I say 5,000. Use your intuition and only call the 50 that will buy or list.

And then sell the remaining 4,950 to John McCormack and Larry Johnston and let them fight over it.

The total number means nothing it's the rate that counts John. I would much rather see 1 at 100%.

No brainer 500.

I'm a girl of 'quality over quantity', so I'd take 5 leads who are ready to go over 5000 who will waste my time.

John Novak - most of us would be  tempted to answer both are same - mathematically both arrives at one number - 50.

However, at 1% conversion rate, I suspect the quality of the leads will be low and amount of time you need to spend with 5,000 contacts is 10 times more than that for 500!

The latter.

John Novak Naturally a 10% conversion rate is better for 500 leads. It sounds rather high to me though.

I would rather weed through 500 than 5000 if teh end result is the same. I would not pay anything up front for leads though, they are usualy bogus or gone to way too may people

They're all either fake, stale or unable to purchase.  We stay away from ALL.

The right answer is entirely dependent on whether your business is structured to process 5,000 internet leads in the recommended 8 nano-seconds that results in a 85% contact rate.

The band width of the phone factory or your dialing for dollars department will determine whether 5,000 or 500 fits the scale of your business.

I like the 10 percent conversion rate.. 

I would say obviously the 500 as they are fewer in number and less time to work them.

Good morning John. Have never bought any leads, but would say 10% of 500 leads.

what is the cost and time spent?

Fewer leads to cull through, so 500 is MUCH better.

It sounds like the 500 leads are less wasted time.

That is a no brainer...

The fewer the leads the more time you will have to focus on the real leads that lead to sales.

depends of the quality of clients you are getting for the conversion;have a great memorial day

The 500.  Easier to work with.

Richard nailed this one!

If you look at this purely based on those numbers, the outcome is equal. Either way, you convert 50 leads from your efforts.

Adding in other factors, such as effort put forth to get to those 50 clients, and you start to get a better picture of which option is better. Let's assume your time is worth $20/hour and you could resonably place 50 calls per day.

• Option 1 will take you 100 days of calls in order to produce 50 leads at a cost of $16,000
• Option 2 will take you 10 days at a cost of $1,600

From that perspective, getting to 50 clients in just 10 days is a far better outcome, especially considering the cost to you to produce those 50 leads is 1/10th. Nevertheless, the other contributing factor is the cost of leads to begin with as anyone who can produce leads that convert at 10% will likely charge more than those who only get a 1% conversion...so expect the costs to equal out over time.

I would take the 500 at 10%.  It's a no brainer but I do love the idea Richard Robibero but I would choose differently who to sell them to!

Well, they both give you 50 clients... so I suppose it depends on how quickly you can generate that number of leads and convert them.

Simple math-and the major savings in time-say take the 10% on 500.

John - I would much rather deal with 500 leads with a 10% conversion rate myself. Less garbage to weed through, and the conversion rate is much better.

Like Inna said, quality over quantity.

500 with 10% of course, depending on costs to obtain those leads and the lead source.

Technically they are the same 50 conversion but the 500 leads are way more easy to manage... lol