If a homeowner simply answers the phone and says hello, that can count as a verified contact. If the VA (virtual assistant) introduces himself and the homeowner immediately hangs up, that can be reported as a lead.

How do I know?

Because I hired one of these services at the end of 2024 and lost $10,000 doing it.

I wrote about the experience in How I Lost $10K With a Lead Gen Service.

The company guaranteed at least a 60% touchpoint rate—and technically, they delivered.

The problem was what happened when I actually called the “leads.”

Many told me they had never spoken with anyone. Others said they weren’t interested in selling. Some apparently hung up almost immediately after the VA introduced himself.

One or two bad leads? That’s part of the business.

But when roughly 90% of the leads turned out this way, it was obvious something was wrong.

The company was padding its numbers by counting virtually any interaction as a touchpoint. After about four weeks and $10,000, I fired them.

And here’s another problem: the cold-call script itself was terrible.

The typical call went something like:

“Hi, this is Carl calling. Are you interested in selling the property at 123 Main St?”

Click.

Why did i hang up?

Because you just asked me a question that required absolutely no thought. There was no hook, no reason to keep talking, and nothing that suggested you knew anything about their property. It was simply a numbers game.

When I call property owners, I use specific opening lines designed to start a conversation rather than immediately ask, “Are you interested in selling?”

I shared some of my best examples in Steal My Very Best Cold Call Opening Lines.

So here we are, almost two years later. Have things changed?

Not much.

I still receive the same calls, and almost every conversation starts with some variation of:

“Are you interested in selling your property?”

Click.

Now I’m getting flooded with text messages, too. They all seem to follow the same formula:

“Hi Jonathan. This is Stephanie. I was wondering if you are thinking about letting go of your property go at 123 Main St. Interested? Text me back.”

Block. Spam. Delete.

I understand that wholesalers need to generate leads, and I understand that cold calling is a numbers game. But there’s a big difference between generating contacts and generating actual conversations with motivated sellers.

If your lead-generation company is reporting a 60% touchpoint rate, I would want to know exactly what that means. Did the property owner actually have a conversation with your caller? Did they express an interest in selling? Or did someone simply answer the phone and hang up?

Because at the end of the day, a “touchpoint” isn’t a lead, and a lead isn’t a deal. The quality of the conversation matters far more than the number of times someone answers the phone.