Avoiding Disaster: 32 Questions You Must Ask A Potential Lead Gen Partner

Choosing the right lead generation partner can make or break your business’s growth trajectory.

This comprehensive guide organises the critical questions you need to ask a potential lead gen partner into logical clusters, helping you evaluate potential partners systematically and thoroughly.

Company Foundation & Structure

Understanding the fundamentals of your potential partner’s business is crucial. These questions help you assess their stability, capacity, and track record.

1. How Long Has Your Company Been Around For?

Why It’s Important:

Here’s the brutal truth – there’s practically zero barrier to entry in this industry. Anyone can wake up tomorrow, hang out their shingle, and declare themselves a “lead generation expert.” 

Unfortunately, this means our industry is rife with charlatans and fly-by-nighters trying to make a quick buck. You need to know if your potential partner actually understands lead generation in your industry and ideally for your product type in your coverage area.

LeadsHQ Answer: 

Our parent company, Axis Social, has been around for a decade, working with dozens of solar companies throughout that time. 

LeadsHQ specifically began offering third-party leads in June 2022, and we’ve expanded from residential solar to now offering a comprehensive suite including commercial solar, residential heat pumps, HVAC, and energy plan comparison leads.

2. What’s the Team Structure at Your Company?

Why It’s Important: 

Successful lead generation is a challenging business – you need to know what kind of infrastructure your potential partner has in place. 

Is it a one-man band? Are they supported by employees or contractors? Do they outsource domestically or internationally? 

None of these answers are inherently good or bad, but you need to understand exactly who you’re partnering with.

LeadsHQ Answer:

We have a full team of digital marketers working under our two business owners, Matt and Dan.

We’re supported by campaign managers, project managers, and design team members – each role is essential for generating high-quality leads at scale.

3. What Scale Are You Operating At?

Why It’s Important: 

This question has two crucial elements. 

First, you need to know if this has the potential to be a long-term relationship. Companies that have been around a while and operate at scale have a better chance of being a lasting solution for your lead needs. Unfortunately, lead generation companies come and go far too regularly, leaving you high and dry without a lead source. 

Second, you need to know if they can actually fulfill your lead needs.

LeadsHQ Answer: 

While we don’t disclose specific information about our clients and their lead volumes (for obvious reasons), we can confidently say that we generate more than ten thousand leads per month for dozens of clients across Australia.

4. Can You Provide Any Client References?

Why It’s Important: 

This is a fantastic question to separate the wheat from the chaff. 

If a company can’t provide even a single reference from a happy client willing to speak with you, that’s a massive red flag. 

Now, I understand this can be tricky – many companies consider their lead generation partner part of their “secret sauce.” But still, there should be at least some clients willing to vouch for them.

LeadsHQ Answer: 

We’re fortunate to have a range of happy, long-term clients who are willing to speak with prospects. We can connect you with them to hear their first-hand experience working with us.

5. What’s the Average Tenure of Your Client Relationships?

Why It’s Important:

This question can tell you volumes – not just from the answer, but from how they answer it. If they don’t track this metric or aren’t confident sharing it, that tells you something. 

The length of client relationships speaks directly to lead quality and service satisfaction.

LeadsHQ Answer: 

We maintain very long client tenures at LeadsHQ. 

Many of our clients have been with us since we started in June/July 2022. While some clients have bought single bundles and moved on, our average tenure is over a year. 

When we’re the right fit for a client, they tend to stick around for a long time.

Lead Generation Methodology

These questions help you understand how your partner actually generates leads and their approach to innovation and improvement.

6. How Do You Generate Leads?

Why It’s Important: 

Not all leads are created equal – and neither are their sources. 

The way leads are generated drastically changes both the cost to generate them and the quality you’ll see on the backend. We’re talking about everything from advertising and telemarketing to cold outreach and co-registration (that’s when a lead inquires about one thing and gets followed up for something else).

The source of your leads will make or break your conversion metrics.

LeadsHQ Answer: 

We generate leads through paid digital advertising, plain and simple. 

We’re talking Facebook, Google, and YouTube – platforms where we can generate warm, inbound leads that are qualified and SMS verified. 

No shortcuts, no grey areas.

