Cost of Leads for Lawyers

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I've gotten so much help, education, and motivation from this forum over the months that I thought I should share this.

I've seen many posts about selling leads to lawyers and one of the themes of the posts seems to be that you can ask for big money because they make big money. The other assumption or business idea is that you can sell the lead based on the fee or award that the lead may bring.

(I guess I should say at this point - although I've mentioned it before - I'm a Director of Marketing for a Law Firm. I don't say this to put myself out there as any kind of expert, but simply because my work has allowed me to understand the laws as they apply to "leads" and since we purchase leads I can tell you what the actual cost is. I know a couple of people personally who could have saved a lot of time and money if they knew this stuff.)

Cost of leads:

Bankruptcy: 20 - 60
Accident/Injury: 18 - 50
Divorce/Family Law: 18 - 40
Medical Malpractice: 20 - 60

I can't speak to every type of lead about it's cost, but the vast majority fall into this range.

As far as the idea of a percentage of fee, it's simply illegal and many attorneys have lost their license doing this. It's known as fee splitting and it's the same law in all 50 states. (By the way....this applies to US law firms...laws may be very different elsewhere)

In the last couple of days I've spoken to a couple of people who were in the process of building a business plan around unrealistic expectations of how much they would be able to sell leads for.....hence, the reason for the post.
#cost #lawyers #leads
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  • Profile picture of the author vndnbrgj
    Not to take away from your post David Miller

    The same legalities apply to real estate as well...
    I don't know about the cost of leads, but you cannot take a percentage of anything.

    Work the leads, not the sale
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    • Profile picture of the author David Miller
      Originally Posted by vndnbrgj View Post

      Not to take away from your post David Miller

      The same legalities apply to real estate as well...
      I don't know about the cost of leads, but you cannot take a percentage of anything.

      Work the leads, not the sale
      It's not "taking away" at all...just adding to! Quite correct about working the leads and not the sale.

      We've gotten calls from people that have tried to sell leads based on compensation and I can tell you candidly, that lawyers (and probably most others) take offense when others tell them how much money they make.
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  • Profile picture of the author iAmNameLess
    Great post.. I agree on the basic fees.. give or take. The thing that is really mind blowing though, is services like findlaw can get away with throwing you on a directory, create a website with seo and then charge anywhere from $300/mo to $1,500 a month... you know they aren't getting the same leads to make it worthwhile.

    I have always thought full services are the better way to go than just selling leads. I guess just selling the leads out right is less work needed to be done though.
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  • Profile picture of the author geotargeted
    The fee-splitting issue has many ways around it. There are entire industries based around fee-splitting with lawyers and are moving along just fine. Lawyers just book it as a marketing expense / advertising fee.

    Some industries off of the top of my head: Debt management, debt settlement. The business model there is 100 fee-splitting but their are many ways around the issue.

    Although, I would suggest to not approach a lawyer they don't already know with a fee-splitting proposal.

    Also typically a leads sold by lead vendors are complete junk. A lead generated from your website, non incentivised, will have a much higher closing rate and be worth much more to the buyer. Leads are sold based on the quality / conversion ratio of the leads. So someone might sell leads for $30 with a 3% close ratio or buy leads from you for $100 with a 20% close ratio, even though your cost per lead is higher, it is still a lower cost per close.
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    • Profile picture of the author seomoney
      Those lead prices are cheap because they've been resold. You can probably easily get 3.5 times more if you only sell them to one lawyer.
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      • Profile picture of the author David Miller
        Originally Posted by seomoney View Post

        Those lead prices are cheap because they've been resold. You can probably easily get 3.5 times more if you only sell them to one lawyer.
        I get calls all the time from vendors trying to sell me "exclusive" leads. They are usually 15-20% higher in price, and few lawyers are foolish enough to buy them. Most have limited faith in the veracity of the lead broker, and they are aware that an exclusive lead is only exclusive to that particular vendor.
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    • Profile picture of the author David Miller
      Originally Posted by geotargeted View Post

      The fee-splitting issue has many ways around it. There are entire industries based around fee-splitting with lawyers and are moving along just fine. Lawyers just book it as a marketing expense / advertising fee.

      Some industries off of the top of my head: Debt management, debt settlement. The business model there is 100 fee-splitting but their are many ways around the issue.

      Although, I would suggest to not approach a lawyer they don't already know with a fee-splitting proposal.

      Also typically a leads sold by lead vendors are complete junk. A lead generated from your website, non incentivised, will have a much higher closing rate and be worth much more to the buyer. Leads are sold based on the quality / conversion ratio of the leads. So someone might sell leads for $30 with a 3% close ratio or buy leads from you for $100 with a 20% close ratio, even though your cost per lead is higher, it is still a lower cost per close.
      I'm not going to spend time debating the worth of debt settlement/management etc. They are typically "attorney based" which is not a law firm. However, rather than argue that point, the reason for this thread was to give people who are building a business model around the idea of selling leads to lawyers a true barometer of prices.

      I've seen many posts about marketing to attorneys and much of what I've read is simply incorrect. My only intention was to offer some facts to anyone who may be thinking of selling leads to lawyers.
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      • Profile picture of the author Jgregory
        Hi David

        Excellent post... nothing better than getting it straight from the genuine source.

        Would you please expand on one area. How are the leads you purchase these prices generated.... where to they come from?

