B2B Lead Generation Pricing

Table of Contents

• B2B Lead Gen Pricing Structures
• Costs by Marketing Channel
• Additional Cost Considerations
• Lead Generation Packages
• How Many Leads Do You Need?
• B2B Lead Generation Calculator
• Marketing Campaigns vs One-Offs

This is one of the most commonly asked questions we receive on a weekly basis. “What do your B2B lead generation services cost?” To answer it quickly, you can expect to pay between $40 – $190 per lead.  To help answer that question in more depth, we’ve put together some details on what to expect as well as published our general packages that not only get the results you need but also help you get hit your sales targets at a CPL that ensures an ROI.

The Structure of Most B2B Lead Generation Pricing

Being in the lead gen game for years now, we know how lead generation companies structure their pricing. Below are some of the most common pricing structures on the market today. Remember that there are always tons of variables that affect the costs such as sales teams, the industry, market response, a good or bad market and competition.

The Retainer: With this model, you can expect to pay around $3000 – $10,000 a month that includes a plethora of services such as SEO, PPC & Appointment Setting. This model is common with your typical digital marketing agency that works with many different types of clients.

The Cost Per Lead: Although it ranges tremendously from industry to industry, you can expect to pay around $40 – $190 per lead. The definition of “leads” here can mean different things as well. This could range from form-fill leads that are shared with competitors in your area to exclusive leads that only go to you and your sales team.

Cost Per Appointment: Many B2B marketing companies help schedule appointments. The cost per appointment can range from $150 – $350. You get what you pay for here as many of the cheaper solutions in this space don’t do a good job pre-qualifying these leads.

Bulk Data Purchasing: With the growing list of B2B data providers, you’ll probably encounter what looks to be an agency that either gathers data themselves or re-sells it in a white-label fashion. Some of these data lists can cost upwards of $10,000 – $20,000.

Directory Style Providers: A big trend now is the directory style lead gen model (Check out Clutch.co). This model is structured to where the providers such as an agency or appointment setting service sets up a free or paid profile inside a large directory. The company needing leads can request directly or sometimes place a request to where multiple agencies / companies can fight for the business.

Average Lead Generation Costs by B2B Channel

There’s a lot of variability when it comes to pricing by channel, however, you can use the following pricing as a guide to how much you may pay in the B2B space per lead, by channel. We’ve also included a graph made by VisitorQueue)

Search Engine Optimization: $30 – $175

Pay Per Click: $40 – $150 

Content Creation: $80 – $300

Display Advertising: $65 – $85 

Webinars: $50 – $110

Video Marketing: $175 – $225

Public Relations: $300 – $400

LinkedIn: $75 – $125

What are the biggest cost considerations?

It depends on how aggressive you want to take your B2B company.

Choose a company that can grow with you: Many B2B lead generation companies come with a hefty monthly price tag and large up front costs which make them out of reach for most medium to large companies. Find a lead gen company that can be flexible with their pricing to grow with you over time so it’s more of a partnership versus vendor relationship.

Make sure the lead quality is high: Ask questions about the work they have done in the same space you’re in as well as check out online reviews. If they outsource to India and you’re targeting businesses in the US or Canada, there’s a good chance that the lead quality is going to be low.

Analyze your current digital marketing and figure out if you need to outsource: What’s your current internal CPL or Cost of Customer Acquisition? Do you have the manpower internally to run multiple, efficient lead generation campaigns? If the answer is no, you may benefit from working with a 3rd party that does nothing but generate leads.

B2B Lead Generation Packages

When doing your research for a lead gen provider, you’ll see that some agencies offer packages. They can range from $99 a month if they’re more software focused to $1000s of dollars if you’re investing in a service like paid media or paying for manpower such as cold calling, lead follow up, etc. Below are some sample packages that we offer to select clients.

How Many B2B Leads Do You Really Need?

In order to be an efficient, successful marketer or sales pro, you’re going to need to know how many leads your division needs. See some variables below that are a starting point.

General Leads to Qualified Lead Ratio: How many of the overall leads that are generated are turned into qualified leads.

Qualified Leads to Opportunity Ratio: What percentage of your qualified leads turn into actual opportunities for your sales teams.

Sales Velocity: This is a common practice for many SaaS companies that aren’t  used by most. Easily explained this metric measures how fast your deals are pushed through the sales pipeline.

Target Revenue: What’s your fiscal year’s target revenue number?

Closing Ratio: Out of all of the opportunities in your CRM, what % are closed?

B2B Sales Lead Calculator

In the process of helping our clients understand their own internal KPIs, we created a calculator where you can calculate how much budget you’ll need to put towards B2B leads. Click here to download it for free.

Campaigns vs One-off Leads

Another huge variable in the pricing that you’ll encounter revolve around whether you’re doing a prolonged campaign or just interested in buying leads. Campaign focused lead generation tends to be more encompassing and expensive since there are normally many moving parts & strategists thinking about tactics, putting in hours etc. Alternatively, just buying leads is more transactional and less costly especially if you’re buying in bulk.