7. What Platforms Do You Use to Generate Leads, and What’s the Split Between Platforms?

Why It’s Important: 

It’s not enough to just know how leads could potentially be generated – you need to understand the actual mix. 

Is it 50-50 between Google and Facebook? Or is it 75% telemarketing, 10% Google, and 15% Facebook? The platform mix can tell you a lot about lead quality and sustainability.

LeadsHQ Answer: 

Our lead mix is straightforward: predominantly Google, with Meta (Facebook & Instagram) as our second most dominant source. 

We also use supplementary digital platforms like Bing ads, Microsoft ads, TikTok ads, and Programmatic ads, making up a smaller percentage.

8. How Do You Capture Lead Information?

Why It’s Important: 

The way you capture lead information isn’t just some minor detail – it will make or break your lead quality and conversion rates. 

Let me give you a real example: Facebook lead forms, which auto-complete all the user’s information, will give you a lower cost per lead but significantly lower quality. Same goes for things like chatbots or automated messenger ads. 

You absolutely need to know how your lead gen partner is getting hold of people’s information before it ends up in your hands.

LeadsHQ Answer: 

We generate leads through our websites where leads complete a multi-step qualifying and verifying form. 

But here’s the crucial part – all our leads are SMS verified. 

What does that mean? When someone’s on our website, they have to enter a six-digit code that we send to their mobile phone. No verification, no lead – it’s that simple.

9. Can You Describe the User Journey?

Why It’s Important: 

First off, if your potential partner struggles to describe this pathway or gets awkward about it – massive red flag.

Here’s what I often see with our competitors: they generate leads under the guise of “instantly see if you qualify!” The user fills out a form, excited to get an answer, and what do they get? A generic “thanks for your information, we’ll be in touch” page.

Can you imagine how frustrated that lead is going to be when you call them?

LeadsHQ Answer: 

We can map out our user journey clearly: A user clicks on our paid ad (be it Google, Facebook, whatever), lands on our website, and completes our multi-step qualifying and verifying form. 

But here’s where we’re different – on the thank you page, they get actual, specific information. If it’s solar, they learn about their clean energy regulator zone and what rebates they might get for different installation sizes. 

If it’s HVAC, they get details based on their heating and cooling type and home size. 

For heat pumps, same deal – everything is personalised to them.

No more frustrated, uneducated leads.

10. What’s Your Process for Testing New Lead Sources or Strategies?

Why It’s Important: 

New lead sources can be hit or miss. 

You need to understand how your partner tests and validates new channels to ensure you’re not being used as a guinea pig for unproven strategies.

LeadsHQ Answer: 

We have a defined testing process that minimises risk while maximising learning:

• New lead sources are tested at low volumes nationally rather than locally
• This allows us to gather data across a wide range of buyers and scenarios
• For example, when testing a new platform like TikTok, we roll it out nationally and collect comprehensive feedback on contact, appointment, and close rates across all clients
• This approach prevents any single group of lead buyers from being overexposed to a new, unproven source

11. What’s Your Innovation Strategy?

Why It’s Important: 

The digital marketing landscape evolves rapidly. You need a partner who’s constantly looking to improve and adapt, not one who’s stuck in their ways.

LeadsHQ Answer: 

Innovation is a core component of our success in lead generation. We have a structured methodology that includes:

• Progressive testing of new advertising platforms
• Systematic evaluation of different campaign types within platforms
• Regular testing of campaign-specific offers
• Ongoing refinement of target audiences
• Continuous creative testing and optimisation
• Regular conversion rate optimisation and landing page testing

All these tests are conducted methodically to ensure no industry, region, or buyer is overexposed to experimental approaches.

Quality & Compliance

These questions focus on how your potential partner maintains lead quality and ensures legal compliance – crucial factors in today’s regulatory environment.

12. What Qualification Is Applied to the Leads?

Why It’s Important: 

You need to know what makes a lead “qualified” in their eyes. 

Does every enquiry that comes through get passed off as qualified? Are there any filters in place? Is there basic criteria that needs to be met before it lands in your lap? 

These aren’t just details – they’re the difference between quality leads and a waste of your time.

LeadsHQ Answer: 

We’ve got a wide variety of qualification criteria that we use according to industry. 

