Installer guide · 20 min read

Exclusive vs Shared Commercial Solar Leads (UK)

By Roman Steer-Love, co-founder of TNW Marketing · published 23 October 2026

Exclusive solar leads are sold to one installer only; shared solar leads are sold to several at the same time (at one UK supplier, up to three or four, depending on the product), so every buyer races to call first and then competes on price. Are shared solar leads worth it? Sometimes, for domestic installers with a fast phone team working high volumes of small jobs. For commercial solar they rarely are: one survey costs a surveyor a day and the sale takes weeks, so a lead several installers are also quoting usually costs more per signed contract than its lower price suggests. TNW Marketing, which publishes this guide, books exclusive commercial solar site appointments.

Exclusive solar leads UK, who sells them: for commercial solar, TNW Marketing books exclusive, pre-qualified site appointments at £250 to £1,000+VAT each; Clean Energy Group says its commercial meetings are exclusive; and Lead Pronto sells exclusive commercial leads as a branded campaign alongside shared ones, from £150 a lead. For homeowner leads, PoweredLeads sells leads exclusive by postcode from £45 per accepted lead and Capital Leads says its leads are 100% exclusive. Each fact is from the supplier's own website, read 23 Oct 2026; prices are in the table below.

Exclusive vs shared solar leads at a glance

Both are a person or business that has asked about solar and agreed to be contacted. The difference is how many installers the supplier sells it to. Lead Pronto, for example, says on its commercial solar page that "Exclusive commercial solar leads are sold to one installer only and priced accordingly. Shared leads go to a small number of installers and cost less." Leads 2 Trade, whose solar leads cover homeowners and commercial businesses, publishes the number for each product: its Hot Key leads are "unique leads to 1 installer", Premium leads are "sent out to a maximum of 3 installers" and Qualified leads are "sent out up to 4 times" to network members. If you already buy from Lead Pronto, our page on Lead Pronto alternatives sets out which other suppliers sell exclusive leads and which share them.

What each costs, and why

A supplier spends the same on ads, calls and qualification whether it sells a lead once or four times. Sell it once and that cost sits with one buyer, so the price is higher. Sell it to several and each pays a share. That is why shared leads are cheaper: you pay for part of a lead other installers are also paying for.

What exclusive and shared solar leads cost in the UK, from each supplier's own published prices, read 23 Oct 2026. Most other suppliers quote on request.

The price per lead is therefore the wrong number to compare. What matters is the cost per signed contract: the price per lead divided by the share of leads that become a survey, then by the share of surveys that sign. Shared leads usually lose on both shares, because some prospects book with whoever rang first and others collect several quotes before deciding. The lead calculator works it through with your own rates, and what commercial solar leads cost covers the maths in more detail.

Installers who have bought shared commercial leads describe the same thing. Stephen James, who now buys exclusive leads for Luz Solar, on leads bought for a company he worked for before: "You're in competition, you paid for a lead, and suddenly you've got four other companies being sold that same lead."

Who carries the no-show risk

Exclusivity decides who else is calling. The pricing model decides who pays when nothing happens. Put the two together before you compare quotes.

The further along the chain a supplier is paid, the more of the risk it takes on. Get the replacement and refund terms in writing either way.

What exclusive and booked mean at each UK supplier

"Exclusive", "booked" and "guaranteed" have no fixed meaning, so the only way to compare them is in each supplier's own words. This is what six suppliers say on their own websites, read on 9 Nov 2026. Two of them sell homeowner leads, marked domestic; the rest are commercial or both. TNW Marketing publishes this guide and is one of the six.

• Lead Pronto (commercial)

  What "exclusive" means

  Exclusive leads "sold to one installer only"; shared leads "go to a small number of installers and cost less"

  What you buy

  Leads, or booked site surveys for the most engaged prospects

  Bad leads and missed appointments

  A rejection policy in every campaign; leads that miss the criteria agreed at the outset are replaced. Says 82% of booked appointments are attended

• Leads 2 Trade

  What "exclusive" means

  Depends on the product: Hot Key one installer, Premium (booked) up to 3, Qualified up to 4

  What you buy

  Premium leads: appointments booked and confirmed with the consumer

  Bad leads and missed appointments

  Premium leads have a "no pitch no fee" guarantee

• Clean Energy Group (CEG Ai)

  What "exclusive" means

  Calls its commercial leads exclusive

  What you buy

  Meetings with commercial and industrial clients

  Bad leads and missed appointments

  Page title promises "100% Refund"; says "We guarantee meetings with your ideal C&I clients". How a refund works is not stated on the page

• PoweredLeads (domestic)

  What "exclusive" means

  Every lead goes to one installer only and is never resold; area exclusivity also available

  What you buy

  Leads, not appointments

  Bad leads and missed appointments

  A lead that misses its standard (wrong number, wrong area, not the homeowner) is replaced free, "whenever you spot it"

• Watts Marketing (domestic)

  What "exclusive" means

  One company per household, never resold

  What you buy

  Booked, qualified appointments in your diary

  Bad leads and missed appointments

  Anything that does not go ahead is returned and replaced with a fresh lead; its page also says it comes back for credit

• TNW Marketing (commercial)

  What "exclusive" means

  One installer per appointment; nobody else is booked into the same site

  What you buy

  Pre-qualified commercial site meetings with the decision-maker

  Bad leads and missed appointments

  Charged only for attended appointments; a booking that misses the agreed brief is replaced

Three things stand out. Exclusivity is often a product choice rather than a promise about the supplier, so ask which product you are buying. A "booked" appointment is a meeting in your diary, and an "attended" one is a meeting that took place: the gap between the two is who pays for a no-show. And "guaranteed" can mean a checklist, no fee if you do not get to pitch, a number of meetings or money back, so read what it covers. The full list of suppliers, with prices, is in our comparison of 15 UK solar lead suppliers.

