Pay per lead,
fixed.
Shared leads vs a warm handover, same search, different business.
Searching pay per lead? Here’s what that product actually is: the same enquiry, sold to ten businesses at once, won by whoever rings first, and everyone else paid to lose. We don’t sell that. We build the brands people go to when the problem hits, and when a real job passes our five published checks it’s warm-referred to exactly one business in that area. Same outcome you searched for. Better odds than 1-in-10: it’s 1 of 1.
The anatomy of
a shared lead
One homeowner. One leaking roof. One form filled in on a comparison site.
That form is sold to ten businesses at once, sometimes more. Every one of them pays for it.
Whoever rings first wins the conversation. Usually within minutes. Everyone else is already too late.
The other nine paid to lose. They ring a person who has already booked, and they are billed anyway.
That’s not a quality problem, it’s the business model. The seller earns ten times on every job; you win one in ten. Shared leads only work if most buyers lose.
Same search. Different business.
| What matters | Shared leads | Warm referral |
|---|---|---|
| Exclusivity | The same enquiry, sold to up to ten businesses at once | One partner per area. Nobody else gets the referral, ever |
| How it originates | A form on a comparison site, resold down a chain of brokers | Someone came to a brand they already trust and asked who to use |
| What you read before calling | A name, a category and a timestamp | The job in their own words, over SMS, their sentences, not a form |
| Billing | Per name, whatever happens next | Per referral that passed five published checks, fails one, not billed |
| Contracts | Credit packs, lock-ins and monthly minimums | No retainer, no lock-in. Hold your area, take the referrals |
Buying calls instead of contact records changes the maths again. We compare pay per lead vs pay per call in full.
Five checks before
anything reaches you
The difference between a name on a list and a warm handover is five checks, published in full as The Referral Standard. A job that fails one is never sent, and never billed.
What a referral arrives with
- Name and direct mobile
- The job, in their own SMS words
- Their stated timeline
- “Nobody else booked”, confirmed
- Consent on record
- Delivered in real time
Shared, exclusive, referral,
three different products
All three get sold under the same word. Only one of them arrives warm.
Shared leads
One enquiry sold to several businesses at once, typically three to ten, sometimes more. Everyone pays; whoever rings first usually wins; the rest paid for a conversation that was over before it started. Priced per name, regardless of outcome. This is what most pay per lead companies sell.
Exclusive leads
The same raw material, sold to one buyer only. Better odds, but it is still a form-fill: a name, a category, a timestamp. Nobody has confirmed the job is real, asked for a timeline, or checked whether someone else is already booked. You bought exclusivity of the data, not a recommendation.
Warm referral
A recommendation, not a record. The brand the person already trusts gives them one name and tells them to expect the call. Before that happens, the job passes five published checks, real and reachable, described in their own words over SMS, timeline stated, still an open job, one buyer only. Fails a check → not sent, not billed. This is what we make.
Straight answers
How is this different from Checkatrade or Bark?
What if the referral is rubbish?
How does a referral actually reach me?
How many referrals will I get a month?
Is there a contract or a retainer?
Is your area
still open?
One company per area, opened one at a time. If yours is held we tell you straight, and when it opens, the waiting list hears first.