For example, we often require proof of homeownership, minimum energy bill sizes, and specific home types. 

The exact criteria varies by industry and lead type, but rest assured – we’re not just passing along every enquiry that comes our way.

13. How Do You Handle Consent for Contact?

Why It’s Important: 

Lead consent for contact in Australia is becoming a bigger issue by the day, across all states and territories. Unfortunately, we’re still seeing many lead generation companies falling short of their legal consent requirements.

And here’s the kicker – if your potential lead gen partner can’t explain how they handle consent and how a lead provides consent for you to contact them, you could be legally liable. 

This isn’t just about checking a box – it’s about protecting your business.

LeadsHQ Answer: 

Every single lead provides consent to be contacted by one of our buyers at the point of enquiry. If they don’t wish to provide that express consent for contact, they simply can’t proceed with the enquiry. 

We back this up with ActiveProspect’s TrustedForm – each lead comes with a certificate proving consent that you can show to anyone who questions it.

14. How Do You Handle Compliance?

Why It’s Important: 

Similar to consent for contact, compliance is an ever-increasing issue. 

If the company you’re thinking about partnering with doesn’t have a clear answer about compliance, that should set off alarm bells. 

Remember – as a lead buyer, it’s YOUR responsibility to ensure any leads you purchase were obtained legally according to Australian law.

LeadsHQ Answer: 

We provide compliance certificates with every lead we generate. 

We also have a documented compliance and consent policy that you can review anytime you want. No mysteries, no grey areas.

15. What’s Your Data Retention Policy?

Why It’s Important: 

In today’s privacy-conscious environment, understanding how long a lead generation partner keeps data and how they manage it is crucial for compliance and risk management.

LeadsHQ Answer: 

We use a secure database system, which maintains robust security standards including SOC 2 Type II certification and encryption at rest and in transit. 

We implement two-factor authentication for all access. 

Our data retention policy is straightforward – leads are stored for a period of six months before being deleted.

16. Can I See the Ads or Messaging You Use?

Why It’s Important:

If you ask a potential lead generation partner to show you their advertising and they say no? Run away, don’t walk. 

It’s highly likely they’re generating leads using ads that are at best exaggerated half-truths and at worst complete lies. 

If you’ve ever purchased leads where people thought they were getting something for free, had unrealistic expectations about rebates, or just seemed completely disconnected from reality – guess what? 

Those misleading ads are probably the culprit.

LeadsHQ Answer: 

We’re an open book. 

We provide all clients with links to view our active campaigns at any time. Nothing to hide here – transparency is key to our partnership.

Operational Specifics

These questions dive into the day-to-day details of how your lead generation partner operates and manages lead distribution.

17. Do You Offer Shared Leads or Exclusive Leads?

Why It’s Important: 

You need to understand your partner’s business model inside and out. 

Here’s a potential red flag: if they offer both shared AND exclusive leads, you’ve got to wonder – how do they decide which leads go where? 

This blended practice can be concerning because you might not always get the exclusivity you’re paying for. 

LeadsHQ Answer: 

We only generate exclusive leads. Period. 

We never share leads because we understand that a competitive lead environment will significantly reduce your conversion rates. 

When you buy from us, that lead is yours and yours alone.

18. Do You Have Other Clients in My Region?

Why It’s Important: 

You need to understand the local environment you’re operating in. 

Interestingly, it’s not always bad if a company has other clients in your region – in fact, it can be a red flag if they have no clients in your area at all. 

But you need transparency around this. You deserve to know how many other clients are receiving leads in your coverage area.

LeadsHQ Answer: 

We’re completely transparent about this, though for obvious reasons, we won’t give specifics about companies and their volumes unless they’ve given us permission. 

Generally, we work with a smaller number of clients at higher volumes in each region – it’s not uncommon for us to have just two or three clients in a major metro center.

19. How Are the Leads Distributed?

Why It’s Important: 

This is about more than just getting a spreadsheet emailed to you once a day. 

Does the company have the technological capability to deliver leads the way you need them? Can they send real-time SMS notifications? 

More importantly, can they integrate directly with your CRM so your sales team can follow up as quickly and effectively as possible? 

