Jake SetterlunFounder, Setterlun University™ · 🚀 Helping Scale Your Online Offer to $1M/month @ Setterlun University™ (1,000+ Students) 🏆 2x 2CCX

Cheaper Leads Can Cost You More

14 Aug 2026 · 2 min

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1:43

In this segment, Jake Setterlun explains why opting for lower‑cost leads can actually increase overall expenses and effort. He compares two lead‑generation models: one that charges $120 per appointment with a 10 % close rate, and another that charges $60 per appointment (plus a management fee) but achieves a 25 % close rate. Although the per‑appointment price may appear lower, the higher conversion rate means fewer appointments are needed, saving time and reducing total spend. He also highlights that lead value matters: a $4,000 client from cheap leads versus a $10,000 high‑net‑worth client from pricier leads. Using a Zillow‑style zip‑code analogy, he shows that higher‑priced leads from “premium” segments yield greater returns, justifying their cost. The core message is that lead quality, conversion efficiency, and client value should drive pricing decisions, not just raw cost per lead.

Chapters

There's a couple different holes that you can poke in that. From you talking to a client perspective, lead quality is going to definitely be one of them. Right. Of, okay, if you're paying $120 an appointment, how many of those are closing? Okay, you're closing 1 in 10. I'm going to get you leads for $60 an appointment, even though I have a management fee. You're going to close 1 in 4 of those. And then it's, you're paying a little bit more or it's gonna derive out to the same price point, but you're gonna save more time 'cause you're talking to less people. So that, that's kind of how you would navigate that, how you can do like us versus them. Yeah. The quality and the time is always gonna be the biggest thing when you're talking leads in terms of how many leads you have to sort through and, and what's the actual quality. Another one or another lever to pull would be the the price point or the value of what a client that you're going to bring them versus another client is going to be. Yeah. An example would be, you know, you're buying appointments and it's yielding a $4,000 client. I'm going to bring you a lead that's high net worth and it's going to be a $10,000 client. So like, yes, you're paying more, but you know, it's also going to be a higher, higher value client. It's kind of like with Zillow in real estate. Yeah. Where you have to pay more for a better zip code because the price of a home there is, you know, that much higher. So a lead from that zip code is going to yield more returns, so therefore it costs more money. That would also be another, another way to look at that.