        In the lead business, qualified leads are what really count... so I'm assuming these leads you are buying are qualified. But could share what those qualifications are?

        Best Regards,
        Jan Gregory
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        • Profile picture of the author David Miller
          Originally Posted by Jgregory View Post

          Hi David

          Excellent post... nothing better than getting it straight from the genuine source.

          Would you please expand on one area. How are the leads you purchase these prices generated.... where to they come from?

          In the lead business, qualified leads are what really count... so I'm assuming these leads you are buying are qualified. But could share what those qualifications are?

          Best Regards,
          Jan Gregory
          Lead sources that are worthwhile are hard to come by. When you find any that are worthwhile, it's not wise to give it away. I will say that some lead "types" are better than others just due to their nature.

          For example, a lawyer would never buy "debt settlement" leads because this person is not looking for a legal solution, they are looking for settlement which is a questionable process at best. (Please, I don't want to debate this point - it's already all but been abolished as a business model by the FTC and Dodd-Frank). The same holds true for "loan modification" leads, they are also people looking for a way to stay in their home (usually a home they had no business buying in the first place) but not true legal services.

          Generally speaking, relative to a law firm, internet leads that come from 3rd parties generally convert poorly if there's a need for true legal advocacy. The reason as far as our experience shows, is that people will not travel far to meet with an attorney unless it's a referral (no lead needed there).

          Leads that are generated from the firm's website will always convert better because the web visitor is making a choice based on geography more than anything else. Based on our experience, the best thing you can do for an attorney is to build a ppc campaign that is inline with the costs that I've shared in the thread.
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          • Profile picture of the author gdale19
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            • Profile picture of the author David Miller
              Originally Posted by gdale19 View Post

              I do sell advertising to Attorneys for a 19 year old website. What we offer is “One Search One Click”. Try this example: Google “DWI Attorneys” in Austin Texas. Organic Website # 1 will be a cumbersome map that requires you to give your personal information, website # 2 is the same. Lawinfo usually come up #3, now click on Lawinfo and you will see 4 Lead Counsel Rated Attorneys to choose from. Thus “One Search One Click”. Who else can offer this to an Attorney? The Attorney is one of only 4 Lead Rated and or one Video sponsor and the potential client is calling them directly.
              We get over One Million visitors to our website every month. We have call tracking so I know how many calls the Attorneys are getting, this is why we have an 80% renewal rate.

              Greg Dale
              Director of Lead Counsel
              Mazel tov....glad to hear you're doing so well. Surely you understand that this thread is not for you to advertise LawInfo.

              I'm sick and tired of people that try to hijack threads for self-promotion.
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              • Profile picture of the author gdale19
                Originally Posted by David Miller View Post

                Mazel tov....glad to hear you're doing so well. Surely you understand that this thread is not for you to advertise LawInfo.

                I'm sick and tired of people that try to hijack threads for self-promotion.
                Sorry, relatively new to the Warrior Fourms I'll never do it again. Just to be clear about this, is it my phone number I should not have mentioned or is it company name?

                Again, Sorry
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          • Profile picture of the author Jgregory
            Originally Posted by David Miller View Post


            ...For example, a lawyer would never buy "debt settlement" leads because this person is not looking for a legal solution, they are looking for settlement which is a questionable process at best.

            ...nternet leads that come from 3rd parties generally convert poorly if there's a need for true legal advocacy. The reason as far as our experience shows, is that people will not travel far to meet with an attorney unless it's a referral (no lead needed there).
            Hi David, I wouldn't call debt resettlement a lawyer lead either. The get back to that main point, and I agree... local leads for a law firm in my experience would be in the area of personal injury, DUI, divorce, criminal defense, business incorporation... and all these from local people in same geo-location.

            So, my interest was piqued that anyone is selling that type of local lead for those niches. Most business models for SEO I've seen rent a specific site to a local lawyer at a flat rate and not selling by the lead

            Don't want to know your source, or any details, just whether you are buying these types of local law firm leads for the prices you mentioned? Emphasis on local, as in generated locally
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            • Profile picture of the author David Miller
              @jgregory - yes we have purchased the leads you've mentioned for our local market. We do also run our own ppc as well, depending on the availability of leads from various sources.

              Different niches obviously have different volumes of leads and much of what happens in some legal areas seems dependent on seasons as well.

              @gdale19 - this forum and this thread was intended to give people a little bit of an understanding of what the typical costs of leads may be - of course I can only speak to my experience and I'm not saying that what I have to share is the defacto standard. Since no one here is in the business of buying leads, and your post was clearly expressing your desire to sell leads, it was pretty much out of place....but I always admire a sales person that always sells!

              @Tim Franklin - no offense taken. I didn't present myself as an expert or having knowledge of every geographical market (although I am familiar with a great many). I only wanted to share what I have been dealing with because I see many people attempting to build a business model around information that is clearly off the mark.

              One other thing I want to add about the dollar spread....for example....bankruptcy 20 - 60 this is largely due to the volume of leads that were contracted to purchase.
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              • Profile picture of the author gdale19
                [QUOTE=David Miller;5438703]@jgregory -

                @gdale19 - this forum and this thread was intended to give people a little bit of an understanding of what the typical costs of leads may be - of course I can only speak to my experience and I'm not saying that what I have to share is the defacto standard. Since no one here is in the business of buying leads, and your post was clearly expressing your desire to sell leads, it was pretty much out of place....but I always admire a sales person that always sells!

