Dry spot #1
Paying for leads that go nowhere
You buy clicks and calls, but too many leads never hear back fast enough to become customers.
Lead Generation That Brings In Qualified Leads and Keeps Them Warm
We bring in qualified leads with search, ads, landing pages and free tools, then hand every one to a follow-up system that keeps the conversation going. You focus on closing deals, not chasing them.
- Buttered Marketing
- Free tool inside
- Plugs into The Buttered System
- 9 deliverables
Quick answer
What is lead generation?
Lead generation is attracting people who might buy from you and capturing their contact details so you can follow up. Buttered Business runs multi-channel lead generation, including search, ads, landing pages, free tools and print, and connects every lead to The Buttered System for automatic follow-up by email and, with consent, by text and AI voice.
At a glance
| What it is | Multi-channel campaigns that attract qualified prospects, then hand every lead to The Buttered System for automatic follow-up. |
|---|---|
| Part of | Buttered Marketing |
| What’s included | 9 deliverables, itemized below |
| Best for | Home Builders, Home Services, Law Firms, Private Schools |
| Free tool | Lead Value & Customer Lifetime Value Calculator |
| Follow-up | Plugs into The Buttered System |
| Pricing | Custom quote, with exact pricing in writing before you commit |
If This Sounds Familiar, Keep Reading
Be honest: how many of these are happening in your business right now?
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Dry spot #2
Feast or famine
Leads pour in one month and dry up the next, because one channel carries the whole load.
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Dry spot #3
Too many tire-kickers
Poor-fit inquiries eat your team's time, while serious buyers wait in the same queue.
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Dry spot #4
No idea what a lead is worth
Without knowing your cost per lead and value per lead, you can't tell a good campaign from an expensive one.
Every one of these has a fix, and it starts with seeing your own numbers.
Show Me My NumbersDry Toast vs. Buttered
Here’s what changes with Lead Generation done right and connected to your follow-up.
Dry Toast
- Leads trickle in from a single channel
- Every inquiry treated the same
- Replies when someone gets a free minute
- Cost per lead is a guess
- Leads forgotten after one call
Better with Butter
Buttered
- Several channels feeding one pipeline
- Qualifying questions that sort serious buyers
- Automatic follow-up on every lead
- Cost per lead and per customer by source
- Long-term nurture until leads book or opt out
What You Get, and What It Means for You
Features are nice. Outcomes pay the bills.
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More qualified inquiries
Targeting, offers and qualifying questions built around your best customers, not anyone with a pulse.
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More than one channel
Search, ads, landing pages, free tools and print work together, so one slow channel doesn't stall your pipeline.
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Follow-up that never forgets
Every lead flows into The Buttered System for email follow-up, plus texts and AI voice calls for leads who've given consent.
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Know your numbers
Cost per lead, cost per booked appointment and cost per customer, broken out by source.
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Time back for closing
Your team talks with warm, qualified leads instead of chasing cold ones.
How It Works, Step by Step
No mystery and no black box. Here’s exactly what happens after you say go.
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Step 1: Define
Define your ideal customer, what a lead is worth to you and the cost per lead you can afford.
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Step 2: Build the offer
Create a real reason to respond, like a quote, a consultation, a guide or a free tool, plus a landing page built to convert.
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Step 3: Launch channels
Launch the mix that fits your market: search ads, Local Services Ads, paid social, SEO or print with tracked QR codes.
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Step 4: Capture and follow up
Send every lead to your CRM with its source attached, while The Buttered System follows up until it replies, books or opts out.
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Step 5: Optimize
Cut what doesn't produce booked appointments and move budget to what does, every month.
Everything Included With Lead Generation
Here’s the work, itemized like a diner receipt, so you know exactly what you’re getting.
9 items, zero mystery ingredients
The Lead Magnet
- Ideal customer profile and lead value targets
- Offer and lead magnet strategy
- Focused landing pages built to convert
- Paid search, paid social and Local Services Ads campaigns
- Free tools and quizzes that capture qualified leads
- Qualifying questions on forms and chat
- CRM setup with lead source tracking
- Automated follow-up through The Buttered System
- Monthly cost-per-lead and booked-appointment reporting
Total Fully buttered
Exact scope and pricing in writing before you commit.
