- leads
- choosing
- profitability
Buying leads or generating them: what it really costs
Buying heat pump, solar, insurance or home improvement leads: how it works, shared versus exclusive leads, and when to generate your own enquiries instead.
Published on · Joh · 6 min read
Buying leads means paying a platform to receive the details of homeowners who asked for a quote: a heat pump, solar panels, insurance, building work. It is fast, with nothing to build. It is also the option I hear the most disappointment about.
How buying leads works
A platform advertises, collects requests through a form, then resells them to businesses in the relevant area and trade. You pay per lead received.
There are two models:
- Shared leads: the same request is sold to several businesses. Cheaper per lead, but you are in immediate competition, and the homeowner gets several calls within the hour.
- Exclusive leads: the request is sold only to you. More expensive, but you are the only one calling back.
What disappoints most often
Quality. The homeowner sometimes filled in a form for a grant simulator, not a quote. They don't remember you, or were only curious.
The race to call back. On a shared lead, the first to call has the edge. If you are on a job when the lead arrives, it is often already lost.
The real price. The price shown is the lead's, not the customer's. If one lead in ten becomes a job, the real cost is ten times the unit price. Working out the cost of a signed job.
Dependence. The day you stop buying, the enquiries stop. You have built nothing: no audience, no ad history, no local reputation.
The legal frame
Telephone canvassing is increasingly regulated in France, and it is banned for energy renovation. A bought lead must have agreed to be contacted by your business. Ask the platform how that consent is collected: you are the one calling, so you are the one exposed.
Generating your own enquiries
The alternative is running your own advertising, on Meta or Google, with your videos, your name and your area. Enquiries come straight to you, are sold to nobody else, and the homeowner knows who they wrote to.
Two real examples, with Meta advertising: a joinery business received 193 quote requests for €6,500 of advertising, €33.68 per request (the case), and a kitchen fitter 254 requests for €10,000, of which 15 kitchens were signed (the case). Those requests were exclusive by design.
There are limits too: you need a steady budget, a few weeks of learning, and videos that make people want it. How to generate qualified leads with Meta Ads.
How to choose
| Situation | Rather |
|---|---|
| Need jobs next week, no test budget | Exclusive leads, in small numbers, to get going |
| Established business, wanting stability | Your own advertising |
| High-value sale, long decision cycle | Your own advertising, with your face in the videos |
| A team that can't call back within the hour | Avoid shared leads |
Many businesses do both for a while: they buy a few leads while their own campaigns learn, then cut back on buying once the campaigns run.
Further reading: Why Facebook quote requests have a bad reputation and Finding jobs without platforms.
Buying leads and want to compare with your own campaigns? . We work out what a customer really costs you today.