                We sell ad space to a select few attorneys on a website. We only accept 4 "Lead Counsel Rated" Attorneys per practice in an area code. Most of our major city PI panels are sold out and have been for many years.
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          • Profile picture of the author mason1
            Originally Posted by David Miller View Post

            ...........Based on our experience, the best thing you can do for an attorney is to build a ppc campaign that is inline with the costs that I've shared in the thread.
            i'm not an expert in this area, but a thought just came to me when i read this comment.

            the prices you list are what i typically see as the price just for "the click". assuming that a very small percentage of those people actually take action (like filling out their form for free consultation etc) the price per lead would end up being waaaaaay higher than your prices.

            lets say for example that you're paying $30 per click which seems to be an average i hear tossed around for legal ppc costs. and again lets assume you get a massive 10% of those to fill the form and become an actual "lead". that's $300 per lead.

            the numbers dont seem to make sense unless you're guys are paying around $2 per click and getting 5% optin which comes to 40$ per lead. but that doesnt seem reasonable (possibly for obscure keywords??)

            so what am i missing here?
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            • Profile picture of the author RimaNaj2011
              Interesting post. I'd assume it was a lot more (100+) Lawyers charge hundreds an hour, I would never sell a lead for just $50.
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            • Profile picture of the author baconman
              Originally Posted by mason1 View Post

              i'm not an expert in this area, but a thought just came to me when i read this comment.

              the prices you list are what i typically see as the price just for "the click". assuming that a very small percentage of those people actually take action (like filling out their form for free consultation etc) the price per lead would end up being waaaaaay higher than your prices.

              lets say for example that you're paying $30 per click which seems to be an average i hear tossed around for legal ppc costs. and again lets assume you get a massive 10% of those to fill the form and become an actual "lead". that's $300 per lead.

              the numbers dont seem to make sense unless you're guys are paying around $2 per click and getting 5% optin which comes to 40$ per lead. but that doesnt seem reasonable (possibly for obscure keywords??)

              so what am i missing here?
              I'm under the same impression as you. $80 per lead is too little if they are qualified leads who submit information or call in.
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              • Profile picture of the author David Miller
                Originally Posted by baconman View Post

                I'm under the same impression as you. $80 per lead is too little if they are qualified leads who submit information or call in.
                I see things are going back to 'lawyers make a lot so they must spend a lot more' for a lead. Again, I'm sure there are some attorneys that buy into that model and perhaps there are some that have some work-around to avoid fee splitting, but the numbers I've quoted are the numbers I work with...I have no reason to mislead as I am NOT in the lead business.

                Now, as far a PPC, yes, I have seen some clicks as high as 65$ but that cost is prohibitive for most and generally if anyone is paying that it's because they are not familiar with how to properly run a PPC campaign.

                Again, I'm only providing information that I know to be true in the markets I've mentioned. Lawyers (for the most part) are not mindless idiots who will pay outrageous amounts for a lead because someone says they make a lot if they take the case. By the way, do a little research on AI cases and see how much it costs to build that type of case and how long it takes to collect. It can be years.

                If you can justify charging an attorney more for a lead because he makes more, than the newspaper, radio, tv stations, et. al, would have to charge more for air time and ad space.

                My purpose for posting the data that I have, once again, is to provide some realistic information to those people who I have seen thinking about building a business model around lead sales to attorneys. I am not saying it can't be done, merely giving some information that holds true. Take it or leave it, I'm just the messenger.
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                • Profile picture of the author Izesta
                  Sidebar: So David, do attorneys really want leads?

                  I am seeking an attorney. Perhaps I would do better if I try to input my info into a lead gen site. Because I cannot get an attorney to respond to me. I have contacted attorneys by both email, phone and in writing. Not one has responded.

                  What is the secret to getting an attorney to respond? And if they are not interested in the case, they can just say that. It's mind-boggling.
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                  • Profile picture of the author David Miller
                    Attorneys want clients, but not every prospective client or lead has a case that would make sense. So if you are trying to contact an attorney there are only a couple of likely reasons that they have not responded:

                    1. You haven't provided any information about what it is that you need legal advocacy for. Most if not all attorneys will not respond to an inquiry that has no specificity.

                    2. You may have provided the information but they feel that there really isn't much of a case.

                    Feel free to PM me if you would like a little advice.
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      • Profile picture of the author geotargeted
        Originally Posted by David Miller View Post

        I'm not going to spend time debating the worth of debt settlement/management etc. They are typically "attorney based" which is not a law firm. However, rather than argue that point, the reason for this thread was to give people who are building a business model around the idea of selling leads to lawyers a true barometer of prices.

        I've seen many posts about marketing to attorneys and much of what I've read is simply incorrect. My only intention was to offer some facts to anyone who may be thinking of selling leads to lawyers.
        I hear ya. I only wanted to point out that the price per lead should be based on conversion and not what others charge. I have a lot of experience buying leads, spend $70k per month for leads, and would always gladly pay top dollar for leads that convert.
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        • Profile picture of the author OMGMarketingGroup
          Originally Posted by geotargeted View Post

          I hear ya. I only wanted to point out that the price per lead should be based on conversion and not what others charge. I have a lot of experience buying leads, spend $70k per month for leads, and would always gladly pay top dollar for leads that convert.
          70k? dang! in what genre/niche might I ask? just wondering. Law?

