Compare providers by the commercial buyers they can reach, the evidence behind each handoff, ownership of the process, and total cost per useful opportunity. Agree what counts as a lead before paying for one.
Start with the work your business can deliver
A commercial repaint contractor looking for occupied office work has a different market from a residential painter taking small homeowner jobs. Before comparing providers, write down your service radius, the surfaces and building types you handle, practical project sizes, and the crew capacity you can sell. Decide who will answer inquiries and prepare estimates.
A useful brief might say: “Occupied commercial interiors within our operating area, with a site contact who can arrange access.” That describes a target; it does not claim a minimum budget or active project exists. Give a provider examples of work you would accept and work you would decline.
Ask to see how the provider would research a small sample of accounts against this brief. Evaluate relevance and the evidence trail. A large contact count alone says little about whether the company manages suitable buildings or whether the contact buys painting work.
Understand which service you are buying
| Model | What it supplies | What to establish |
|---|---|---|
| Contact data | Names or account records | How identity, role and relevance were checked |
| Inbound lead service | People responding to advertising or a listing | What they requested, when, and whether the inquiry is shared |
| Managed outbound | Research, introductions, follow-up and reply handling | Who sends, how replies are qualified and who owns the relationship |
| Appointment setting | A scheduled conversation | What the buyer agreed to discuss and the rescheduling rules |
These models can serve different purposes. A calendar invitation is not automatically a request for an estimate. Ask each provider to define the stage they charge for in plain language.
Ask for evidence you can review
- Who is the intended buyer? Ask which roles, property types and geography are included and excluded.
- What makes a handoff qualified? Require confirmed facts, open questions and the buyer’s agreed next step.
- Can we review the outreach? Approve the service claims, examples and offer before your business is represented.
- How are conflicts and opt-outs handled? Explain current customers, protected accounts, competitors and people who should not be contacted.
- Who owns the records? Agree access to account history and replies, including what happens at the end of the engagement.
- How are disputes resolved? Put duplicates, poor-fit handoffs, cancellations and missed meetings into the written scope.
Supplier qualification is a separate part of winning commercial work. JLL’s vendor guidance covers checking credentials, insurance and prior performance. A marketing provider should not imply that an interested reply bypasses a buyer’s purchasing process.
Compare the full cost of winning suitable work
Include the service fee, data or software charges, advertising if applicable, and your team’s qualification, travel and estimating time. Then follow the same group of opportunities through the sales cycle. Compare qualified conversations, estimates, proposals and won jobs without combining them into one “lead” number.
Use contribution after direct job costs when deciding what acquisition spend the work can support. The lead economics calculator lets you test your assumptions. Its illustrative defaults are not industry averages or Sourci pricing.
For a first engagement, agree a manageable territory, a clear service line, a review cadence and an exit or renewal decision. Judge both the account quality and what buyers actually say. Short tests can reveal poor fit quickly; they cannot guarantee that a long commercial sales cycle will finish inside the test period.
Sources & editorial note
This guide combines Sourci’s recommended workflow with the industry references below. It is not a claim about past Sourci customer results.
Put this into practice
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