Guides · Big one
What leads cost, and why no one will name a price.
The four ways it gets priced, the math that turns cost per lead into cost per buyer, and what to ask before you sign.
The short answer
There is no honest one price for this, because the cost is three things added up. What you pay for ads. What the build costs. And what it costs to keep it running. What you can pin down is the math. Your cost per lead, times how many leads it takes to win one buyer, gives your cost per buyer. And that number only means something next to what a buyer is worth to you.
You are buying three things, not one
Almost every price that confuses you comes from rolling three costs into one number. Pull them apart and you can compare.
- Ad money
- What you pay sites to get seen. It is your money. It goes up as you grow. And it should never hide inside a monthly fee.
- The build
- One-time work. What you say, your pages and forms, tracking, CRM set-up, and follow-up notes. Paid once. Helps every lead after that.
- Running it
- Work that never stops. Watching the ads, making new art, cleaning the list, sending reports, and the weekly calls that keep the cost per lead from creeping up.
The four ways it gets priced, and what each one rewards
Every deal you will be shown is one of four. None is a trick. Each one pays folks to act a certain way. So pick the one that rewards what you actually need.
- A set fee each month
- One price each month for set work. Easy to plan and good for build-and-run work. The risk is the work shrinking. Put in writing what is in and what is out, or the fee stays flat while the work quietly gets smaller.
- A cut of your ad money
- The fee grows with your ad budget. Simple, but it pays them to spend more, not to spend better. That is backwards once your set-up works well.
- Per lead
- You pay a set amount for each name they send. It feels safe, and it is not. Unless the deal spells out what a good lead is, they get paid for a big pile, and you eat the bad ones.
- One job, one price
- A set piece of work for a set price. A build, a tracking fix, a new offer. Cleanest for build work. It does not cover running it.
The math that really counts
Cost per lead on its own tells you almost nothing. It helps the moment you carry it through to a buyer. Use your own numbers. These are just made up to show the shape.
Say you spend 4,000 in a month and get 100 leads. Your cost per lead is 40. Say 20 of those 100 are worth a call, and 5 of those buy. You won 5 buyers, so each buyer cost you 800. If a buyer is worth 6,000 to you over time, that works. If a buyer is worth 700, it does not. And no price per lead you can talk them down to will fix that.
Here is the part that feels backwards. A higher cost per lead is often the better deal. Cut the cost per lead in half but let the good ones drop to a quarter, and each buyer costs you more, not less.
What to ask before you sign
These five questions tell a real deal from a priced hope. A bad answer to any of them is worth more to you than a lower price.
- What is in the fee, and what costs extra?
- Ad money, the build, and running it should each be easy to see.
- Who owns the ad logins, pages, tracking, and lead data?
- The answer should be you, in writing, from day one.
- What do you call a good lead? In writing.
- If no one can say it, no one can be held to it.
- What will I get to see, and how often?
- Numbers per step you can check beat a slide deck once a month.
- What happens in month one if it goes badly?
- You are hiring a way of making calls, not just a launch.
Key takeaways
- The cost is three costs: ad money, the build, and running it. Make them list each one.
- The four ways to price it each pay folks to act a certain way. Pick the one that fits you.
- Cost per lead means nothing until you carry it to cost per buyer and set that next to what a buyer is worth.
- A cheaper lead with worse fit makes each buyer cost more, not less.
- Who owns the stuff, and a written meaning for a good lead, matter more than the price on the front page.