          I had asked a lawyer about what I now know is fee splitting a while ago. I figured it was a long shot based on how real estate is the same way.
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  • Profile picture of the author ADukes81
    Thank you for this list! I just signed up an attorney on a pay per lead campaign and I am within your price range.
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  • Profile picture of the author JesseGuthrie
    David, yeah some of the above people are right, if you use it as a advertising cost it will not be seen as a negative factor.
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  • Profile picture of the author Tim Franklin
    Interesting thread, though I think that just one rather ambiguous, example of the "Average Cost of a lead" is sort of like a political poll, one can tend to get the answer they want to give or get.

    Leads, come in many different types, some are effective others junk as suggested by other posters, however I think it must be absurd, to think that every market is the same based on only feedback from one source.

    (no offense meant,)

    I just do not see a concrete source here, and while you may have insight into the market for your regional area or even specialty, that does not really define an entire industry or even really give lead providers a good look into the market as a whole.

    I suspect, that qualified leads, versus unqualified leads would be a good place to start, along with the old tried but very true idea that you can teach a man to fish a lot more efficiently than you can feed him.

    Pardon the pun about fish and sharks, but I suspect that it would be a lot more beneficial to develop a website lead generation system than to "pay" for leads in the first place, so really, there is no deep philosophical moment here.

    Leads, might be interesting, they might be economical, they might even become profitable but I do not believe you can assign an arbitrary, price or even range of prices for leads, it depends on the type of lead and where that lead comes from.

    I think most people understand that it would be impossible to literally speak for any market, when your just a very small part of the whole market.

    little fish big pond, syndrome.

    As well, I do see what your trying to imply and that I commend you on educating those that might "think" they can make money by providing leads for a percentage of the payoff, but seriously any attorney worth his or her salt can figure out a method of purchasing valuable services, no matter what they might be, from providing "Consulting services" to trading services, there are tons of things you can do, so really what we know is not as important as what we don't know,

    Publishing rates, based on a limited source of information is not really something that I would consider a valid, or even accurate.

    In fact, the actual cost might be much higher or lower, developing a personal relationship with a lead purchaser, would really be the way to go, If your capable at generating valid and profitable leads, I am sure you can get a decent amount of "consulting fees" more so if you have a "Real Business and not just an email address"

    This is even more evident when you look at advertising costs, but compare apples with apples, not apples with oranges.

    Any firm that does not have a website is not a serious concern in this market, and lead generation is a business make no mistake about that, still there are far too many different considerations that effect cost.

    Still great post, thanks for sharing.
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  • Profile picture of the author reddoch
    Hey Everyone...I would like to add a little here if I may...Selling leads is ok if you want that for a business model...I predominately market for attorneys. I am very good at and get great results and I utilize a method only done by a couple of other marketing and design firms.

    Now...I am not trying to sell anything here, but I do have some WSO's about this and for heaven sake don't get mad for me saying it because I am only mentioning it because I have a video on the one in my signature where I show actual check stubs from my attorney clients. You can see what I am saying there.

    I regularly get setup fees of $3500 and more plus $1500 to $5000 monthly on a years contract for providing a variety of services but mostly educational video content. My clients get big cases in return and the geographical markets I am in are very competitive. My systems pulled in multimillion dollar clients for my clients and I am way cheaper than the phone book. So you can sell $50 leads if you want to, but I prefer offering a premium service and get paid a premium for it.

    You have to sell 80 $50 leads to make $4000 per month. I do that with one client. Thing is any of you can do it too. Just encouraging you to aim a little higher. Good thread everyone.
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    • Profile picture of the author David Miller
      "Now...I am not trying to sell anything here, but I do have some WSO's about this and for heaven sake don't get mad for me saying it because I am only mentioning it because I have a video on the one in my signature where I show actual check stubs from my attorney clients. You can see what I am saying there."

      I don't think anyone is going to be bent out of shape by your post...it does show that there is a better way to build this business model and actually is right on point. My intention was NOT to encourage the typical lead gen business as a big money maker for lawyers...it's not. However, what you do is clearly a better approach, and since you're billing it as "advertising" it eliminates the fee splitting issues.
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    • Profile picture of the author sm2007
      Originally Posted by reddoch View Post

      Hey Everyone...I would like to add a little here if I may...Selling leads is ok if you want that for a business model...I predominately market for attorneys. I am very good at and get great results and I utilize a method only done by a couple of other marketing and design firms.

      Now...I am not trying to sell anything here, but I do have some WSO's about this and for heaven sake don't get mad for me saying it because I am only mentioning it because I have a video on the one in my signature where I show actual check stubs from my attorney clients. You can see what I am saying there.

      I regularly get setup fees of $3500 and more plus $1500 to $5000 monthly on a years contract for providing a variety of services but mostly educational video content. My clients get big cases in return and the geographical markets I am in are very competitive. My systems pulled in multimillion dollar clients for my clients and I am way cheaper than the phone book. So you can sell $50 leads if you want to, but I prefer offering a premium service and get paid a premium for it.

