The second reason leads go unanswered is the one the rep can do least about. The merchant filled out a funding form on Facebook, another on Instagram, two more somewhere else, and every one of those forms is now a broker dialling them. By the fifth unknown number in six minutes they have stopped picking up anything, and yours is the fifth number.
How four forms become seven brokers
| Where the calls come from | Brokers | Calling in all |
|---|---|---|
| The merchant’s other four forms | 4 | 4 |
| Your form, sold to you alone | 1 | 5 — you are the fifth call |
| Or your form, resold to three buyers | 3, you included | 7 — you may be the seventh |
The first row is the one nobody talks about. Exclusive leads remove the third row, and they are worth buying for that, but exclusivity is a promise about who else holds your record, not about what else the merchant did that morning. Alex sells only exclusive leads and still sees it: a merchant fills out his ad and another vendor’s the same morning, and the other vendor shares theirs with ten people. The difference between exclusive, shared and aged is real; it just stops at your record.
What you can actually do
- Be the first call. You cannot stop the other forms, but you can be the number that rang before they did, and that is the only lever here that changes your position. It is a speed to lead problem, not a pitch problem.
- Say which one you are. Name the site they applied on — the board’s example is “you filled out the application on USA Business Funding” — and the merchant knows which of the calls this is. Put it in a text before the call and in your first sentence when they answer.
- Break through the noise. A text that says who you are and that you know they have probably had a lot of calls; a FaceTime video if you can. Anything that does not look like the fifth unknown number.
- Buy exclusive. It does not stop the other forms, but it keeps you out of the last row — don’t pay to be the seventh broker calling.
None of this makes the lead a bad one. The merchant is still a business owner who wanted funding this morning; what changed is how many people got there first. Which is why the advice for the reason nobody controls ends up the same as for the ones you do: call first, say who you are, and keep going.
Questions brokers ask
Why do MCA merchants stop answering after they apply?
Usually because they applied in more than one place. A merchant who filled out four funding forms is called by every one of them, often within minutes, and after the fourth unknown number they stop picking up any of them.
How many brokers call a shared MCA lead?
Everyone who bought it, plus everyone behind the merchant’s other forms. On Alex’s board, four other forms and a lead resold to three buyers is seven brokers calling the same merchant.
Do exclusive leads stop other brokers calling the merchant?
No. They stop your vendor selling the same record to anyone else, which removes the worst of it, but a merchant who filled out other forms that morning will still hear from those brokers. The fix for that part is being the first call.
What should I say when a merchant has already had calls from other brokers?
Say which application you are calling about — the name of the site they applied on — so they know which of the calls you are. Send it as a text before you ring, and lead with it when they answer.
Is it worth calling a merchant who is already getting lots of calls?
Yes, and first. The merchant still needed funding that morning; what shrinks with every call before yours is their patience. Being first is the only thing that changes your position.
Reference
Exclusive leads, and what exclusive means hereOne broker per lead, never resold — the part of the problem a vendor can actually control.
Alex Makowski
Founder, Infinite Bookings
Runs the lead generation operation behind Infinite Bookings — paid traffic, the funding application, and the delivery pipeline that puts records into brokers’ CRMs.
Reachable directly at alex@infinitebookings.com or 732-609-7182.