What does an exclusive B2B lead cost?

The short answer: in most B2B niches with high contract values, an exclusive lead costs between €200 and €400 per inquiry. The long answer explains why the range is so wide — and why price per lead is the wrong metric anyway when you look at it in isolation.

1. What an exclusive lead actually is

A lead is a specific inquiry: a prospect who has described their need and left their contact details. It becomes exclusive when that inquiry goes to exactly one business — you. You're not competing with three other providers for the same person.

That's the difference from most lead portals. There, an inquiry is sold in parallel to four to six businesses. Whoever calls first wins — and the prospect is contacted by several companies within minutes. That drags down the close rate and ends up forcing everyone into a price war.

An exclusive lead isn't the most expensive one. It's the only one that isn't already sitting on three other desks.

2. What drives the price

Why does one lead cost €200 and another €400? Three factors drive the calculation:

• The niche's contract value. Where a deal is worth five figures, a lead can cost more than where a contract sits in the low four figures.
• Competition in the ad channel. Contested search terms and audiences drive up click prices — and with them the cost of generating a qualified conversation.
• The effort spent on qualification. The narrower the audience and the more we filter up front, the higher the price per inquiry — but the less often the wrong person ends up in the conversation.

Important: the lead price is calculated before the contract is signed, based on your niche, and then fixed in the contract. You don't pay whatever the ad market feels like that day, but an agreed fixed price per inquiry. We deliberately don't offer a credit or prepaid model.

3. Why exclusive looks pricier — and still pays off

On paper, a shared lead at €40 is cheaper than an exclusive one at €250. But with a shared lead, you also pay for the fight against four competitors — in the form of a lower close rate and a response time measured in minutes.

So the key question isn't "What does the lead cost?" but "What is a deal worth — and how many leads do I need to get one?" If a won contract brings in several thousand euros in contribution margin, a lead price of €250 pays off even if only one in five inquiries becomes a deal. We take a detailed look at exactly this math — and the role of response speed in it — in our other articles.

Whether exclusive leads pay off for your trade ultimately depends on your niche. For medical technology providers, for example, the math looks different than for a trade with many small jobs. That's why we calculate the price per region and service — and only take on a project if the numbers work for both sides.