Go to any removals forum and you will find operators complaining about bought leads. "Getamover leads are rubbish." "Bark leads never convert." "I spent £200 last month and got one job out of it."
The frustration is real. The diagnosis is usually wrong.
The leads are real – the conversion process is not
Services like Getamover, Bark, and Checkatrade deliver genuine enquiries from homeowners who are actively looking for a removals company. These are not spam leads. The customer has filled in their moving date, their postcode, and their inventory. They want to hire someone.
The problem starts the moment the lead lands. If this sounds familiar, you are not alone – it is the most common pattern in the industry:
- Calling back when there is a spare moment (often hours later, because the van is loaded)
- Quoting verbally over the phone with no written follow-up
- Sending a text message with a round number and hoping for the best
- Not following up if the customer goes quiet – partly because it feels awkward, partly because there is no system to prompt it
- Not collecting a deposit, so confirmed jobs still cancel at the last minute
Meanwhile, the lead has been sent to two or three other operators. The one who responds fastest with the most professional-looking quote wins – regardless of who is cheapest.
A real example: Emerald Logistics
Emerald Logistics in Swindon was buying Getamover leads when the business launched. The leads were coming in, but the conversion rate was brutal. Emmanuel was quoting over the phone, writing things down in a notepad, and forgetting to follow up.
He was also using Easy Quotation for some quotes, but it only produced a document – no follow-up, no deposit collection, no CRM to track who had responded and who had ghosted.
After switching to Move and Store, the same Getamover leads started converting at a completely different rate. The leads did not change. The system around them did.
What a proper lead conversion system looks like
- Lead arrives from Getamover, Bark, Google, or any other source.
- You enter the details into the quoting wizard and send a branded portal link within minutes.
- The customer sees an itemised quote with your logo, terms, and an accept button.
- If they do not accept, automated follow-ups send reminders at intervals you choose (Pro plan).
- When they accept, they pay the deposit online – the booking is locked.
- The CRM logs the lead source so you can track cost per acquisition by channel.
That final point is critical. Without knowing how many Getamover leads turned into £400+ booked jobs versus how much you spent on leads, it is impossible to tell whether the channel is actually profitable.
The maths of lead conversion
Suppose you buy 20 Getamover leads at £15 each. That is £300. Without a system, you might convert 2 of those leads into jobs – a cost of £150 per acquisition.
With professional quoting, automated follow-ups, and deposit collection, a realistic conversion rate jumps to 5 or 6 out of 20. Now your cost per acquisition is £50–£60. The same leads, the same spend, completely different outcome.
The difference is not the leads. It is the system you put around them.
When to consider your own lead generation
Bought leads work best as a starting channel while you build organic demand. The downsides are real: shared leads, rising per-lead costs, and no brand equity. Over time, most successful operators layer in exclusive lead generation through Google Ads or SEO.
The Get the Phones Ringing service provides managed Google Ads from £50 per month – exclusive leads that only come to your business. For a deeper analysis of the trade-offs, read should you pay for leads or run your own ads?
Test the follow-up – the leads might surprise you
If your bought leads are not converting, run this experiment: for the next two weeks, send every lead a professional quote portal link within 15 minutes. Let automated reminders handle the follow-up. Collect a deposit from every customer who accepts. Then compare the numbers.
Start free – no credit card, no time limit – and see what happens when the same leads meet a proper conversion system.