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Cost Per Lead Is a Lie. Track Cost Per Booked Job.
Cost per lead is a comfortable number because it ignores whether the lead ever became money. Cost per booked job is the honest one: what you spent, divided by jobs you actually won. One is marketing theater. The other is your P&L.
The short answer
Cost per lead is a comfortable number because it ignores whether the lead ever became money. Cost per booked job is the honest one: what you spent, divided by jobs you actually won. One is marketing theater. The other is your P&L.
The math that flips it
Take a '$35 lead.' On a shared source you might close one in twelve. That's a few hundred dollars per booked job — and suddenly a '$90 exclusive lead' you close one in three looks cheap. Same trade, opposite conclusion, and you only see it if you're measuring the right number.
How to actually track it
It's not complicated: each month, per lead source, divide what you spent by the jobs you booked from it. Now you can compare Angi to Google to referrals on equal footing. Kill the losers, feed the winners, and stop letting a low cost-per-lead flatter a bad channel.
Watch the full breakdown
Marshall and Ray went deep on this in Cost Per Lead vs Cost Per Booked Job on Get Booked, Not F***ed — same math, more cussing. Watch or listen to the full episode here.
Frequently asked questions
What's the difference between cost per lead and cost per booked job?
Cost per lead is what you pay for an inquiry. Cost per booked job is your total spend divided by jobs actually won — it includes your close rate, so it reflects real cost.
How do I calculate cost per booked job?
For each lead source, divide the money you spent by the number of jobs you booked from it over the same period. Do it monthly.
Why do lead sellers push cost per lead?
Because it looks cheap and hides the close rate. A low cost per lead can still mean a high cost per booked job on a shared, low-converting source.