What can you pay for a lead?

How to use this calculator

Enter your average job value, your direct cost to deliver the work, and the share of leads that turn into booked jobs. The calculator works backward from your margin and returns your break-even ceilings: the most you can afford to pay for a booked job, a lead, and a click before advertising starts losing money. Set bids and budgets below those ceilings and the math stays on your side.

What the numbers mean

Cost per booked job is what you pay in advertising to win one signed job. Cost per lead is what you pay for one call or form fill, whether or not it books. Cost per click is what you pay when someone clicks your ad. Most owners are told to judge marketing on lead volume. Lead counts do not pay the crew. These three ceilings tell you whether a campaign is actually making you money.

A worked example

A tree service with a $1,800 average ticket and 55 percent direct costs keeps $810 per job. That is the most it can pay to win one booked job and break even. If 30 percent of leads become booked jobs, the ceiling per lead is $243. If 1 in 10 clicks becomes a lead, the ceiling per click is about $24.

Want us to run these numbers with you? Talk to us.