2. “Mom and Pop” Businesses

Again, this isn’t a comment on how good the product or service is! 

If a business is a one or two-man band, chances are they’re going to be working any leads they get themselves. 

Along with all the other responsibilities that go hand-in-hand with running a business, do you think they’ll be able to handle 100 leads a week? 

If they have a small call centre, it’s also unlikely that they’ll be able to handle a large volume of leads. I have first-hand experience of this, as I own a small call centre myself. I have to turn on and off the leads when my staff get overwhelmed by calls. 

If the call centre can’t respond to leads within 20 or 30 minutes, then they’ll go cold. That lead is now basically useless – especially for non-search leads from Facebook, Twitter, Gemini and Taboola. 

And the “mom and pop” business will blame you and the lead quality. 

If they don’t have a follow-up system, like email automation or text message marketing, that could prove even more difficult for you – and them. If the client doesn’t get the return on investment they were hoping for, neither will you. 

If you think you can help them set up email automation and text message marketing, ask yourselves these questions first: 

What are your time costs? 

What are your stress costs? 

Would it be a quick fix, or would you save time and make more money providing to another client? 

Saying “no” to someone isn’t the mark of a bad agency owner. 

3. Business Owners with a God complex

You’ve definitely met one before – that business owner who thinks he knows absolutely everything. 

They’ll stick their nose into your funnels, tell you what type of ad copy works, and fight you tooth and nail if they think you’re wrong. 

I’ll tell you now: these people are not good to work with. They’re rude, frustrating, and will always insist they’re right, even if the evidence points otherwise. 

In any Pay Per Lead niche, if you get bad vibes from a potential client, just say no. It’s not worth the hassle. 

Pay Per Lead Niches To Avoid Due To Financial Constraints

1. Any industry where an average order value is less than $1000

Roughly. You can go down to $750, but $1000 tends to be the point where there isn’t much of a profit margin. 

If you’re supplying 100 leads to a client for $50 a lead, that’s $5000 for you. But what if the client only manages to convert 10% of those leads? 

At $1000 per conversion, the total a client will make is $10,000. Minus your $5000, and that leaves them with $5000. 

50/50 split, right? What’s wrong with that? 

Well, it’s not a good Pay Per Lead niche because the client still has to pay for their overheads like their office, insurance, sales team, any yearly bonuses, and so on. 

If the margin is too thin, it’ll be impossible for you to scale.  

2. E-commerce Businesses

I’ve never tried e-commerce leads, but I don’t think they’d work at scale. 

If a client’s product is particularly expensive, it could take months before a customer is convinced enough to make the commitment and buy. 

Say, going back to our favourite example, that you’ve delivered 100 leads to your e-commerce client. They manage to convert 10% of those leads almost straight away, but another 10% takes almost six months to convert. 

That means the client will be struggling financially for almost half a year. If they manage to keep going, they must have deep pockets or some really good investors. However, I can guarantee they won’t be able to scale with you, not if the business is that slow. 

3. Clients that insist on back-end payments

Not exactly Pay Per Lead niche-specific, but sound advice nonetheless. 

Some clients will insist on back-end payments all the time. They don’t want to invest themselves, so they want you to put your money and time on the line. 

If they don’t get any conversions? That’s fine because all the leads were free. 

And, because there’s no risk for them, they’ll have a laid-back attitude when it comes to closing your leads. They’ve got a business to run, salespeople to train, content to write, and the list goes on. 

Leads can end up sitting for days and will go cold. When the back-end client finally gets round to following up on those leads, they’ll blame the lack of conversions on your lead quality. 

Try and convince clients in any Pay Per Lead niche to take a front-end or hybrid deal. Clients who insist on the back-end usually aren’t prepared to put their money where their mouth is and make an investment.