Small business marketing
Small business
lead generation.
For most small businesses the best leads are the ones you earn: people who found you on Google, were referred, or came back. Bought leads are faster but often shared. Paying to collect someone's details can count as trading in personal information, which brings even a business under $3 million into the Privacy Act unless the people consented. Whatever the source, every marketing email or text needs consent, your name and a working unsubscribe.
Written by Dan Picken, a marketer who checks the sources. Last checked 6 November 2026.Where small business
leads come from.
Every lead comes through one of four doors. Someone found you, someone sent you, someone came back, or you paid a third party for their details. The first three you own. The fourth you rent, and the landlord usually rents the same lead to other businesses too.
That difference matters more than the channel name. A plumber in Wyong who gets a call from Google Maps is talking to someone who chose them. The same plumber paying a quote site for a job is often one of several businesses racing to the same phone number.
| Door | Typical sources | Who owns it | What to watch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Found you | Google search, Google Maps, your website, social profiles | You | Slow to build, cheapest per customer once it works |
| Sent to you | Customer referrals, other local businesses, suppliers | You | Hard to scale, so most businesses never ask |
| Came back | Past customers, quotes that didn't go ahead | You | The most ignored list in most small businesses |
| Paid for | Quote and job marketplaces, lead sellers, bought lists | The seller | Often shared, quality varies, privacy rules apply |
Cost per customer,
not cost per lead.
Lead sellers quote a price per lead. That's the wrong number. The one that matters is what you pay for each customer who actually goes ahead.
A made-up example to show the maths. Source A charges $25 a lead and one in ten becomes a job: $250 per customer. Source B costs $80 a lead and one in two goes ahead: $160 per customer. The 'expensive' leads are the cheap ones.
Track it for a month with a simple sheet: date, name, where they came from, quoted, won. Then work out what a customer is worth to you over time with the lead value calculator. Once you know both numbers you can see which door is worth paying for.
Reply before
the next business does.
With a shared lead, the first business to call back usually gets the conversation. With your own leads, a slow reply hands them to a competitor who answers the phone. Either way, speed is the cheapest improvement most small businesses can make.
In practice: answer new enquiries within the hour during working hours, set a text-back for missed calls so nobody hits a dead end, and follow up twice before you give up. A quote that gets no reply isn't a 'no'. It's usually a 'not yet' or a 'forgot'.
- Missed call text: 'Sorry we missed you, it's Sam from [business]. Can I call you back in 20 minutes?'
- Second follow-up two days after a quote, by the channel they used to contact you
- One line in the sheet for why a lead didn't go ahead: price, timing, no reply, not a fit
Does the Privacy Act
cover you?
Most businesses with an annual turnover of $3 million or less are exempt from the Privacy Act. Plenty of owners stop reading there. The OAIC lists exceptions, and two of them catch businesses that generate or buy leads: health service providers, and businesses that trade in personal information. Trading includes providing a benefit to collect it, unless the people consented or the law requires or allows it.
Tick what's true for your business below. It shows whether you're likely covered, and the contact rules that apply whatever your size.
Privacy Act cover check
Does the Privacy Act
cover your leads?
Answer for your business as it is today. It checks the small business exemption against the exceptions the OAIC lists, then shows the contact rules that apply whatever your size. A marketer's summary, not legal advice.
Tick any that are true
How you contact leads
Privacy Act
-
What applies
Based on the OAIC, ACMA and Do Not Call Register guidance, checked 6 November 2026. Nothing you tick leaves this page.
The rules on
contacting a lead.
These are federal rules, so they're the same for a cafe in Gosford, a cleaner in Parramatta and a mechanic in Perth. None of them has a small business exemption.
Emails and texts: the Spam Act needs consent, accurate sender details and an unsubscribe honoured within 5 working days. Replying to someone's enquiry is fine. Adding them to your monthly specials without asking isn't. If you buy a list, the ACMA says you're still responsible for consent for every address on it.
Calls: sales calls to numbers on the Do Not Call Register need consent. The telemarketing standard limits every sales call to weekdays 9am to 8pm and Saturdays 9am to 5pm, with no Sundays or national public holidays. That applies to numbers that aren't on the register too.
If the Privacy Act does cover you, APP 7 adds two more. Give a simple way to opt out of marketing. If someone asks where you got their details, tell them, generally within 30 days.
Before you buy
a single lead.
Bought leads can work, especially while your own sources are still building. But the risk sits with you, not the seller. In 2018 a lead generator paid a $285,600 infringement notice for calling numbers on the Do Not Call Register, and the ACMA called it a timely reminder to any businesses that are buying 'leads' to make sure they comply.
Ask these before you pay:
- How did each person give consent, and can you send me the wording and the date?
- Is the lead exclusive, or how many other businesses get it?
- Has the list been checked against the Do Not Call Register?
- What happens if a lead is fake, a duplicate or out of my area?
- Can I see which search or ad the person came from?
What I see most often
What I'd check first
in a small business's leads.
- 1
No record of where leads came from
Enquiries arrive by phone, form, Facebook and email, and nobody writes down which door they came through, so there's no way to tell which source pays.
- 2
Paying for customers who'd already found you
A marketplace or lead service charging for people who had already searched the business by name.
- 3
Quotes with no follow-up
A pile of sent quotes with no second contact, which is often the cheapest batch of leads the business will ever have.
The honest bit. More leads won't fix a slow reply, a price nobody wants or a phone that goes to voicemail. If half your enquiries never hear back, fix that first. It costs nothing and it beats any lead source you can buy.
Questions
people ask.
What is the best lead generation for a small business?
Usually the leads you own: Google search and Maps, referrals and past customers. They cost more time up front but less per customer, and nobody else gets the same lead. Bought leads can fill gaps while those build, if you check consent and track cost per customer.
Is it legal to buy leads in Australia?
Yes, but you're responsible for how you contact them. The ACMA says you must have consent for every address you email or text, even on a bought list. And paying to collect people's details can count as trading in personal information, which brings a small business under the Privacy Act unless the people consented.
Does the Privacy Act apply to small businesses?
Businesses with annual turnover of $3 million or less are usually exempt, but not all of them. Health service providers, businesses that trade in personal information, Commonwealth contractors and AML/CTF reporting entities are covered whatever their size, and any business can opt in.
Can I call a lead who filled in a form on another website?
Only if they agreed to be contacted by your business, not just by the website they used, and only inside the telemarketing calling hours, which rule out Sundays and national public holidays. If their number is on the Do Not Call Register, a sales call needs their consent.
How fast should I reply to a new lead?
As fast as you can during working hours, ideally within the hour. With shared leads the first business to call usually gets the conversation, and with your own leads a slow reply sends people to whoever answers next.
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