- The metric that matters isn't the lead price but what a deal brings in. And how many leads you need to close one.
- At a conservative rate of one deal from five leads, a deal costs about five times the lead price. At €250 per lead, that's roughly €1,250 in lead costs per deal.
- Rule of thumb: exclusive leads pay off when one deal brings in several thousand euros of contribution margin. Then a single deal easily carries many leads.
- Below a deal value of roughly €3,000, the math gets tight. In that case we're usually not the right partner, and we tell you up front.
Whether exclusive leads pay off is something you can calculate, but not from the lead price. The right question is: what does a deal bring in, and how many leads do I need to win one? Everything else follows from those two numbers.
1. The right metric
A lead price of €250 sounds expensive on its own. But it's only one piece. What matters is the cost per deal won relative to the contribution margin of that deal. A lead is a chance at a conversation, not a deal. Why that is is covered in Why a lead is not yet a deal.
Whether lead generation pays off isn't decided by the lead price but by the value of a single deal.
2. A simple calculation
Let's be conservative and assume one deal from five serious leads:
- 5 leads × €250 = €1,250 in lead costs per deal won.
- A deal with €5,000 in contribution margin covers that €1,250 four times over.
- A deal with €2,000 in contribution margin leaves hardly any room once lead costs are deducted. This is where it gets tight.
The rate is deliberately cautious. If you respond faster and follow up properly, you often close more than one in five. How much the first hour matters here is no coincidence.
3. Where the threshold is
As a rough guide: once a single deal brings in several thousand euros of contribution margin, a lead price of €200–400 pays for itself even at a cautious close rate. If your typical deal is below that, roughly under €3,000, the math gets tight fast.
That's why we run your numbers before every engagement. If the math doesn't work for you, we don't take on the project. That's not a platitude; it's the condition for exclusive leads to work for both sides.
Michael has more than 8 years of experience in web and software development and helps businesses build systems that turn inquiries into deals.