No you’re not crazy, leads do not perform as well as they once did. Trust me, I built a business on lead generation and decided to pivot after the changes in the industry I saw first hand. For many financial advisors, purchasing leads has long been viewed as an efficient way to acquire new clients.
Leads used to be individuals who had expressed interest in financial planning services (or whatever you are selling), allowing advisors to follow up directly and convert a portion into clients. But that was then. Now, the effectiveness of leads has declined significantly. Advisors who continue to rely heavily on leads are increasingly finding diminishing returns on their investment.
This shift is not just in your head, and try as they might the lead vendors are running out of ways to blame you for their poor lead quality. This change in lead quality reflects fundamental changes in consumer behavior, lead generation practices, market dynamics, and the broader telecommunications landscape (aka. how we all feel about getting spam calls 6 times a day). Below, we explore the key reasons why buying leads is no longer as effective as it once was, and how you can exploit this to beat the competition.
Consumers today are far more protective of their personal data than they were a decade ago. High-profile data breaches, identity theft, and increased awareness of how personal information is monetized have made consumers more hesitant to provide contact details through online forms.
In 2023 Pew Research Center reported, a significant majority of Americans express concern about data privacy, with many actively taking steps to limit what they share online. A separate survey by Usercentrics found that 73% of consumers are more worried about their online privacy now than they were a few years earlier, and 81% believe online fraud is widespread. This caution directly impacts lead quality: individuals are more likely to use fake information, opt out of follow-up communications, or simply avoid submitting forms altogether.
Consumers also know their data is a valuable commodity, the days of people happy to hand over personal information to see what their friends are doing online are long gone. Now, the undercurrent of being used to prop up billion dollar valuations is not a secret. The fact that if a product is “free” to use means that you, the user, are the true product has not changed; only now, everyone knows it.
Not to mention, new privacy regulations have also complicated lead generation. Laws like the GDPR in Europe and evolving state-level rules in the U.S. (including restrictions on certain types of trigger leads under the Homebuyers Privacy Protection Act) have imposed stricter consent requirements on data collection and sharing. As a result, legitimate lead providers face greater hurdles in gathering high-quality, compliant leads, while lower-quality “less legal” - for lack of better words - sources dominate the market.
The mechanics of lead generation have evolved in ways that often prioritize volume over quality. Leads are often shared among multiple buyers, sometimes to five, ten, or more advisors, meaning the same contact receives numerous calls in a short window. This shared model reduces the likelihood of any single advisor connecting meaningfully with the prospect, and it does a top notch job of pissing the prospect off.
Something that can also not be ignored is the lead consumer's role in the ever lowering quality of the leads. Yes, I’m sorry to say but you as the advisor bear some of the responsibility as well. The leads purchasers' demands evolved fast, from being happy with basic lead information, including contact info and answers to what the lead is looking for. To now wanting, pre-qualified, pre-booked, appointments, or warm transfers with ready and willing buyers who won't take too long to cut a check. Oh and they don’t want to pay more than a 20% premium for those prospects and if they have a meeting and don’t close it’s the fault of the vendor not the advisor. This puts a lot of pressure on lead vendors to gather more data, cheaper, and shift it as fast as possible. A lose lose for everyone.
That is why a focus on branding and marketing is a better bet for advisors as all aspects of the lead generation market are changing. A Broadridge survey highlighted that advisors with a structured marketing plan generate 168% more leads per month through their own channels, such as websites, than those relying primarily on purchased leads. Organic leads also tend to convert at more favorable rates because prospects actively seek out the advisor.
Prices are also going up. “Premium” leads can range from $50 to $200 or more each, yet the return on investment has collapsed due to lower close rates and higher competition.
There are now a lot of advisors, for the consumer finding and choosing one is less of a commoditized situation where consumers once thought “any advisor will do and they are the same anyway so why does it matter.” No, clients now have choices and need more reason than a few phone calls and projections to buy into you as the advisor.
Prospects now expect a different engagement model. Financial planning involves sensitive, high-trust decisions about retirement, investments, and family security. Modern consumers prefer to research advisors independently—through online content, reviews, referrals, or educational resources—before initiating contact. Cold outreach from purchased leads frequently feels intrusive, leading to lower response rates, potential damage to an advisor's reputation, and lowering your status as the advisor.
Perhaps the most visible change affecting lead performance is the overwhelming volume of unwanted phone calls. In 2025, Americans continue to receive billions of robocalls and telemarketing calls monthly. Data from the U.S. PIRG's "Ringing in Our Fears" report showed robocalls reaching a six-year high, with scam and telemarketing calls averaging 2.56 billion per month through the first nine months of the year. And we all feel it, I think I average 5 a day at least.
The Federal Trade Commission's Do Not Call Registry now includes over 258 million numbers, which has done little to stop illegal and spoofed calls. This environment has trained consumers to screen or ignore unknown calls aggressively, with caller ID technologies flagging many legitimate outreach attempts as spam. When a prospect does answer a call from a purchased lead, they are often defensive, having been conditioned by prior negative experiences.
You will occasionally have some success buying leads, the data and evolving market dynamics clearly demonstrate that this tactic is no longer a dependable or efficient primary strategy for getting new clients. The interconnected challenges including, consumer privacy concerns, declining lead quality, increased competition, and widespread telemarketing fatigue, have all rendered buying leads a high-cost, low-yield approach.
However, advisors who prioritize building a strong personal or firm brand are experiencing significantly better long-term growth. Hence the shift we made from lead generation to branding and marketing. Branding shifts the focus from chasing, low-intent contacts to attracting high-quality prospects who actively seek out the advisor. This inbound approach creates sustainable advantages that purchased leads simply cannot compete with.
First, branding fosters trust and credibility from the outset. Financial planning is inherently personal and high-stakes; prospects want to work with someone they perceive as knowledgeable, reliable, and aligned with their values. By consistently producing valuable content—such as blog posts, videos, podcasts, webinars, or social media insights—advisors position themselves as thought leaders. Prospects who discover an advisor through this content arrive already educated and partially sold on the advisor's expertise, leading to higher consultation-to-client conversion rates.
Advisors who invest in structured, brand-centered marketing plans generate substantially more leads through their own channels. Not to mention, branded organic leads have stronger lifetime value: clients acquired this way are more engaged, more likely to refer others, and less price-sensitive because the relationship is built on perceived value rather than a one-off sales pitch.
Finally, in an era of information overload and skepticism toward cold outreach, branding aligns with modern consumer preferences. The prospects you want to work with are engaged in the research process. They read articles, watch videos, and check reviews. Advisors with a robust brand appear prominently in these searches, capturing attention when prospects are most receptive and separating themselves from the competition. Purchased leads, by contrast, interrupt at inopportune moments and often carry the stigma of telemarketing.
Successful advisors today are re-allocating their cash from lead vendors toward brand-building activities: brand strategy and identity development, professional website development, content creation, search engine optimization, community involvement, and strategic networking. The result is not just more clients, but better clients, ones who stay longer, refer more, and contribute to steady, predictable growth, and maybe most importantly they are slower to switch advisors.
While buying leads may offer the illusion of quick wins, focusing on branding delivers superior, sustainable results. Advisors who make this transition position themselves for lasting success in a competitive and rapidly changing industry.
Maximilian Lettau
Head of Revolt Marketing