Your speed-to-lead time could depend on this.

LeadsHQ Answer: 

We distribute leads via email, SMS, Google Sheet, and CRM in real time. 

We can integrate with hundreds of CRMs – as long as they have a well-documented API, we can handle those integrations for you. 

This ensures leads are in your sales team’s hands as quickly and effectively as possible.

20. Do You Sell Aged Data?

Why It’s Important: 

Now, some companies buy aged data and work it like they’re mining for gold. 

But here’s the thing – if a company tells you “Sure, we can sell you 90-day-old leads, or 30-day-old leads, or whatever,” that should raise a small alarm. 

Why? 

Because it probably means any “fresh” leads you buy from them are likely to be resold down the track. 

Think about it – if they’re selling 7-day-old leads to others, what happens to your “exclusive” leads after a week?

LeadsHQ Answer: 

We do not sell aged data. 

We don’t sell warehouse spreadsheets of leads. 

When you buy a lead from us, that information will never be sold again to a competitor of yours. Not in 7 days, not in 70 days, not ever.

21. How Do You Handle Seasonal Fluctuations?

Why It’s Important: 

Lead volumes and pricing can vary significantly throughout the year. You need to know how your partner manages these fluctuations to ensure consistent lead flow for your business.

LeadsHQ Answer:

Based on our evaluation of seasonal lead patterns over several years, we’ve developed a proactive approach to managing fluctuations. 

We conduct weekly evaluations of lead volumes and pricing across all regions to address any seasonal changes. 

This regular monitoring ensures we can anticipate and adjust for periods where lead volumes might be lower or prices higher.

Performance & Expectations

These questions help you understand what success looks like and whether your business is a good fit for their lead generation model.

22. What Are the Typical Performance Metrics of Your Leads?

Why It’s Important: 

You need to understand what other similar companies in your industry are achieving with these leads. However – and this is a big caveat – lead performance heavily depends on your business specifics. Any company that throws out performance metrics without first understanding your sales team structure, lead management process, pricing strategy, and previous lead performance is waving a red flag.

LeadsHQ Answer: 

We have extensive performance data across all our lead types and industries. 

During our consulting process, we first work to understand your business, how you manage leads, and how you sell. Only then do we provide realistic expectations of how our leads should perform in your hands.

23. What Would a Successful Client Relationship Look Like?

Why It’s Important: 

This simple question is incredibly powerful. 

If a potential partner can’t paint a picture of what success looks like at 30, 60, and 90 days – in terms of appointments, sales, revenue, profit, and ROI – then you should be concerned. 

You need someone who can set realistic expectations based on real experience.

LeadsHQ Answer: 

We aim to give as specific a vision of success as possible, but importantly, we never over-exaggerate. 

Our consulting process is designed to set realistic expectations about what it’s like working with these leads – we’re not here to force prospects into becoming clients.

24. What Aspects of My Business Give You Confidence We’ll Be Successful?

Why It’s Important: 

Good lead generation partners won’t just take anyone’s money – they should be able to identify specific aspects of your business that align with their successful clients. This question reveals what kind of businesses typically succeed with their leads. Do they work better with big companies or small ones? What structures, pricing, and coverage areas tend to perform best?

LeadsHQ Answer: 

LeadsHQ evaluates your business based on sales team structure, lead management processes, and business model alignment. 

We’ll confidently identify the aspects of your business that give us confidence of your relative success.

25. What Aspects of My Business Give You Concerns?

Why It’s Important: 

This is the inverse of the previous question, and it’s crucial. 

You want a partner who can be brutally honest about potential red flags. If they say they have zero concerns – that might actually be a red flag itself. No business is perfect, and a good partner should be able to point out potential challenges.

LeadsHQ Answer: 

LeadsHQ will directly discuss any elements that might concerns us about working with you and your company. 

This could be the existence of absence of sales team infrastructure, product and pricing methodologies, proven documented sales processes, installation infrastructure, and many more.

26. What Do You Need to Know About My Business?

Why It’s Important: 

Here’s a pro tip – if you get to the end of a consultation and your potential partner hasn’t asked much about your business, that’s a problem. 

