The price on a lead is the least useful number in tree service marketing. What matters is what you pay for each estimate you actually run, and what you pay for each job you win. Here is how to work that out before you sign with anyone.
The ways tree companies pay for leads
Pay per lead
You pay for every name and phone number, whether the homeowner answers or not. One of our clients, Matthew from Western Washington Tree Service, paid another company $95 a lead. In his words: "A lot of times clients wouldn't answer their phone or they wouldn't text back, and I would still get charged 95 bucks."
Shared leads
Lead sites often send the same homeowner to several companies. The price looks lower, but you are racing other tree companies to the phone, and the homeowner picks whoever is cheapest or fastest.
Retainers and deposits
Some agencies charge a monthly fee or a deposit up front, before you see a single estimate. Matthew again: "I know companies where you have to make a deposit of 1,200 bucks to start the process."
Pay for results
You pay for estimates that actually land on your calendar, with a guarantee if they don't. This puts the risk on the marketing company, not on you.
The 3 numbers to compare
- Cost per estimate: what you spent, divided by the estimates you actually ran. A cheap lead that never answers is not cheap.
- Cost per job: what you spent, divided by the jobs you won. This is the number that pays your crew.
- Money back per dollar spent: the tree work you sold, divided by what you spent.
Questions to ask before you sign
- Are the leads exclusive, or does the homeowner hear from other companies too?
- What happens when a lead is bad: wrong number, renter, out of area? Do you get credit? Matthew's old company would only credit 10% of his leads.
- Do you pay for no-shows and cancellations?
- Is there a setup fee, retainer or deposit?
- How are homeowners checked before they reach you?
- Is there a guarantee?
How Branch Up Digital charges
No setup fee and no retainer. One tree company per area, so every estimate is exclusive. No show or cancellation? You don't pay for it. And if we don't deliver in the first 30 days, you pay nothing, and we pay you out of our own pocket for wasting your time.
Read how Matthew went from $95 leads to about $12,000 in tree work in his first month: Western Washington Tree Service's story. Or learn about our exclusive tree removal leads.