      You have to sell 80 $50 leads to make $4000 per month. I do that with one client. Thing is any of you can do it too. Just encouraging you to aim a little higher. Good thread everyone.
      I completely agree with Reddoch.... Setup, Research, SEO, Social Marketing Services, call it what you want. Once you have a solid relationship with one lawyer they have no problem paying $500-$2000+ per "Service" . Furthermore, the has no problem referring you to collegues in different practice areas that can benefit from your "Monthly Marketing Services"........ Please don't send me "How do i" PM's......

      " I PLEAD THE FIFTH "
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    • Profile picture of the author hmartin90
      Originally Posted by reddoch View Post

      Hey Everyone...I would like to add a little here if I may...Selling leads is ok if you want that for a business model...I predominately market for attorneys. I am very good at and get great results and I utilize a method only done by a couple of other marketing and design firms.

      Now...I am not trying to sell anything here, but I do have some WSO's about this and for heaven sake don't get mad for me saying it because I am only mentioning it because I have a video on the one in my signature where I show actual check stubs from my attorney clients. You can see what I am saying there.

      I regularly get setup fees of $3500 and more plus $1500 to $5000 monthly on a years contract for providing a variety of services but mostly educational video content. My clients get big cases in return and the geographical markets I am in are very competitive. My systems pulled in multimillion dollar clients for my clients and I am way cheaper than the phone book. So you can sell $50 leads if you want to, but I prefer offering a premium service and get paid a premium for it.

      You have to sell 80 $50 leads to make $4000 per month. I do that with one client. Thing is any of you can do it too. Just encouraging you to aim a little higher. Good thread everyone.
      If you use it as a front end service and the build relationships, you can create additional revenue streams with these clients. Thinking beyond the lead selling I believe is the way to make this model much more profitable
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      • Profile picture of the author Jordan786
        Hello everyone i would also like to mention few things here.I am in this lead generation business from last six years...we generate P.I leads for one company in USA and they pay us $50 to $70 for each lead i dont know exactly for how much they sale those leads to attorneys.

        Uk market is much more higher then USA we get 500 pounds for each lead...(qualified lead)
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        • Profile picture of the author Daniel Evans
          You can't argue with £500 for each lead!

          Good money there.

          Daniel
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  • Profile picture of the author rockong
    When you run a lead generation business, are you all using traditional methods?

    Such as you're using your website to drive in traffic and generating leads that way

    Then on the other side, you've contacted firms directly and stated that you can help them with lead generation and agree to a fixed amount per lead?

    Thanks in advance!
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  • Profile picture of the author TyBrown
    I remember seeing the business model of an online lead gen company for lawyers several years back. It would have been 2006 or so.

    In any case, what they did was had cold callers calling on law offices to sell them a done-deal case. I believe the price was $1500. The lawyer paid that fee up front and then this company would send them a qualified lead. If the lawyer closed the deal then it was done. If the lawyer didn't close the deal then they would get another lead.

    The pitch to the lawyer was that the average personal injury suit is worth $x. I don't remember what the number was but let's say $15,000. With a 33% commission to the lawyer equaling $5,000 they've essentially paid $1500 to make hopefully $5,000 or more.

    I don't know how well this sold. I don't know if they still operate this way. I don't know if it breaks any laws or not. I do know that the website is still around and is one of the major players in the space (I won't mention what it is because I don't want to be misrepresenting them if they do things differently now). If this was a successful business model, though, it's an interesting way to sell leads.
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  • Profile picture of the author henry Argueta
    is soon as i get a few sales coming with my cold calling im doing i will get into lead generation. i am so exited and can't wait. sometimes i cant even sleep thinking about all the money that can be made out there.
    my plan is to give them a week trial, once they see they get real leads im sure i will be able to sell them for more than 60$ per lead..yeah im stingy! lol.i want to really be paid for my work
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  • Profile picture of the author syns0r
    I am thinking about dabbling in some legal leads. Should we have any disclaimers on our sites, videos, etc?

    I have seen varying opinions on it. The strictest is that lawyers can't buy leads from someone that doesn't comply with all the advertising guidelines that the lawyer would have to do themselves.

    Then I've see the liberal interpretation that seems to think I don't have to use a disclaimer because I'm not an attorney. But that would seem to bypass the intent of the disclaimer rules if the leads go to an attorney.

    What's your opinion? Should I include the standard "The choice of a lawyer is an important decision.........." disclaimer on all my stuff? I'd hate to be producing leads lawyers can't buy. Some of my leads will be forms and some might be forwarded phone calls.
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  • Profile picture of the author Mary Stevens
    Yikes! I am sure it changes by area but I have always thought adsense CPC would be a good start after all that's what they would pay if they ran ads.
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  • Profile picture of the author Bayo
    I work with Lawyers and have been working with the since 2009.

    In my experience there are a whole number of factors that come into play in respect of the costs a Lawyer is willing to pay.

    Also for consideration is whether you're working with individual Lawyers or a Law firm (big difference). Add to that the current level of success of the Lawyer or the Law firm i.e. are they just starting out and struggling or looking to expand their current reach and the location they're in or are trying to reach.

    So suffice to say, that 'cost' depends on a wide range of actors and your own ability to position your offering to the individual Lawyer/Attorney or the Law firm.

    Just my contribution based on working with Lawyers and Law firms in Illinois and Dallas.

