One buyer or three? I can't work out how to price the first leads I sell

The thing I'd worry about is the seller, who has no idea they're being priced. Three calls in an hour from three strangers is how a normal person decides all investors are the same and lists with an agent. Exclusive protects the only party in the transaction who didn't sign up for any of this.

Whatever you choose, the interesting part is the document. Exclusive means you're promising not to sell the same lead twice, and that promise needs a definition of "same lead" that survives the seller having two properties and a cousin who calls you in November. Shared needs a written statement that it's shared, up front, because a buyer who assumed exclusivity and finds out otherwise stops paying and tells people why.

The flat monthly version is the one I'd read carefully. You're selling access to output with no floor on volume, so your customer's worst month is your problem. If you go that way, put a minimum count in and a credit if you miss it, and price the minimum at something you'd hit in your worst week times four.

Some vocabulary first, since these terms get used loosely.

An exclusive lead is sold to one buyer only. A shared lead is sold to several, usually two to four. Cost per lead is what the buyer pays you for one contact. Conversion is the share of leads that become a contract, and it's the number buyers judge you on even when their own follow-up is the reason it's low.

What actually decides this for you is who carries the risk of a lead going nowhere. In the exclusive model, the buyer carries it, which is why exclusive leads command a higher price and why buyers of exclusive leads complain more loudly. In the shared model, you spread that risk across several buyers, so your revenue per lead is steadier and your reputation with sellers takes the hit instead. In the flat monthly model you carry volume risk yourself, which is fine if your lead flow is predictable and painful if it isn't.

Two things to sort out before any of it. First, taking a fee connected to a real estate transaction can trigger licensing rules, and those rules differ by state, including how referral fees may be paid and to whom, so confirm your specific plan with an attorney licensed where you operate. Second, whatever you promise about exclusivity, put it in writing with a definition, because that promise is the product.

Start with a small paid test on one shape rather than designing the whole pricing model in advance. You'll learn more from ten invoices than from ten conversations.