Qualified Window Leads: Math, Criteria and Follow-Up

Here is one way a window company ends up giving up on bought leads. The price per lead looked fine, the calendar filled with visits, and the sold jobs did not follow. The leads may not have been the whole problem. Three numbers were never tracked: how many leads get answered, how many turn into a visit, and how many visits turn into a contract.

Price per lead is the wrong number to compare

Two lead sources can both charge a price you can live with and produce very different results. One sends homeowners who want two windows repaired. The other sends homeowners who want most of the house replaced. You pay the same invoice for both, but only the second is likely to pay for the truck, the rep's evening and the measure.

So compare sources on the number that runs your business: cost per sold job.

The formula: from price per lead to cost per sold job

Start with how many leads it takes your team to sell one job:

Leads per sold job = 1 divided by (contact rate x appointment rate x close rate)

• Contact rate: the share of leads your team actually reaches.
• Appointment rate: the share of reached homeowners who book an in-home visit.
• Close rate: the share of visits that turn into a signed contract.

Then:

Cost per sold job = price per lead x leads per sold job

And the ceiling you should never go above:

Maximum price per lead = marketing allowance per sold job divided by leads per sold job

Your marketing allowance per sold job is your average job value x your gross margin x the share of gross profit you will spend on marketing. Only your own books can supply those three numbers.

Here is a worked example. The rates are placeholders to show the arithmetic, not market data, so put your own in before you draw a conclusion.

At about 11 leads per sold job, your ceiling per lead is your marketing allowance per sold job divided by 11. Now change a single input. If better follow-up moves the close rate from 30 to 35 percent, leads per sold job drops to about 9.5, and the same allowance supports a ceiling about 17 percent higher. That happens without negotiating anything. Follow-up is one of the few inputs your team fully controls, which is why much of the rest of this article is about it.

The job value line is also where window count comes in. Your average job value is roughly the number of openings times your average price per installed opening. A lead source that sends smaller projects lowers your allowance per sold job, and the ceiling drops with it. For the same arithmetic across trades, see how much contractors should pay for qualified leads.

The criteria that protect a window company's margin

A lead only counts when it meets the criteria in your order. For a window replacement company, four usually do most of the work, and you choose which apply.

Replacement, not repair

A repair inquiry reaching a replacement company costs you a call, and sometimes a drive as well. The answer belongs before the lead is sent, not on the phone afterwards.

Five or more windows

The question "fewer than five, or five or more" separates small jobs from multi-window projects. It can't tell a six-window job from a twenty-window job. That still takes your first call. Check that a five-window job clears what a visit actually costs you in rep time and travel.

Ownership or authority

Renters can't authorize a replacement. An ownership question before the lead is sent keeps those conversations off your team's calendar. A property manager acting with the owner's authority can make the decision.

Service area the way you dispatch

Use ZIP codes or counties that match where your install crews actually go, not a radius that looks tidy on a map and includes a bridge nobody wants to cross at 5 pm.

What a lead record will not tell you

Even a well screened lead leaves questions for the first call: frame material, any HOA rules, whether a second decision maker is involved, what prompted the project (drafts, noise, condensation, a planned sale) and when they want it done. Build these into the call script so every rep asks them the same way.

Home Lead Supply window leads are screened to the criteria in your order, such as replacement only, a minimum window count and your service area, on top of a base standard that applies to every lead: the homeowner or an authorized decision-maker, valid contact details with consent, and no duplicate within 60 days. Before a lead is sent, the homeowner tells us the ZIP code, whether they own the home, whether it is a replacement or a repair, and how many windows the project covers. Each lead is exclusive: sent to you only. If a lead misses your criteria, it does not count toward your order, and another qualified lead takes its place. The window leads page shows what is screened.

Speed to lead: the first call

A homeowner who asked for a window quote is thinking about windows now. Follow up promptly, while the project is still on their mind.

1. 1.Give every lead a named owner. One person, notified by SMS or your CRM, not a shared inbox that everyone assumes someone else is watching.
2. 2.Call as soon as you can during business hours. Leads that arrive after hours get called first thing the next morning, before anything else.
3. 3.Try again, then text. A second call shortly after the first, then a short text that names the project and your company.
4. 4.Open with what they told you. "You asked about replacing five or more windows at your home in 91604" sounds like a company that was expecting the request.
5. 5.Book the visit on that call. Offer two specific times. Ask who else should be there.
6. 6.Confirm by text with the rep's name and the arrival window.
7. 7.Log the outcome against the source so the contact, appointment and close rates in the formula are real numbers, not guesses.

What can help close rate on window jobs

• Every decision maker at the visit. A quote given to one spouse can end up waiting for the other.
• Measure every opening. A number built from their own house is easier to trust than one given over the phone.
• Options, not a single price. Two or three product levels let the homeowner choose instead of just saying no.
• A clear follow-up plan after the quote. Decide when the rep calls back and what they bring, such as an install date or an answer to the question the homeowner raised.
• A visible install timeline. "When can you do it?" can be the last question before a decision. Know the answer before you walk in.

The sales process from lead to signed contract

When buying window leads makes sense, and when it does not

It makes sense when your reps have open visit slots, your install calendar has room in the coming weeks, you know your close rate and someone owns the first call. It also makes sense when you want more jobs in a specific service area without running your own ads.

It doesn't make sense when your crews are booked out for months, because quoted jobs can go cold while they wait for a date. It doesn't make sense when nobody can call promptly. It doesn't make sense if you only want very large projects and have no way to filter on the first call. And it doesn't make sense if you expect a supplier to deliver signed jobs. That part depends on your sales process, not on the lead.

An order is a set number of leads at a price per lead fixed for that order. Size your first order to what your team can call quickly and visit well, not to the largest number on offer. When the order is done, review how the leads performed and agree any changes before the next one. If you are still building your lead mix, how window companies generate replacement window leads covers the other sources worth running next to purchased leads.

For what the rest of the market charges, published price lists put a multi-window installation lead at $61 to $77 as a shared lead and $128 to $141 as an exclusive one. The full table by trade, with its sources and read date, is in how much contractors should pay for qualified leads.

If the math works with your own numbers, tell us your service area and the jobs you want. Check Window Lead Availability