To know which seller lead source produces contracts, tag every lead with its source when it arrives, follow each month's leads forward until they sign or drop out, and divide what you spent on that source by the contracts those same leads produced. Compare sources on cost per contract and cost per closed deal, not cost per lead.
Two mistakes undermine this: untagged leads, and dividing this month's contracts by this month's leads. Both are fixable.
Why cost per lead misleads
A $40 lead that never answers the phone can cost more than a $250 lead that books. Lead sources also define "lead" differently: one vendor counts a form fill, another counts a verified conversation. Cost per lead often tells you more about how a vendor counts than about what you get.
Cost per contract cuts through that, as long as each contract is tied back to where the seller first came from.
Step 1: Tag the source at the door
Every seller lead needs a source value when it is created, not one added later from memory.
| Channel | How to tag it |
|---|---|
| Direct mail | A different phone number per campaign or list; ask "what did you receive?" on the call |
| Paid search | A tracking number on the landing page; form fields that capture the campaign from the link |
| Social ads | Lead form source plus campaign name |
| Pay-per-lead vendors | A separate intake path per vendor |
| SEO and website | Form source set to website, plus the page they came from |
| Referrals | Ask, and record who referred them |
| Unknown | Use an "unknown" value; never guess |
Rules: one source per lead (the first one that brought them in), keep "unknown" as its own bucket, and do not overwrite the original source when the same seller calls again from a different ad. Our guide to duplicate seller leads covers keeping that history intact.
Step 2: Follow each month's leads forward
Seller deals take time. If you divide October's contracts by October's leads, you are mostly measuring leads from earlier months.
Instead, take every lead created in a month (a cohort) and track it forward:
Scroll sideways to compare all columns.| Lead month | Source | Leads | Two-way conversations | Verified appointments | Contracts | Closed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 2026 | Paid search | |||||
| Aug 2026 | Direct mail | |||||
| Aug 2026 | Pay-per-lead vendor A |
Fill it in again every month. The August row keeps changing for months as late deals sign.
Step 3: Put spend next to each cohort
Cost per contract for a source and month equals the spend on that source that month divided by the contracts from that month's leads from that source.
Include what is actually attributable to the source: ad spend, mail printing and postage, and vendor fees. Track your team's time and software separately, and add them for a fully loaded number.
Book a lead-source walkthrough to plan source tagging for your markets.
A worked example
These are fictional numbers for explaining the calculation. They are not GetsYou customer results, industry averages, or a forecast.
Scroll sideways to compare all columns.| August cohort | Spend | Leads | Contracts (as of Nov 1) | Cost per lead | Cost per contract |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paid search | $9,000 | 45 | 3 | $200 | $3,000 |
| Direct mail | $12,000 | 150 | 2 | $80 | $6,000 |
| Pay-per-lead vendor A | $4,800 | 60 | 1 | $80 | $4,800 |
| Unknown | n/a | 20 | 1 | n/a | n/a |
On cost per lead, mail and the vendor look cheaper. On cost per contract, paid search is cheapest so far. Two cautions before cutting anything: these are small counts, so one more contract changes the picture, and the August cohort is not finished. Decide on two or three cohorts, not one.
Also look at the "unknown" row. Here, one of seven contracts cannot be traced to a source. Fixing tagging may be worth more than the next channel test.
Step 4: Find where each source leaks
When a source looks expensive, check where its leads stop:
- •Few conversations? Response speed or bad contact data. Our direct mail and paid search call workflow covers that first response.
- •Conversations but few appointments? Qualification fit or follow-up. The cost per qualified seller appointment worksheet measures this stage.
- •Appointments but few contracts? The offer or the acquisitions conversation.
The same source can look bad because your team is slow on it, not because the leads are bad.
Running more than one market
Keep a market field on every lead and run the table per market. A source that works in one market can lose money in a smaller market with fewer sellers and more competition. Do not let a strong market hide a weak one in a blended average.
Where GetsYou fits
GetsYou keeps the lead source on the contact record alongside calls, texts, appointments, and pipeline stages, so the cohort table can come from one place instead of several spreadsheets. Attribution reporting shows lead-source and campaign funnel totals; campaign, ad-set, and ad detail depend on your plan, and spend can come from a connected account or be entered by your team. Appointments advance only after the calendar confirms the booking exists, which keeps the appointment column honest.
The capability catalog lists what each plan includes. You can run this method in any CRM. What matters is tagging at the door and following cohorts forward.
Book your lead-source walkthrough. Bring last quarter's spend by source and we will sketch the first cohort table with you.
Written by GetsYou. GetsYou sells the software described here. Reviewed November 3, 2026.
Investor operator brief
Get the operator brief
Practical notes on lead conversations, follow-up, and the work AI can support.
Protected form. For security and fraud prevention, your IP address, device, and network details are logged and monitored.