    Bayo
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    • Profile picture of the author row01
      These numbers are misleading. I generate around 1k PI leads/mo via PPC and the top line price is between $30-50 as quoted. But once the attorneys are done with returns, we're closer to $25-30/lead. Net-of-return pricing is the true number to go by. Top line price is misleading.

      Attorneys are not sales people. And they can often only service a limited zip so don't get many leads in their target area. Small daily volume + emotions + a bad sales day = 100% returns. I wish there was a big attorney call center that understood close rate analysis over a portfolio of leads.
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  • Profile picture of the author ATAC
    Just a little word of warning to be very careful when dealing with lawyers and if your a newbie I would advise picking a different niche !
    It is way to easy for a lawyer to sue you if you make a mistake and do not word what you are doing for them correctly. If they do not feel like paying you they can find a loophole and sue you and get it for free while putting you out of business.

    Dentists and doctors pay just as good as lawyers .

    Best of luck
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  • Profile picture of the author rizy
    I'm sorry this must be a silly newbie question, but what exactly is a complete lead for a lawyer?

    Do they require just the phone number or do they require, Phone, Address, Email.

    Does a lead to a lawyer means that the customer simply calls the lawyer for more information, or does it mean that I have to arrange a full meet?

    To obtain leads can we advertise the prices or not?

    Here's the thing, I know I can get these leads, and I know I can sell these leads, but I don't know what is the right format.

    Rizzy
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    • Profile picture of the author Greg guitar
      Originally Posted by rizy View Post

      I'm sorry this must be a silly newbie question, but what exactly is a complete lead for a lawyer?

      Do they require just the phone number or do they require, Phone, Address, Email.

      Does a lead to a lawyer means that the customer simply calls the lawyer for more information, or does it mean that I have to arrange a full meet?

      Rizzy
      It would not be anything but a phone number from a potential client who had said they are looking for a [whatever type of professional you wish to generate leads for]. No address or additional info, or meeting; all they are paying for is to be the one returning the call, and remember that if you sell the leads as you should, to just a single client, so each lead isn't being fought over by multiple vendors who each paid for it (which is unethical and ought to be illegal imo), then you will stand above the dominant lead company, which does make their own clients compete with each other after several of them paid for the lead,
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  • Profile picture of the author jitendravaswani
    Amazing post
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  • Profile picture of the author fletchmonster
    Awesome, this all help set goal values in Analytics! Thanks man!
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  • Profile picture of the author Jordan786
    can anyone help ? i am looking for buyers of my legal leads (personal injury mainly)
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    • Profile picture of the author DABK
      Go to your local chamber of commerce. Look up attorneys in their directory. Call the ones you like... or arrange to meet them at some chamber event. Introduce yourself as someone who's looking to bounce an idea about leads for lawyers.

      Tell them you have some leads but don't know if lawyers would be interested, could they help you by telling you about what kind of people they're looking for, if they're looking (Not all lawyers want new clients). Don't sell them anything, learn.

      Originally Posted by Jordan786 View Post

      can anyone help ? i am looking for buyers of my legal leads (personal injury mainly)
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      • Profile picture of the author Jordan786
        Thank you for your reply.Sure will try this
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    • Profile picture of the author Myron12
      I am interested in buying Illinois Workers Comp or Personal Injury leads can you direct me to a seller?

      Brad
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      • Profile picture of the author ITRcertified
        My company developed a totally new 3-step process for the real estate industry that includes a legal action as the second step. It is a research/legal action/certification model. We are in the process of setting up attorneys in each state to handle our legal actions. They are not really leads - they are 100% qualified to initiate the legal case as our clients have already consented to proceed. Our actions are mostly administrative (not really requiring attorneys as a paralegal can do it easily with an attorney overseeing). They will also be uncontested with a huge opportunity for further legal action, just not through us.

        I'm sure there are not many (if any!) of this type of service around. There is absolutely no risk to the law firm. It is the truly the perfect advertising/marketing model.

        My question is this...
        Since there will not be any requirement of follow-up to "sell" the lead - thats already been done - what would be the going price for that kind of lead? I know it will be much higher that what's been discussed. We are looking at a subscription base model. This is NOT our business (generating leads for attorneys). It just happens to be a bi-product of what we do. Any ideas anyone?
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  • Profile picture of the author aduttonater
    I'd say that most people's mind is on their money and they want to get the most out of their efforts.

    I would only charge a weekly fee of $100, and accept 30% on landscaping jobs. This is before I started doing my own landscaping jobs.

    I wonder if accepting the percentage was against that law in my situation.
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    • no.

      your ok. it's a biz relationship with another biz. like that.

      attorneys have more legal entanglements
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  • Profile picture of the author AlphaWarrior
    It violates the Code Of Professional Responsibility for a lawyer to buy a lead. It is the same as paying "bird dogs" for personal injury cases. It is considered to be fee sharing and is not allowed. The lawyer could lose his/her law license.

    While the lawyer may get into trouble for buying a lead, it is not illegal for anyone to sell the lead to a lawyer. But I sure would not trust a lawyer who paid for a lead because a lawyer who pays for a lead either doesn't understand the Code Of Professional Responsibility (ie. doesn't know the law) or doesn't care (ie. probably also doesn't care about his/her clients).

