The Verified Lead Standard
Seven questions to ask any lead vendor before you buy — including us. For each one: the answer a good vendor gives, and the dodge a bad one uses. Take this into your next vendor call and read them out loud.
1. Who generated this lead, and on whose property?
GOOD ANSWER“We did — on brands and landing pages we own and fund. Here are the URLs.”
THE DODGE“We work with a network of trusted publishers.” That means aggregator data: the same inquiry sold to multiple buyers, and nobody accountable for how consent was captured.
2. Is it exclusive — and what makes that enforceable?
GOOD ANSWER“Exclusivity is structural: one buyer per geography per vertical, in the contract. While you hold the slot we cannot sell in your market.”
THE DODGE“All our leads are exclusive.” Ask what happens contractually if the same lead surfaces at a competitor. If there's no remedy in writing, 'exclusive' is a label, not a term.
3. What does 'verified' mean, mechanically?
GOOD ANSWER“The consumer entered a one-time PIN sent to their own phone, and the email passed a deliverability check, before delivery.” A specific mechanism you could audit.
THE DODGE“All leads are validated by our quality team.” Human eyeballing of a form fill verifies nothing. If they can't name the mechanism, assume unverified.
4. How fast is the lead worked after the form fill — and by whom?
GOOD ANSWER“An intake call happens within minutes; qualified prospects are live-transferred, the rest delivered same-day with full documentation.”
THE DODGE“Leads are delivered in a daily batch file.” Intent decays in hours. A vendor with no speed layer is shipping you the cold remains of yesterday's interest.
5. What number do you hold yourself accountable to?
GOOD ANSWER“Cost per signed case / booked job / issued policy — we review it with you and it drives replacements.” The vendor is underwriting the outcome, not the click.
THE DODGE“Our cost per lead is the lowest in the market.” Price-per-lead is the wrong number; it hides quality. Cheap leads that don't convert are the most expensive thing you can buy.
6. What happens, in writing, when a lead is invalid or quality dips?
GOOD ANSWER“A replacement clause in the agreement: bad numbers, out-of-criteria, and no-qualifying-event leads are reviewed and replaced, plus a documented quality SOP.”
THE DODGE“Talk to your account manager and we'll make it right.” Goodwill is not a term. If the remedy isn't in the contract, it doesn't exist when you need it.
7. Show me the consent trail. Will it survive a TCPA demand letter?
GOOD ANSWER“Consent captured on our own branded page with clear disclosure, timestamped, tied to an OTP the consumer entered — here's the record for any lead you buy.”
THE DODGE“Our publishers handle compliance.” If the vendor can't produce the consent record per lead, the regulatory risk is yours — you're the one making the calls.
The scoring rule
A vendor doesn't need a perfect answer to all seven. But questions 3 (verification mechanism), 5 (accountability number), and 6 (written remedy) are non-negotiable — a miss on any of those means your true cost per acquisition is unknowable and your recourse is zero. Walk.
Ask us all seven. We publish our answers on every fit call — one partner per geography, replacement clause in writing.
Email hello@getfixr.ai