The short answer
2–4 funded per 50 exclusive leads delivered (4–8%), client-reported. On phone-verified leads worked quickly, expect to reach a large majority of the records, to have a real funding conversation with a substantial share of those, to get statements from a fraction again, to submit about 15% of qualified leads to a lender, and to see roughly 40 to 50% of those applications approved. On real-time leads called within a minute, our clients see 40 to 50% pick up. The single most useful thing about a funnel table is not the benchmark — it is finding which of your own steps drops hardest relative to the one above it.
Benchmarks are only useful as a diagnostic. A floor two points under on funded rate has a problem somewhere specific, and the point of the table is to find which step rather than to conclude the leads are bad.
| Stage | What it measures | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Delivered → contacted: 40–50% pickup on real-time leads | Whether the numbers are live and you called fast | Client-reported, called within a minute |
| Contacted → qualified conversation | Whether the screening held on the phone | Client-reported |
| Qualified → statements received | Whether the ask was made properly | Client-reported |
| Statements → submitted | Whether files were fundable | Client-reported |
| Qualified lead → submitted to a lender: about 15% | 10% to the low twenties still works | Measured on our funnel, and client-reported on the same definition |
| Application → approved: roughly 40–50% | Whether the file was placed with the right funder | Client-reported |
| Submitted → funded | Placement and paper quality | Client-reported |
| Overall: 2–4 funded per 50 exclusive leads (4–8%) | The number we quote; the average client is 5–8% | Client-reported to October 2026 |
We publish the end-to-end figure as a range because that is what clients report back, and we quote the bottom of it. The intermediate stages vary far more between floors than the end figure does, which is itself the finding: the differences are made on the phone, not in the leads.
Reading your own table
- A weak contact rate with a healthy everything-else is a speed problem or a number-quality problem. Check time to first dial before you blame the leads.
- A strong contact rate with weak qualification means the screening criteria are not what you were told, or your reps are disqualifying too hard.
- Qualified conversations that never produce statements is the single most common leak, and it is entirely a process fix.
- Submissions that do not fund is a placement problem, not a lead problem.
What we publish, and what we will not
Precise percentages for the qualification and statements stages. We see what clients tell us, the definitions differ between them, and turning that into a decimal would be inventing precision we do not have. The exception is lead to submission, where the form fixes the definition — a qualified lead is one that cleared the gates and entered the passcode — and enough floors report on it for about 15% to mean something; Alex’s rougher client figure for lead to application is 15 to 20%. Pickup on real-time leads (40 to 50%) and application to approval (roughly 40 to 50%) are the other two, and Alex walks through all three in the $1,000 worked example. The end-to-end figure is the last one enough clients report on the same definition for a range to hold.