    The above is just one reason it is hard to sell leads to lawyers. Ethical lawyers just do not buy them.
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  • Profile picture of the author powervisibility
    Hi,
    This is really interesting Post and really great Information of leads. I know another website Law Firm Marketing, Revenue & Profitability Consultants*|*Law Firm Marketing, Revenue & Profitability Solutions that give leads really like this for Law firm marketing.

    Thanks!
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  • Profile picture of the author duplesis12
    Hi,
    Welcome to this forum site, here you can find lots of things, i suggest for your question, you have to contact any other expert, right now i am not able to give your proper answer.

    Top Ten classified website
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  • Profile picture of the author Helpthisguy
    Hey guys,

    Im a lawyer looking for leads in Southern California. I practice personal injury law, generally car accidents and slip and falls. I treat my clients really well, I actually care about them and their respective cases. I help people recover from physical and mental trauma. My clients really appreciate the work I do for them.

    I dont do alot of marketing. I could really use some help getting leads. Any suggestions?
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    • Profile picture of the author DABK
      You make yourself a site like this one:
      chicagocaraccidentlawyerblog.com/
      or this one
      josephklest.com/car_accidents/ (adding this one so I don't look like I'm sponsoring(?) the other one; neither is mine, neither is flawless, but you ought to be able to get the idea).

      and rank it for keywords related to personal injury law + city you practice in.

      Or you create a meetup (at meetup.com) where you invite people to come learn about personal injury law issues... You host, you make the presentation. If you cover the right topics, you get people interested in hiring an attorney who know nothing about what kind of attorney they need, or an attorney. You might become it, if you make sense and seem friendly/reliable, etc.

      You network with insurance agents who do workers comp insurance.

      You write articles on personal injury law that you publish in your local papers.

      Convince a local labor union to allow you to sponsor one of their events?

      Find some event to sponsor that's attended by people who'd be interested in your services.

      Before you do any of that, think hard about who you want as client and how you're different from other attorneys who practice what you do. (Harder than your description suggests you did. You might have done it, and it's your description that's lacking.)


      Originally Posted by Helpthisguy View Post

      Hey guys,

      Im a lawyer looking for leads in Southern California. I practice personal injury law, generally car accidents and slip and falls. I treat my clients really well, I actually care about them and their respective cases. I help people recover from physical and mental trauma. My clients really appreciate the work I do for them.

      I dont do alot of marketing. I could really use some help getting leads. Any suggestions?
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  • Profile picture of the author Anne Saxton
    Banned
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  • Profile picture of the author bryson
    Hey David, I found your post when researching lead rates for lawyers.

    First, I wanted to say thank you for posting so long ago. Maybe the lead rates have increased since you posted?

    I am surprised at the rates when lawyers pay as much as $250 just for a click on Adwards for injury related keywords.

    At that click cost it could easily run to a $1,000 or more just to get a client.

    Compared to paying $50 for qualified calls. Even if you only convert 1 in 4 that is still a massive cost difference.
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    • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
      Originally Posted by bryson View Post

      Hey David, I found your post when researching lead rates for lawyers.

      First, I wanted to say thank you for posting so long ago. Maybe the lead rates have increased since you posted?

      I am surprised at the rates when lawyers pay as much as $250 just for a click on Adwards for injury related keywords.

      At that click cost it could easily run to a $1,000 or more just to get a client.

      Compared to paying $50 for qualified calls. Even if you only convert 1 in 4 that is still a massive cost difference.
      If you could pay $1,000 for a client (someone actively searching for a PI lawyer, in this case) and the contingency fee would put $10,000+ in your pocket, how many of those $1,000 clients would you buy?

      Another question that comes to mind...

      How can you be sure that those Adwords lawyers aren't also buying qualified calls? Or using other lead-generation techniques?

      Aside: it's rare to find someone bumping a thread this old by making an actual contribution rather than just spamming a link or posting spun drivel.
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      • Profile picture of the author Claude Whitacre
        Originally Posted by JohnMcCabe View Post

        If you could pay $1,000 for a client (someone actively searching for a PI lawyer, in this case) and the contingency fee would put $10,000+ in your pocket, how many of those $1,000 clients would you buy?

        Another question that comes to mind...

        How can you be sure that those Adwords lawyers aren't also buying qualified calls? Or using other lead-generation techniques?

        Aside: it's rare to find someone bumping a thread this old by making an actual contribution rather than just spamming a link or posting spun drivel.
        When I had an office and salespeople working for me, my cost of generating a qualified appointment was about $50. These people weren't even interested at all in what we sold. They were simply willing to listen to us, because we were delivering a gift to them.

        My gross profit was about $1,000 per sale.

        If Someone came to me and said "I can give you the names and phone numbers of people who are right now interested in buying what you sell", I would have willingly paid $100-$150 per lead...all day long.

        I have a friend that is in the water softener business and he was telling me that his leads from Homeadvisor.com were paying off 40 to one.

        Leads of people actually interested in what you sell? 20 years ago, that was a fantasy for most of us.
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    • Profile picture of the author DABK
      Know a guy who's willing to pay $500 for a new client.

      He has had people who came to him with 1 lead that bought, so he paid them $500.

      He has had people who came with 17/lead leads, of which none bought (though they were 'qualified' according to the lead seller).

      I know of an attorney who made $60k on a case... I am sure he had no problem paying for a few clicks to get that case.

      You gloss over important info... do not compare apples to apples. the $50/qualified leads are for what type of case (how much do they bring in)? If they bring in 6 times less than the 250/lead ones, it's a poor deal, no?


