UK Lead Generation Podcast

Kasra Dash:
So I am joined with James, and today we're going to be talking about performance-based lead generation. For anyone who has never heard of this service or who we are—first of all, who are you and what do you do?

James Dooley:
Hi, I’m James Dooley. I'm the founder of Fat Rank, and we supply a lead generation model that is strictly performance-based. This means you only pay on converted jobs. We don’t charge for SEO, we don’t charge for pay-per-click, Google Ads, or even per lead. You only pay a finder’s fee and a commission on jobs you've secured, completed, and profited from. We then agree on a fair percentage of that profit.

James Dooley:
A big question we get is how much commission needs to be paid in a performance-based model. It’s a great question, but it depends. If you can add 20% on top of the job and still win it competitively, great. But we’d rather have 10% of a winning job than 20% of nothing. So we strike a deal that works for you, works for us, and still keeps you competitive enough to win your jobs.

James Dooley:
On our performance-based model, trust is crucial. We take 100% of the risk. Some people call it zero-risk lead generation or commission-based lead generation. Kasra, what do you think about how we’re set up compared to other pay-per-lead companies?

Kasra Dash:
I think the biggest thing business owners need to understand is this: a lot of people watching may have been with an SEO agency that didn’t get results, or with a lead gen agency delivering poor inquiries, or maybe tried PPC or Facebook ads and didn’t get ROI. Now you're looking at performance-based lead generation—which is zero risk for the business.

But here’s the key: our performance improves based on the commissions we receive. We reinvest all the money back into building more websites, improving funnels, and generating more inquiries. If you pay more commission, we can scale your lead flow faster.

Kasra Dash:
Some businesses even reinvest all profits for the next 20–25 inquiries so we can scale aggressively and build more assets—meaning more leads within a few months.

James Dooley:
Another big question is why we offer performance-based or commission-based lead generation. If we roll back 10–15 years, I needed inbound leads for my own business. We learned the hard way—building websites, running PPC, trying Facebook ads, and doing SEO wrong many times because of bad online courses. It took years to perfect what we’re good at today.

James Dooley:
Here’s the problem with traditional SEO agencies: if they were truly great at SEO, they wouldn’t be charging tiny retainers. And we don’t want our staff feeling like they’re employed by SEO clients who demand button color changes or unnecessary content tweaks. We follow data. CRO tells us what works. Semantic SEO guides our content structure. We’re strategic for a reason.

James Dooley:
Clients sometimes demand content edits or design changes. But the truth is: we only do what works based on data. We want business owners who care about one thing—generating quality leads, converting them into profit, and paying us a fair share.

James Dooley:
We care about ROI, not just volume. Quality matters more than quantity. We want websites to convert—not just look pretty. Too many images slow Google down, and unless we're running PPC, we prefer content-heavy pages for ranking and conversion.

If you would trust a bricklayer to build a wall, trust the lead generation company to do what they’re good at.

James Dooley:
We use performance-based lead generation because business owners care about leads, conversions, and profit. Our best clients embrace this model. We take all the risk—which is why we don’t accept everyone. You’re not choosing us; we choose the clients we work with.

James Dooley:
Other companies accept anyone because they’re guaranteed profit. They generate leads for £10 and sell them to you for £50. They profit no matter what.

Us? We’re not guaranteed anything. We give you leads upfront with no charge. If you convert, we profit. If you don’t, we make nothing.

James Dooley:
Our onboarding is now more rigorous to ensure clients can convert. That’s essential in a performance-based setup.

James Dooley:
Kasra, what terms do people search for when looking for our service?

Kasra Dash:
People search for “no fee leads,” “success-based lead generation,” “no upfront cost leads,” and terms like guaranteed ROI lead gen. Also: leads that convert, revenue-share lead generation, and finder’s fee lead generation.

Kasra Dash:
Here’s a list of related search terms:
– Commission-only lead generation
– Pay-for-performance leads
– Zero-upfront-fee leads
– Revenue-share leads
– Incentive-based lead generation
– Kickback-based lead generation
– Finder’s-fee lead generation
– Referral-fee lead generation
– Pay-per-referral leads
– Lead gen with kickbacks
– Pay-on-conversion leads

If anyone has more terms, drop them in the comments.

James Dooley:
The big ones are rev-share and kickbacks. You win a job, make a few thousand, and give us a percentage. That’s why Fat Rank chose this model.

If you want to apply, head to FatRank.com, fill out the form, and we’ll see if you’re a fit. Ideally UK-wide, but we do have exceptions.