Why It Matters Now
Independent research on how buyers behave, and what slow or invisible marketing costs.
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37%
of 2,241 U.S. companies responded to a web lead within an hour, and 23% never responded at all
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7x
as likely to qualify a lead when it was contacted within an hour versus even one hour later (analysis of 1.25 million sales leads)
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21x
higher odds of qualifying a lead when it was called within 5 minutes instead of 30 (odds ratio)
Source: Lead Response Management Study (MIT and InsideSales.com), 2007 (opens in a new tab)
Independent industry research — not Buttered Business client results. Tap a source to read the study.
Don’t Take Our Word for It. Take Theirs.
We could tell you we’re great. You’d expect us to. So here are our clients, in their own words.
For all your marketing needs, Sublime Digital Marketing and Ken Henderson to the rescue!
Everyone quoted here worked with founder Ken Henderson when his agency was called Sublime Digital Marketing Group. Same founder, new name. Quotes are excerpts, exactly as given. Results vary by business.
On this page 8 sections · 4 min read
Get Buttered!
Start with a free website audit. It shows your biggest leak first, and the results are yours to keep.
Get My Free Butter ScoreThe full scoop
What Is Lead Generation, Really?
Lead generation has two halves: getting the right people to raise their hand, and getting back to them before they lose interest. The second half is where most businesses lose money. A lead is only an opportunity until someone talks to them. Wait too long and it becomes a name on a list.
The Lead Magnet is how Buttered Business brings in qualified leads from several channels at once, then hands every one of them to The Buttered System, which follows up automatically until the lead replies, books or opts out.
It's Not a Lead Problem. It's a Follow-Up Problem.
Many businesses already pay for leads they never fully work. When researchers sent web leads to 2,241 U.S. companies, only 37% responded within an hour, and 23% never responded at all. Among the companies that did respond, the average response time was 42 hours.
Speed changes the outcome. A companion analysis of 1.25 million sales leads, in the same Harvard Business Review article, found that companies contacting a lead within an hour were nearly 7 times as likely to qualify it as companies that waited even one hour longer. An earlier Lead Response Management Study by MIT and InsideSales.com found that calling within 5 minutes instead of 30 was linked to 21 times higher odds of qualifying the lead.
So before we spend a dollar bringing in more leads, we make sure the ones you already get will be answered.
Quick Gut Check
- Has a lead ever slipped through the cracks because you were busy doing the actual work?
- Do calls and form fills come in after hours, when nobody's around to answer?
- Does "Let me think about it" usually mean you never hear from them again?
If you nodded even once, the fix probably isn't more leads. It's a better system for the leads you already get, and then more leads on top of it.
How We Do It
Start with what a lead is worth
We work out the value of a customer and the value of a lead for your business. That tells us the most you can afford to pay per lead and still make money. The free Lead Value Calculator shows you the same math with your own numbers.
Build an offer worth responding to
People respond to a clear reason to act. Depending on your business, that might be a free quote, a consultation, a guide, a quiz or a calculator. We pair the offer with a focused landing page that asks only for what you need.
Run more than one channel
Relying on one source of leads is risky. We combine channels that fit your market: Google search ads and Local Services Ads for people ready to buy now, Meta ads for people who aren't searching yet, SEO and content for steady long-term traffic, and EDDM postcards or door hangers with tracked QR codes for the neighborhoods you want to win.
Choose channels by job, not by habit
| Channel | Best for | How fast it produces leads |
|---|---|---|
| Google search ads | People ready to buy now | Soon after campaigns go live |
| Local Services Ads | Home services and some professional services | Soon after verification |
| Meta ads | Reaching people before they search | Quickly, with testing |
| SEO and content | Steady, lower-cost leads over time | Builds over months |
| EDDM and door hangers | Owning specific neighborhoods | Timed to each mail drop |
Qualify without adding friction
A few smart questions on forms and in chat sort serious buyers from browsers. We keep forms short and only ask questions that change how you follow up.
