Lead Budget Calculator
How much ad spend do you need to hit your target number of financial advice clients each month?
What is a Lead Budget Calculator?
A lead budget calculator is a planning tool that back-solves the monthly ad spend a financial adviser needs by combining target client volume, lead-to-client conversion rate and expected cost per lead into a single required-spend figure.
How the calculation works
The formula is simple. Take your target new clients per month, divide by your lead-to-client conversion rate to find leads needed, then multiply by expected cost per lead.
For a firm targeting 10 new clients per month at a 6% close rate and £55 CPL, the required ad spend is around £9,167 per month excluding agency fees and tooling.
Sense-checking the output
- Is the CPL realistic for your niche? Check the benchmarks hub.
- Is the close rate measured or guessed? Track it weekly.
- Does the output match your payback tolerance? See the Client Acquisition Model.
FAQs
How do I calculate a monthly lead generation budget?+
Multiply the number of new clients you need per month by your lead-to-client conversion rate to find target leads, then multiply target leads by your expected cost per lead. The Lead Budget Calculator automates this with platform-specific CPL defaults.
What lead-to-client conversion rate should I use?+
UK advice firms typically convert 4–12% of leads to paying clients once MQL gating is applied. Use a conservative 5% if you have not measured your own rate recently.
Does this include agency fees?+
No, the output is ad spend only. Add 15–25% on top for agency management and 5–10% for tooling to get a fully loaded acquisition cost.