Exclusive vs shared leads for weekly route work

For a weekly account, compare what you paid to book it with what you keep from each visit after costs. That’s how to weigh exclusive vs shared leads for route work. With an exclusive lead, one contractor gets the homeowner’s quote request; with a shared lead, several may get it. Neither fee alone tells you what you’ll pay to book an account. You can also contact homes yourself and pay for printing and your time instead.

Know what the seller is selling

Shared leads: A homeowner requests a quote and several contractors may get that request. Ask how many, whether you pay for leads you cannot reach, and whether there is a membership fee. You might get work promptly without mailing or knocking for it, especially if you can take calls during the day.

Exclusive leads: Only one contractor receives that request from the seller. Ask in writing whether “exclusive” means exclusive on that seller’s site or exclusive across its whole network. A higher fee can still be worth paying if you book enough of the calls and the jobs fit your route.

Prospect lists: Addresses of homes that might need your service. No homeowner has requested a quote through the list. You do the walking or mailing, and there is no guarantee of a reply. The addresses may be available to other contractors too.

Decide who can answer during route hours

Shared requests can reach several contractors. A quick answer helps, but a homeowner may still compare bids or schedule more than one visit. If you’re behind a mower or skimming a pool when a call comes in, decide whether you can call back between stops or have someone answer for you. Ask the seller how it handles requests that arrive while you’re unavailable. An exclusive lead still needs a timely answer.

Before signing with a seller, ask if you can pause requests when your schedule is full. Find out whether you pay for jobs outside your service area. Ask if the request says what work the homeowner wants: a one-time cleanup won’t fill a weekly mowing slot. A request across town may be worth less than one beside your Tuesday stops, even at the same lead fee.

Work out what one booked account costs

Route jobs repeat. A customer who stays all season may bring in enough to cover the lead fee; a one-off may not. Include any membership fee when you calculate what you paid:

1. Add your lead fees and the share of any membership you paid for that period.
2. Divide by the accounts you booked from that source, not the calls you received.
3. Divide the cost per booked account by what you keep from each visit after labor, fuel and supplies. Round up to get the number of visits needed to earn back the cost of finding the account.

If you booked nothing, don’t divide by zero. Record the spend as a loss for that period and decide whether another month’s results are worth paying for.

Compare two example accounts

The next table uses a $40-per-push driveway and a $180-a-month pool account. It values your time at $30 an hour. These are examples; use your own numbers before buying requests or printing:

Account and source	What you spent	Booked	Cost per booked account	Margin per visit	Visits to earn it back
$40-a-push drive, shared requests	10 requests × $30 = $300	2	$150	$20 a push	8 pushes
$40-a-push drive, your own hangers	$40 print for 200 hangers + 3 hours at $30 ($90) = $130	1	$130	$20 a push	7 pushes
$180-a-month pool account, shared requests	8 requests × $45 = $360	2	$180	$25 a weekly visit	8 visits
$180-a-month pool account, your own postcards	150 cards at $0.90 ($135) + 2 hours at $30 ($60) = $195	1	$195	$25 a weekly visit	8 visits

At these margins, eight weekly pool visits take about two months to recover the example cost of finding the account. Check how many times you plowed in a light winter. If you made fewer pushes than the table says you’d need to recover that cost, the driveway may need a renewal to pay for itself.

The plow rows show how much the fee matters. If you keep $20 per push, cutting the cost of booking an account by $20 means one fewer push to earn it back. Before paying for requests, check how many bookings you got from past requests. Use that count to work out a fee you could recover even in a light winter.

Put fees and bookings in the same period

Compare sellers using your own bookings and costs. If two sources cost the same per booked account, check how close the new stops are and how long customers stayed. A higher fee per lead may cost you less per booked account if more of those leads book. Don’t assume an exclusive request will book just because it’s called exclusive.

Use the same period for fees and bookings. If a seller charges an annual fee, compare it with a full year’s bookings when you have them. Before year-end, use one month’s share of the fee in each monthly comparison. Don’t charge the full annual fee to one customer and then count it again later.

For each booked account, note what service you promised and the margin you expect after doing the work. Add the service day too. If you don’t know the margin yet, calculate the booking cost but leave the payback blank. For snow, count pushes under that customer’s agreement; for mowing, count the remaining cuts on the calendar. At season’s end, check against the visits that happened. Use your own bookings, not the seller’s advertised close rate.

When a paid request can earn its fee

• You’re starting in a new area. A paid request can bring in a first stop before you have neighbors to ask for referrals.
• You have open hours when demand picks up. If you can answer promptly and fit the work in, buying requests may be quicker than waiting for a mailer.
• The job pays enough to cover the fee. Check the margin on an opening, cleanup or installation rather than assuming every request needs a weekly contract.
• The seller lets you limit the service area. Check the address before taking a job that pulls you off your route.

Pause the spend if you cannot answer calls, the work keeps landing too far away, or the booked jobs do not cover their acquisition cost.

Request quality matters too. Ask for a credit policy on wrong numbers, duplicate requests and jobs outside your service area before you buy. Track disputed fees alongside paid fees in the same sheet. Fewer usable requests may still be worth buying when the booked work fits your crew and covers the cost.

Find homes near the work you already have

If you would rather choose the streets yourself, start with neighbors of stops you already make. Knock, leave a hanger or mail a card, then count both the money and hours spent. This takes longer than responding to someone already seeking a quote. Use the postcard and hanger cost worksheet to compare those costs, and measure the drive between stops before accepting a far-off account.

RouteLeads sells lists of homes that fit your service from $49 a month. No homeowner has requested a quote through the list. You contact the homes yourself. Count the monthly fee alongside what you spend on printing and your time.

Compare sources by booked accounts

Keep a sheet for each source and check it after a full service cycle:

Source	Fees, print and postage	Your hours	Accounts booked	Cost per booked account	Drive added per visit
Shared requests
Exclusive requests
Your own mail or knocks

Give your hours a dollar value and add them to the fees before dividing by booked accounts. If you buy ads or pay someone to answer requests, include those costs too. Compare the result with what you keep from those accounts after service and travel costs. A customer who cancels after a few cuts won’t pay back the same amount as one who stays.

Don’t credit the same customer to two sources. If an owner sees your card and later sends a request through a lead seller, note both contacts and choose a consistent way to attribute the booked job. Otherwise, each source can look better than it actually is.