Brokers compare lead sources on price, which treats the invoice as the whole cost. Alex’s framing is that every lead is paid for in full, and the only choice is the currency. A cheap lead is paid for by reps dialling, texting, emailing and chasing until somebody answers. An expensive one is paid for upfront, and the floor gets its time back.
The two currencies
| Pay with time | Pay with money | |
|---|---|---|
| What you buy | Shared and aged leads | Real-time exclusive leads |
| Price per lead | Cents to tens of dollars | $50 to $90 from a niche provider; ours are $60 per lead |
| What the floor does | Dial, text, email, chase, thousands of contacts | Call once, inside sixty seconds |
| Who it suits | A new or small shop with little cash flow | A shop funding a few million a month |
| What it costs you | Rep hours per funded deal | Cash upfront, and the risk of the wrong vendor |
Neither column is wrong. A broker starting out, or a shop of a few people without cash to put into leads, should pay with time: shared or aged leads, worked hard, will fund deals. It is part of the process and it works; it just takes more effort per deal. A shop already funding a few million dollars a month that can afford real-time exclusive leads should be buying them, because they make each deal close to a layup.
Paying with money is leverage
Alex calls paying with money a very good form of leverage. Rep hours are capped; a budget is not. A floor that stops chasing has the same reps working leads who asked to be called, which is why the shops that can pay with money should. Expensive does not automatically mean better, though, and a $200 lead can still be resold. The other half of the advice is how to get from one column to the other, which is start with aged leads and reinvest.
Questions brokers ask
Should I buy cheap MCA leads or expensive ones?
It depends which you have more of, time or money. With little cash flow, buy cheap shared or aged leads and work them hard. Once you are funding a few million a month, buy real-time exclusive leads, because the time you save per funded deal is worth more than the price difference.
What does “pay with time” mean for MCA leads?
Buying cheap shared or aged leads and paying for them with rep hours: dialling, texting, emailing and chasing thousands of contacts until some answer. The lead is cheap; the effort per funded deal is not.
Are real-time exclusive MCA leads worth the price?
For a shop that can afford them, usually. The merchant asked to be called and nobody else is calling, so one call inside sixty seconds tends to reach them. You pay more per lead and far less in rep time per funded deal.
What should a new MCA broker buy first?
Aged leads, worked hard. Alex suggests around $1,000 on aged leads rather than risking it on a handful of real-time contacts, closing a few deals, and reinvesting the cash flow into better leads.
How much do real-time exclusive MCA leads cost?
From niche providers that generate their own leads, about $50 to $90 a lead, sent only to you. Large generic vendors charge $120 to $200 and may still resell them. Our exclusive leads are $60.
Reference
Watch: fix the leads, fix the pickup rateTime against money at 3:24, and the ladder between them at 4:29.
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.