Should an agency guarantee a lead count or refuse to promise numbers at all

Question

A friend on the leasing side sent me two proposals for the same job, generating owner leads for a small management book. One promises 25 qualified leads a month or the next month is free. The other says flat out that they won't promise a lead count because they don't control auction prices or competitor bidding, and they'll report cost per lead weekly instead.

The guarantee looks like the safer buy. You know what you're getting and there's a penalty if they miss. The counter is that anyone promising a number has to define qualified, and the definition is where it goes soft. A form fill with a fake phone number counts if the contract says a form fill counts.

The no-promise version puts all the risk on the buyer. If it goes badly for three months you've spent real money and your only recourse is leaving. But it also means the agency isn't shaping the campaign to hit a count, which is what makes cheap broad-match traffic look attractive to them.

I don't know which way I'd go with my own money. Curious where the room lands.

ryanmck27 · Answer

The guarantee is only as good as the word qualified, and I've read three versions of that word so far this month. One defined it as any submitted form with a phone field filled in. That's not a lead, that's a keystroke. If I took the guarantee I'd want it written as a completed phone conversation over 60 seconds, and I'd want to know who holds the call recordings.

devon_pierce · Answer

halyard's 60 second definition still lets the agency buy volume from people who answer and then hang up once they hear what it's about. I'd rather have the weekly cost per lead and the ability to kill it at 30 days than a promise I have to litigate.

Should an agency guarantee a lead count or refuse to promise numbers at all

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