12 Questions to Ask a Legal Lead Generation Company Before You Buy

Every legal lead vendor sounds identical on the sales call: exclusive leads, real-time delivery, high intent. The only way to tell them apart before spending money is asking questions the marketing page does not answer, and requiring the answers in writing.

Here are the twelve we would ask in your position. Yes, Immileads is a lead vendor, so we have answered each one for ourselves below the list. Hold every vendor, including us, to all twelve.

Exclusivity and sourcing

1. Is each lead sold to exactly one firm, and how is that enforced?

"Exclusive" is a claim; enforcement is a mechanism. Ask what physically prevents the same prospect from being sold twice, especially when the vendor runs multiple websites or brands. A real answer names a system (cross-funnel duplicate detection, a shared suppression database). A weak answer restates the policy. The difference is covered in exclusive vs shared leads.

2. Where do the leads come from?

You want named channels (paid search, social, specific websites) and ideally the actual pages a prospect fills out. A vendor that will not show its funnels may be buying and reselling third-party data, which is where fake and recycled leads enter the supply chain.

3. What questions does a prospect answer before becoming a lead?

The screening form is the product. If prospects only leave a name and phone number, your intake team is doing the qualification you thought you were paying for.

Compliance

4. Do you keep TCPA consent records for every lead, and do I get a copy?

If your firm calls or texts leads, the consent trail protects you, not just the vendor. Per-lead consent documentation with timestamp and source page is the standard to ask for. Details in our TCPA compliance guide.

5. Are leads scrubbed against Do-Not-Call lists before delivery?

The answer should be yes, with a description of when and how. A vendor that treats DNC as your problem is pricing in risk it is transferring to you.

Pricing and terms

6. What is the exact price per lead, in writing, before the first delivery?

Quote-based pricing is common and not automatically bad, but the number must land in writing before leads ship, along with what happens to it over time. Benchmarks by case type are in how much lawyers pay for leads.

7. Is there a contract, a minimum term, or a minimum volume?

Month-to-month with a modest test batch is the buyer-friendly standard. Long-term commitments before any test transfer all the risk to you.

8. What exactly triggers a free replacement, and what does not?

Every vendor has a replacement policy; the differences hide in the definitions. Wrong number, wrong case type, unresponsive prospect, outside your jurisdiction: which of these qualify, within what window, decided by whom? We break down the patterns in lead replacement policies.

Delivery and fit

9. How are leads delivered, and how fast?

The right answer is directly into your CRM via API, within seconds or minutes, with the qualification data attached. Email-only delivery adds the manual step that kills speed to lead. The mechanics are in how leads reach your CRM.

10. Can I define which leads I will and will not accept?

Case types, jurisdictions, languages, timelines. A vendor without a written targeting profile per client is selling you its inventory, not your criteria.

11. What volume can you actually deliver for my profile, at what quality?

Tight criteria mean lower volume; a vendor promising unlimited volume against a narrow profile is planning to loosen your criteria quietly. Honest volume math is in how many leads should a firm buy.

12. Who else in my market are you selling to right now?

Even with exclusive leads, a vendor serving four firms in your city divides its inventory four ways. You may not get names, but you should get a straight answer about competition for your segments.

Our own answers, briefly

In the interest of being held to our own checklist: every Immileads lead is sold to exactly one firm and never resold, enforced by duplicate detection across our entire brand network of segment-specific immigration sites. Prospects answer visa-type screening questions before becoming leads. Consent records and DNC scrubbing are built into qualification.

Pricing is fixed in writing per your Custom Lead Profile before the first batch (tier-1 averages USD 45-150 by segment, specialized categories up to around 250), with no retainer and no long-term contract. Replacement terms: 24-hour rejection on false contact information, free replacement on profile mismatch. Delivery is into any CRM with an API within 60 seconds, and firms start with a 30-100 lead test batch.

If those answers hold up against the other vendors you are vetting, get started.

FAQ

What is the most important question to ask a lead vendor?

How is exclusivity enforced, mechanically? Almost every vendor says exclusive; very few can describe the system that prevents the same prospect being sold twice, across every brand and funnel the vendor operates. If the answer is a policy statement rather than a mechanism, price the leads as shared, because functionally they might be. The second most important question is whether TCPA consent records exist per lead and whether you get a copy.

What answers should disqualify a lead vendor?

Refusing to put the per-lead price, replacement terms, or exclusivity in writing; being unable to show what qualification questions a prospect answered; having no per-lead consent records; and requiring a long-term contract before any test batch. None of these are quality signals you can compensate for later. A vendor confident in its leads has no reason to hide the terms that describe them.

Should a firm test a lead vendor before committing?

Yes, and any vendor that resists a paid test is telling you something. A meaningful test is 30-100 leads worked with fast, consistent follow-up, tracked in your CRM by contact rate, qualification rate, and cost per signed case. Smaller samples produce noise, and slow follow-up invalidates the test regardless of lead quality.