain and data.
- Agree how calls will be tracked before the first bill.
Questions
Does an exclusive lead guarantee a job?
No. Exclusivity describes how the enquiry is supplied, not what the customer will decide.
What should the report show besides lead totals?
Ask for spend, source, contact outcome and booked work. Those records let you calculate the cost of work you actually won.