Personal Injury Lead Generation Without Setup Fees or Retainers

The problem with setup fees and retainers

A setup fee is money you pay before you have seen a single lead. A monthly retainer is money you pay every month regardless of outcome. Both shift risk from the vendor to you — and both misalign incentives.

When a vendor collects a setup fee and a retainer, their revenue does not depend on whether you close cases. They are paid to deliver activity (leads), not outcomes (cases). So they optimize for lead volume, not lead quality. The result: a high lead count, a low close rate, and a CPA you discover too late was terrible.

You pay for overhead, not results.

Why performance-based models are better for attorneys

A performance-based model flips the incentive. The vendor only gets paid when they deliver something you can monetize — a lead, a transfer, or a signed case. Their revenue depends on your outcomes, so they optimize for the thing that actually matters: your CPA.

This is why we charge no setup fees and no retainers. You pay for leads, transfers, or cases. That is it. See our leads, live transfers, and signed cases pages — every model is pay-for-performance.

How CPA-based pricing works

CPA-based pricing means the vendor builds around your target cost per acquisition, not a sticker price. Here is how it works in practice.

1. You share your target CPA. The number you can afford to pay per signed case, based on your average case value and fee percentage. Use the case calculator to find it.
2. The vendor builds the campaign to hit it. They select channels, targeting, and qualification filters that produce leads likely to convert within your CPA.
3. You agree on a CPA max. If your actual CPA exceeds target, the vendor provides replacements until you are back in range. The vendor shares the risk.
4. You pay per unit. Per lead, per transfer, or per signed case — no setup, no retainer, no management fee on top of ad spend.

Learn how to calculate CPA for personal injury cases before you talk to any vendor.

What to look for in a vendor agreement

Before you sign, the agreement should make these explicit:

• No setup fee, no monthly retainer — pay for performance only
• Per-unit pricing in writing — exact price per lead, transfer, or case
• A written replacement policy — bad numbers, duplicates, out-of-state, at-fault, already-represented
• A CPA max clause — replacements if your actual CPA exceeds target
• Month-to-month terms — no long-term lock-in
• Real-time delivery — API to your CRM, not email batches
• Daily disposition reports with call recordings — full transparency

If any of these are missing, the vendor is keeping an escape hatch. See how to choose an MVA lead vendor for the full 15-question checklist.

The Mind Your Business Media model

We charge no setup fees and no retainers. You pay for leads, transfers, or signed cases. We work off your CPA target. We provide automatic replacements and CPA max protection. Month-to-month. Real-time API delivery. Daily disposition reports with call recordings. We only get paid when we deliver something you can monetize.

Book a strategy call

If your current vendor charges a setup fee or a retainer, book a strategy call. We will show you what a performance-based agreement looks like and quote exact pricing for your state.