Follow up, then follow up again
Every lead lands in your CRM with its source attached. The Buttered System replies by email, texts leads who've opted in to texts, can place an AI voice call to leads who've given consent to calls, and keeps nurturing over days and weeks. Leads who aren't ready yet stay warm instead of being forgotten.
Measure what matters
We report cost per lead, cost per booked appointment and cost per customer by source. Budget moves toward what produces customers, not just clicks.
Who It's For
- Home builders with long buying cycles, where a buyer who downloads a floor plan in March may sign in September, if someone is still following up.
- Home service companies that need a steady flow of booked jobs, not just ringing phones.
- Law firms and private schools, where a single client or family is worth enough to justify a serious follow-up process.
- Any business that gets leads today and suspects too many slip away.
It's probably not for you if you want purchased lists or cold texting. We don't do it, and texting or auto-calling people without consent can create real legal risk.
What We Won't Promise
We won't promise a set number of leads or sales. Markets shift, ad costs change and some months are slower than others. We will promise a clear plan, tracking on every channel, follow-up on every lead we generate and honest reporting on what each dollar produced.
Where Lead Generation Fits
Lead generation spans The Sizzle and The Skim, the attract and capture steps of The Buttered System. It works hand in hand with digital advertising, email and SMS marketing and AI voice agents that answer the calls you'd otherwise miss. To see where your own leads are slipping, run a free website audit.
Keep reading: Speed to Lead: Why the First 5 Minutes Decide Your Sale, on our Marketing Wisdom blog.
Lead Generation for These Industries
Each industry has its own rules and buying cycle. Pick yours to see the playbook built for it.
Straight Answers About Lead Generation
No jargon, no runaround. If your question isn’t here, ask a real human.
Still chewing on something?
Ask a real human. We answer in plain English and never send you down a jargon rabbit hole.
What is the difference between lead generation and follow-up?
Lead generation brings people in and captures their contact details. Follow-up turns those contacts into conversations and customers. Most businesses invest in the first and leave the second to chance. We do both, so the leads you pay for get answered and nurtured.
Do you buy, sell or share lead lists?
No. We generate leads for your business from your own campaigns. We don't buy lists, sell lists, or text and call people who never asked to hear from you.
How much does lead generation cost?
It depends on your market, your channels and your ad budget. Use the free Lead Value Calculator to see what a lead is worth to you and the most you can afford to pay. Before you commit, you'll get a written quote with exact pricing.
How fast should I follow up with new leads?
As fast as you can. In an analysis of 1.25 million sales leads published in Harvard Business Review, companies that contacted a lead within an hour were nearly 7 times as likely to qualify it as companies that waited even one hour longer. The Buttered System starts follow-up automatically, so speed doesn't depend on someone being free.
Will you call my leads with AI?
Only with consent. AI voice follow-up goes only to people who've agreed to receive those calls, and every call identifies your business. Texts also require consent. Leads who haven't opted in to texts or AI calls get email follow-up instead.
How do you make sure leads are qualified?
We target the right audience, write offers that attract buyers instead of freebie hunters, and add a few qualifying questions to forms and chat. Then we track which sources produce booked appointments and customers, and shift budget toward them.
Which channels do you use for lead generation?
The mix depends on your business: Google search ads, Local Services Ads, Meta ads, SEO, landing pages, free tools and quizzes, and print with tracked QR codes, like EDDM postcards and door hangers. We start with the channels most likely to pay off first.
Find Out Where Your Leads Are Leaking
Start with a free website audit to see how well your site captures leads, then use the Lead Value Calculator to see what each lead is worth. You'll know what to fix first and what you can afford to spend to win a customer.
Free. No obligation. No credit card. We never sell your information.
+100 Butter Points for running your audit
Not ready for either? Try the free Lead Value & Customer Lifetime Value Calculator
P.S. Before you buy more leads, find out what each one is worth to you. The free Lead Value Calculator shows it in about a minute. No email needed.
Prefer to talk to a human?