What is a shared lead?
In short
A shared lead is a homeowner’s contact information sold to several contractors at once — usually three to five. Each buyer pays for the same name and number, and each is expected to call immediately and compete for the job. The marketplace makes money on every copy it sells.
A shared lead is the default product of most online lead marketplaces. A homeowner fills out a form — sometimes on a site they chose, sometimes on a landing page they were sent to by an ad — and that form is sold to several contractors at once. The marketplace makes money on every copy. You are one of the buyers.
From the homeowner’s side, the experience is a wave of calls from strangers within minutes. From your side, it is a name, a number, a short project description, and a clock that started before you saw it. The lead is real in the sense that a person typed something into a box. Whether the project is real, whether the homeowner wants a contractor this month, and whether they will answer a fourth call are all unknown.
What is an exclusive lead?
In short
An exclusive lead is delivered to one contractor only; no other company receives the same homeowner. In its strongest form it is a delivered conversation rather than a contact record — a live call transfer with the homeowner already on the line, or a pre-set appointment confirmed on the contractor’s calendar.
An exclusive lead is delivered to one contractor. Nobody else receives the same homeowner. In its strongest form it is not a contact record at all but a delivered conversation: a live call transfer where the homeowner is already on the line with you, or a pre-set appointment where a time has been confirmed on your calendar.
Exclusivity changes the shape of the work. There is no race. Your first call is the homeowner’s first contractor conversation, or your appointment is the only one booked. The cost per lead is higher, and the cost per conversation you actually have is usually lower — which is the number that matters.
What does a five-buyer lead really cost?
In short
When a lead is sold to five contractors, at most one wins the job, so the real cost is the sticker price multiplied by the leads bought per job won — plus the intake time spent racing on every one. The honest comparison is cost per qualified conversation, not cost per name.
Suppose a lead is sold to five contractors. At most one of them wins the job. The other four paid for a race they lost, and every one of the five spent intake time on the same homeowner. Your effective cost per job is not the sticker price on the lead; it is the sticker price multiplied by however many leads you had to buy before you were the one who won.
Now add the time. Each shared lead needs a fast first call, a voicemail, a text, and a follow-up sequence, because the homeowner is fielding the same from four other companies. Multiply that by your monthly lead volume and the “cheap” lead has a payroll cost attached that never shows up on the marketplace invoice.
Exclusive delivery inverts this. You pay more per lead, but every lead you pay for is a conversation only you are having. The comparison that makes sense is cost per qualified conversation, not cost per name.
Hidden costs: intake burden, price pressure, homeowner fatigue
In short
Shared leads carry three structural costs beyond the invoice: an intake burden, because someone must dial every lead within a minute; price pressure, because the homeowner collects several competing estimates; and homeowner fatigue, because by the fourth call they are screening. No amount of follow-up discipline removes them — they are built into the format.
Three costs of shared leads are structural, and no amount of follow-up discipline removes them.
- Intake burden. Someone on your team has to chase every lead immediately, every day, or the lead is worthless. That is a staffing cost, and it pulls your best closer into dialing.
- Price pressure. When a homeowner hears from five contractors, the conversation becomes a bidding process. Your estimate is compared before your work is. Margins compress by design.
- Homeowner fatigue. By the third call the homeowner is annoyed, by the fifth they are screening. The contractor who reaches them last is not competing with four others; they are competing with the homeowner’s patience.
When do shared leads still make sense?
In short
Shared leads fit operations built for speed and volume: a dedicated inside-sales team that can dial within a minute, a script that wins the race, and a model that tolerates a low close rate because the sticker price is low. For owner-operated contractors without an intake desk, they are usually the wrong tool.
Shared leads are not a scam; they are a volume product. They fit a specific kind of operation: a dedicated inside-sales team that can dial within a minute, a script that wins on speed, and a business model that tolerates a low close rate because the sticker price is low. High-volume call centers, some replacement-window and solar operations, and contractors with a full-time intake desk can make the arithmetic work.
If that is not your operation — if the owner or an estimator is the one picking up the phone between jobs — shared leads are usually the wrong tool. The race is won by whoever is sitting at a phone, and that is not you.
How does exclusive delivery change intake?
In short
Exclusive delivery turns intake from a sprint into a conversation. A live transfer arrives with the homeowner already expecting a contractor; a pre-set appointment arrives with the time, address, and qualification notes. An office manager or an estimator can handle either — no dedicated dialing person is required.
With exclusive delivery, intake stops being a sprint and becomes a conversation. A live transfer arrives with the homeowner already introduced and already expecting a contractor; the first minute is about their project, not about beating another company to the phone. A pre-set appointment arrives with the time, the address, and the notes from the qualification call; the work is preparing, not chasing.
That changes who can handle intake. An office manager can take transfers during business hours. An estimator can run appointments without a dialing routine. The cost that disappears is the one shared leads hide best: the person you had to dedicate to racing.
What to ask about exclusivity
In short
Ask five things: whether the lead is delivered to anyone else, now or after you pass on it; whether exclusivity is written into the agreement; how a homeowner arriving through another channel is handled; whether transfers are introduced to you by name; and whether appointment times are confirmed with the homeowner.
Exclusivity is a word every provider uses and not every provider means. Ask precisely.
- Is this lead delivered to anyone other than me — now, or later if I pass on it?
- Is exclusivity written into the agreement, or is it a verbal assurance?
- If the same homeowner reaches you through another channel, how is that handled?
- For transfers: is the homeowner introduced to me by name before the call connects?
- For appointments: is the time confirmed with the homeowner, and does the homeowner know which company is coming?