      Originally Posted by bryson View Post

      Hey David, I found your post when researching lead rates for lawyers.

      First, I wanted to say thank you for posting so long ago. Maybe the lead rates have increased since you posted?

      I am surprised at the rates when lawyers pay as much as $250 just for a click on Adwards for injury related keywords.

      At that click cost it could easily run to a $1,000 or more just to get a client.

      Compared to paying $50 for qualified calls. Even if you only convert 1 in 4 that is still a massive cost difference.
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  • Wow, old thread, must be ranking well in Google all of a sudden.

    I work in marketing for law firms and I can't really wrap my head around what OP posted. I work specifically in personal injury so I'll speak to that. (Note personal injury is the most expensive discipline in regards to leads, which is also interesting in the original post that he says medical malpractice leads sell for more than injury leads which just makes no sense as their are limits on what lawyers can make with med mal.)

    Lawyers get emails every day offering pay-for-lead services and those leads are usually $200-$500 and are qualified in the sense that the user was searching a website or Google for a lawyer within this area, but are not pre-screened or anything.

    Yeah, that is expensive and even from those leads the lawyers are only hoping to retain 5%-10%. So to acquire a client by buying leads they are looking to pay $2,000-$10,000 each.

    The thing with legal leads though is that they are easy to close, a lawyer could retain pretty much every lead they talked to. But they are only retaining 5%-10% because the leads themselves don't have a case that would be worth much money (if any).

    The upside is personal injury leads could be worth tens of thousands or millions of dollars. There are plenty of lawyers paying these outrageous prices because they are worth it.

    But this is the reality from where I sit. And if there was someone really selling leads for $50 that were actually real leads they could unload these leads faster than tickets to a Drake concert.

    That said, the law firms with real budgets aren't buying these leads anyways. They have their own marketing departments and are generating them themselves with simple PPC campaigns.
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    • Profile picture of the author Jgregory
      Originally Posted by POLawyerMarketing View Post

      That said, the law firms with real budgets aren't buying these leads anyways. They have their own marketing departments and are generating them themselves with simple PPC campaigns.
      Thanks for posting something helpful and authentic
      The first time I've visited WF in a long time, I'm still on a notify list for this very old thread.

      I'm an independent lead generator and consultant. Been back and forth with legal leads over the years. As you correctly pointed out, the really big firms have internal marketing teams, and when I worked downstream with small firms and partners, they wanted to micro-manage campaigns, the issue being there is only so much pre-screening you can do with most legal prospects online. People are click-happy on the internet, and these days have the attention span of a gnat

      So, the smaller firms are slackers about investing their time with phone interviews with pre-screened leads.

      If any one else is around to revive this discussion, is anybody doing DUI leads? Looking at that again after a long hiatus. Let's start a discussion around DUI.

      The bulls-eye keywords available in Adwords, or even Bing, are so high now... in metro areas, there's a constant rotation of firms churning ads then flaming out, only to see another one coming in to fight for the top 4 slots.
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  • Profile picture of the author Michael Nguyen
    In the UK, I'm getting leads to my clients website at approx 20% conversion rate. Ie 1 call in 5 clicks. About $50 per lead. Like clock work since May last year.
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    • Profile picture of the author Jgregory
      Originally Posted by Michael Nguyen View Post

      In the UK, I'm getting leads to my clients website at approx 20% conversion rate. Ie 1 call in 5 clicks. About $50 per lead. Like clock work since May last year.
      Hi Michael, that's a very good conversion rate for legal leads. What the main driver on the campaigns?

      And with that low cost per lead, I've got to ask what media channel you are advertising on. Over here in the USA, legal keywords on Adwords have gone through the roof in larger metro areas. DUI Attorney CITY can be 50 bucks a pop per click.

      Regards,
      Jan Gregory
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      • Profile picture of the author Michael Nguyen
        Originally Posted by Jgregory View Post

        Hi Michael, that's a very good conversion rate for legal leads. What the main driver on the campaigns?

        And with that low cost per lead, I've got to ask what media channel you are advertising on. Over here in the USA, legal keywords on Adwords have gone through the roof in larger metro areas. DUI Attorney CITY can be 50 bucks a pop per click.

        Regards,
        Jan Gregory
        Hi

        We use

        litigation lawyers +Location
        property lawers + Location
        Or just centre the ad around that location.

        Pure Adwords.

        We currently get the best cpl on mobile ads, desktop not so well in the UK. Use call extensions.

        $50 is all relative. Think of it like this, if someone is willing to pay $50, they have a cash cow. Be brave and test enough to get the data.
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        • Profile picture of the author Jgregory
          Originally Posted by Michael Nguyen View Post

          Hi
          litigation lawyers +Location
          property lawers + Location
          I see. 'litigation', 'property' keywords are a bit downstream from top competitive niches for legal.

          I mentioned DUI Attorney, which are right up there with personal injury keywords. Both of these in US metro areas with 5 to 1 conversion would make a cpl $250 to $450.

          However, you do make a good point. I should be looking downstream for other clients with less competitive keywords.

          It is relative, of course... down to final ROI for the legal client. However, there are so many lawyers here, a constant supply of new players willing to throw in high dollars at high dollar niches for a few weeks, that it keeps the game tilted in Googles favor
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