A good sales day does not prove a call source is profitable. A bad day does not prove it failed. You know the answer only after you account for what you spent, what placed, what stayed on the books, and what it cost to operate.
The real profitability formula
Written annual premium is not revenue in your pocket. First apply your contract level, then account for policies that do not place or persist. Finally, subtract acquisition cost and overhead.
Run your own numbers
Change any assumption below. The calculator updates immediately so you can see whether the business is profitable—and which metric needs work.
Lead-Buying Profitability
Per business day, based on the assumptions above. This is estimated net profit only when all applicable overhead is entered. Without complete overhead, it is better understood as contribution profit after call costs and estimated retention.
Illustrative planning estimate—not a projection or guarantee. Projections assume 5 business days per week and 260 business days per year; month and quarter figures are derived from that annual total, not treated as exactly four or thirteen weeks. “Placement / retention” is used as a single adjustment for business that does not ultimately remain on the books. The advance changes cash timing, not total earned commission.
How to diagnose the result
The final answer. If this is negative, the current economics do not work.
Shows what you spend on calls for each expected sale.
Show whether sales execution and case size are creating enough value.
Show whether written business becomes commission you actually keep.
The most expensive mistake is stopping too early
Many buyers purchase a small batch, have one bad day, declare that they “tested” the source, and move somewhere else. Then they repeat the same cycle without ever building enough data to know what works.
A real test means staying with the process long enough to:
- ✓Build a sample large enough that one unusually good or bad day does not control the conclusion
- ✓Work with the provider to dial in pricing, quality, volume, and buyer performance
- ✓Measure placed and retained business—not merely applications written
- ✓Turn a call source into predictable revenue instead of constantly jumping between vendors
Use a sample you can trust
The calculator is only as useful as the inputs. Start with assumptions when planning, then replace them with your own results as the sample grows. Track performance by source and cohort so later chargebacks can be connected to the calls that produced them.
Do not optimize from emotion. Build the sample, measure net profit, diagnose the weak metric, and improve the system. Net profit tells you if it's working. Everything else tells you what to fix.