They should be digging deep to understand how you’ll handle these leads. If they’re throwing out success rates and conversion metrics without understanding your sales process, contact cadence, tech support, or whether you sell virtually or in-home – that’s a massive red flag.

LeadsHQ Answer: 

We want to know as much as feasibly possible – your company size, history, service areas, sales team structure, lead management process, systems in place, and even your pricing methodology. 

Why? Because it all matters. 

If you tell us “I’m a one-man show, on roofs most days, and I’ll try to get to leads when I can” – that’s going to have very different conversion rates than a company with a dedicated call center and a ten-touch contact strategy over ten days. 

We need this context to give you realistic expectations.

Partnership Management

These questions focus on the day-to-day management of your lead generation relationship.

27. Who Will Be My Account Manager?

Why It’s Important: 

You need to know who you’ll be dealing with when problems arise. 

Sometimes companies will have senior staff handle the sales process, then pass you off to junior staff for implementation. Nothing wrong with that necessarily, but you deserve to know up front who you’ll be working with day-to-day.

LeadsHQ Answer: 

Your primary point of contact will be Matt, who handles all aspects of new business and account management. 

He’s supported by our team handling campaign management, creative development, landing pages, conversion rate optimization, and tech implementation.

28. What Are My Responsibilities?

Why It’s Important: 

You need crystal clear expectations about what’s required from your end. 

How often do we catch up? Weekly? Monthly? As needed? How do you want feedback on lead conversion? What’s the minimum expectation for speed-to-lead and contact attempts? Get all this sorted upfront to avoid headaches later.

LeadsHQ Answer: 

We clearly outline expectations around lead handling, feedback mechanisms, and reporting requirements. We provide specific guidelines for speed-to-lead and minimum contact attempts to ensure optimal performance.

29. Do You Have Any Tools or Resources That Will Help Us Succeed?

Why It’s Important: 

A good lead gen partner should have accumulated significant experience about what works and what doesn’t. You want someone who can share that knowledge to increase your chances of success. If they’ve been in the game long enough, they should have developed tools and resources to help their clients win.

LeadsHQ Answer: 

We provide our clients with various tools including an ROI calculator and resource planner to ensure you’re getting the right lead volume for your team. 

We also share proven scripts and templates for email, SMS, and phone follow-up that you can implement immediately.

Commercial Terms

Finally, let’s talk about the money and contractual aspects of your partnership.

30. What’s Your Billing Policy?

Why It’s Important: 

You need to know the nuts and bolts – how do you pay, when do you pay, what are the increments? This stuff needs to be crystal clear before you start any relationship.

LeadsHQ Answer: 

We keep it simple with a documented billing policy that’s available for review before starting any partnership. Our billing terms are clearly outlined and transparent here.

31. What Are Your Contract Terms?

Why It’s Important: 

Different companies operate differently – you need this stuff in black and white. Compliance, billing, refunds, liability, intellectual property, termination clauses – all of it needs to be clearly laid out in an agreement available for review before you start.

LeadsHQ Answer: 

We’ve made this simple – our client agreement is publicly available for review here before any commitment is made. All terms are transparent and clearly documented.

32. How Do You Handle Lead Replacements or Rejections?

Why It’s Important: 

Every lead generation partner is different here – some companies don’t offer any replacements or rejections whatsoever. Others do, but the criteria can be fuzzy. You need a partner who can clearly communicate what qualifies for a rejection or replacement. Without this clarity, you’re flying blind.

LeadsHQ Answer: 

We keep it simple – we have a documented lead rejection policy that you can review right here. No confusion, no arguments, just clear criteria and processes.

Conclusion

These 32 questions form a comprehensive framework for evaluating potential lead generation partners. Remember:

• Not all answers need to be perfect, but they should be honest and transparent
• Pay attention not just to what they say, but how they say it
• Look for partners who ask as many questions about your business as you ask about theirs
• Trust your gut – if something feels off, it probably is

The right lead generation partner should welcome this level of due diligence and be able to provide clear, confident answers to each question. 

Their responses will give you valuable insights into their operational integrity and ability to deliver quality leads for your business.

Most importantly, don’t rush this process. The time you invest in proper evaluation will pay dividends in the form of better quality leads and a more productive long-term partnership.