Step one: agree what a lead is
You set the criteria. Loan purpose, the states you are licensed in, the loan sizes you want, and the enquiries you do not want. Anything outside those lines is not a lead, and it is not a charge. If you are new to buying, the short answer to what a mortgage lead is is worth two minutes first. Write the criteria down before the campaign starts, because they are what a dispute is judged against later.
Step two: agree the price
The price is a fixed cost per lead, agreed before anything runs. There is no retainer, no monthly management fee and no lock in. If the leads stop earning their keep, you stop buying them. That makes the trial short and the exit cheap, which is the point.
Step three: connect your CRM
Leads are delivered live into the system you already use, not into a spreadsheet on Friday. Map the fields before day one so the first record lands in the right place. Decide at the same time who is on the phone and when, because a lead called back in ten minutes is a different conversation from the same lead called that evening.
Step four: start small
Begin with a low volume in one state. Judge the contact rate and the quality of the conversations before you ask for more. Volume rises in steps, only once the leads at the current level are holding up. There is no volume promise, and there is no close rate promise, because both depend on your market and on how fast you call. How small the first batch should be is covered under how many mortgage leads to buy to start.
Step five: flag anything wrong
Wrong number, wrong state, someone who never asked about a loan. Flag it with a short note about what happened on the call. Invalid leads are reviewed within five business days, and confirmed invalid leads are replaced or credited.
What you are buying, and what you are not
Every record you receive has passed the same checks. The list below is what that means in practice.
- One of our exclusive mortgage leads: yours, and not sold to another broker
- Phone verified by SMS at the point of enquiry, and checked for duplicates before delivery
- Screened on finance before it reaches you, so the clear non starters stay off your calendar
- Not a shared list, not a database bought by the row, and not a promise about volume or settlements
Refinance, purchase or both
The criteria can be as narrow as one loan purpose. Brokers who want refinance enquiries only should read the page on mortgage refinance leads first, because a refinance record carries fields a purchase record does not.