No-shows and bad leads: replacement policies compared

Every supplier has some bad leads and some meetings that fall through. What a replacement policy is worth comes down to four terms, and two policies that sound alike can differ on every one.

What counts as bad

A wrong number, the wrong area, not the owner, outside the agreed brief, a no-show, a cancellation. Each policy covers a different list.

How long you have

A dead number shows up on the first call. A tenant with no landlord consent may only show up at the survey a week later, so the window has to be longer than the time it takes you to find out.

What you get back

No charge at all, a replacement, a credit on your account or cash. A credit or a replacement is only worth something if you keep buying.

How you claim

A dashboard, an email or a reply to the delivery, with what evidence. Keep a copy of the terms you signed up to: web pages change.

Commercial appointments add a failure that a policy written for homeowner leads may not cover. A meeting can take place and still not be viable: the business turns out to be a tenant with no landlord consent, the roof cannot take the array, or the daytime electricity use is too low for the system to pay. A no-show is easy to prove; a site that is not viable is a judgement, so agree in writing what counts and who decides. At TNW Marketing, you only pay for appointments that are actually attended, and any that aren't viable we replace.

POCKLA, a UK lead seller that also sells booked solar appointments (homeowner surveys, exclusive to one installer and priced on a call, by its own account), has published two comparisons on this: what booked solar appointments are and nine sellers' prices and no-show terms (checked 4 Nov 2026), and 14 lead sellers' bad-lead policies (checked 2 Nov 2026). It found that the usual remedy for a bad lead is a replacement or an account credit, not a refund, and that time limits to report one run from 48 hours to none. Its own returns term is that invalid numbers are returned, with no time limit. Both pages cover mainly homeowner leads; the appointments page quotes TNW Marketing's price, correctly, as £250 to £1,000 plus VAT per attended commercial appointment. We read them on 9 Nov 2026; links are in the sources below.

What to agree before you buy

Put these to any supplier, us included, and get the answers in the agreement you sign rather than on a web page.

1. What exactly is booked: a site meeting at the business, a phone call or a callback request.
2. Who will be there: the person who signs off the spend, or whoever answered the phone.
3. Exclusive for how long: sold once for good, or exclusive for a set period, and never resold if you turn it down.
4. Whether you pay per booking or per meeting that takes place, and the price before or after VAT.
5. What counts as a no-show, a cancellation, a reschedule and an appointment that is not viable, and who decides.
6. How long you have to report each one, what evidence is needed and how the claim is made.
7. What you get back for each: no charge, a replacement, a credit or a refund, and whether credit expires.
8. Whether the terms are in the agreement you sign or only on a web page.

Then judge the supplier on what you paid per attended survey and per signed project, not per lead. Our guide to pay per appointment solar leads sets out what counts as an attended appointment at TNW Marketing.

How to check a supplier's claim

"Exclusive" does not always mean the same thing. Some suppliers sell only exclusive leads; others sell exclusive and shared versions at different prices. Four checks tell you which you are getting:

• Read the contract, not the website. It should say how many buyers each lead goes to and that it will not be resold later.
• Check the invoice. If the supplier sells both kinds, each line should say which one you bought.
• Ask the prospect. On the first call, ask whether any other installers have been in touch about the same enquiry. Log the answer for every lead.
• Agree the remedy. Decide in advance what happens if a lead sold as exclusive turns out not to be: a refund, a replacement or a credit.

Our explainer on how solar leads are priced has a fuller list of what "exclusive" should mean in writing, and the comparison of UK commercial solar lead suppliers and prices shows what each one says about exclusivity and no-shows on its own website. If you are pricing solar installation leads, check first whether they are homeowner or business enquiries: most sold under that name are domestic.

Questions to ask before you buy

1. How many installers receive each lead or appointment, and does the contract say so?
2. Is the lead ever resold later, for example if I turn it down or do not close it?
3. Whose name does the prospect hear when they are qualified and booked: yours, mine or another brand?
4. What checks are made before it reaches me: ownership or lease, energy spend, roof or land, decision-maker, timing?
5. What happens after a no-show, a cancellation or a lead that misses the brief: replaced, refunded, credited or nothing?
6. Am I paying per lead, per booked appointment or per attended appointment, and is there a retainer or minimum spend?

For the qualification side, use our commercial solar lead qualification checklist.

When shared leads can make sense

Shared leads are not a scam, and they suit some installers. They can make sense when:

• You install mostly domestic systems and win on volume, with a team that calls every lead within minutes.
• You are testing a new area or product and want a low cost per lead before committing more.
• Your price or lead time is genuinely better than most local competitors, so a straight quote-off suits you.
• You use them to top up a quiet week rather than as your main source of work.

They suit commercial work less well. Each commercial survey takes a surveyor out for most of a day, and the proposal takes longer still. If other installers are doing the same work for the same site, much of that effort is wasted, and the prospect learns to wait for the lowest price.

Pay per lead vs pay per appointment

Exclusivity is one question; what you pay for is another. Paying per lead buys contact details, and your team qualifies, books and confirms. Paying per appointment buys a meeting in your diary, with that work done first. A monthly retainer pays for activity, whatever it produces. See pay per lead vs retainer vs pay per appointment for the trade-offs side by side, and pay per appointment solar leads for how the model works in practice. If you would rather generate your own, exclusive by definition, our guide on how to generate commercial solar leads covers each channel.