Two products, one label
Lead sellers. You pay per enquiry. They own the traffic, the brand and the customer relationship. Stop paying and it stops that day.
System builders. You pay to have rankings, pages, profiles and follow-up built. You own the result, and it keeps producing.
Both are legitimate. They are not comparable on price, and a proposal blending them without saying so is worth questioning.
Questions for a lead seller
Is the lead exclusive? A shared lead sold to four contractors converts far worse. This is the single most important question and it is often answered evasively.
What counts as a billable lead? Wrong numbers, out-of-area requests, and people asking about services you do not offer — are those billed?
What is the credit process? Every seller has bad leads. What matters is whether disputing one is straightforward or deliberately tedious.
Can I control area and service? Or will you receive anything vaguely adjacent.
What happens to the price over time? Marketplace prices generally rise as more contractors join.
Questions for a system builder
What do I own if I leave? Domain, hosting, Google Business Profile, ad account, analytics, content. Anything less than all of it is a finding.
What gets built in month one, specifically?
How will we measure it? Enquiries and booked jobs, not traffic and rankings.
Who does the work?
What is the notice period?
The claims to walk away from
Guaranteed lead volume. Nobody can honestly promise a number of leads per month — it depends on your reviews, pricing, response speed and what competitors do next.
Guaranteed rankings. Nobody controls Google.
Exclusive territory from a company that has not explained how exclusivity is enforced.
Pay per lead with no definition of what a lead is.
The comparison to insist on
Whatever you are offered, work out the expected cost per booked job — not cost per lead, not monthly fee.
That means asking a lead seller what close rates their contractors typically see, and treating a confident precise answer with some caution.
What to check on any provider
Search their own business. A lead generation company that does not rank for its own terms is worth asking about — not disqualifying, but worth asking about.
Getting a second opinion
If you have a proposal in hand and want it read by someone who is not selling you that particular thing, call James on 832-338-2926.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between a lead seller and a system builder?
A lead seller charges per enquiry and owns the traffic and relationship — stop paying and it stops. A system builder builds rankings, pages and profiles that you own and that keep producing.
What is the most important question for a lead seller?
Whether the lead is exclusive. A shared lead sold to several contractors converts far worse, and this question is often answered evasively.
What claims should I walk away from?
Guaranteed lead volume, guaranteed rankings, exclusive territory with no explanation of enforcement, and pay-per-lead with no definition of what counts as a lead.
What comparison should I insist on?
Expected cost per booked job — not cost per lead and not the monthly fee. That means asking about typical close rates, and treating a confident precise answer with some caution.