Choose the stage that relieves your intake bottleneck
A capable outreach team can develop raw inquiries through its own process. Qualified leads move first-pass screening upstream, giving staff more time for follow-up and remaining checks. Retainer programs include the initial signing step so your team can focus on onboarding and case review. The value is choosing the work you need covered, then measuring the results against the total effort your firm invests.
Raw leads provide the agreed contact and inquiry information for your team to work. Qualified leads add screening against the questions and requirements your firm provides. Retainer programs deliver signed retainers under the agreed campaign scope and firm-approved process. Each is a distinct purchased deliverable.
Before buying, agree on what makes a delivered inquiry billable. “Qualified” should refer to specific campaign criteria. Screening answers can identify a potential fit; they do not automatically establish a diagnosis, confirm exposure through records or determine legal eligibility.
An initial inquiry with the agreed contact details and form responses, before the additional screening included in a qualified-lead program.
- Why it helps your firm
- Put your own intake expertise to work. If your team is effective at outreach and screening, raw inquiries let you develop prospects through your process without purchasing an additional qualification stage.
- What you receive
- The information captured at inquiry, such as name, contact details, campaign interest and available responses. Required fields are set in the campaign brief.
- Your team’s next step
- Your team owns outreach, screening and follow-up. This format fits a firm that wants to run its own qualification process and has the capacity to work new inquiries.
- Define before launch
- Required fields, delivery timing, source and permission evidence, duplicate handling, and whether delivery is exclusive or shared. Raw does not mean qualified.
Lead delivery reserved for your firm within the supplier, resale and time limits written into the campaign agreement.
- Why it helps your firm
- Limit competing delivery by the supplier within the agreed scope. Your team has more room to develop the relationship without that supplier sending the same inquiry to multiple buyers at the same time.
- What you receive
- The purchased lead format with the agreed exclusivity. Exclusivity describes distribution; raw, qualified and retainer describe the stage of the deliverable.
- Your team’s next step
- Work the inquiry according to its stage. Exclusivity does not establish case quality or mean the person has never contacted another firm independently.
- Define before launch
- Who the exclusivity promise covers, how long it lasts, resale restrictions and duplicate rules. Specify the screening or retainer scope separately.
An inquiry that may also be delivered to other buyers under the distribution terms agreed for the campaign.
- Why it helps your firm
- Consider a different balance of purchase price and available volume. A team with fast, consistent follow-up can assess whether the shared program’s actual signing economics justify competition for the inquiry.
- What you receive
- The agreed inquiry or screening information without a promise of delivery only to your firm. Set the permitted number of buyers and delivery timing before launch.
- Your team’s next step
- Plan prompt, coordinated outreach and check for prior contact or representation during intake. Compare actual contact and signing results alongside the purchase price.
- Define before launch
- Buyer limits, simultaneous or sequential delivery, screening depth, resale rules, duplicate handling and the contact permissions that apply to your firm.
Inquiries screened against the questions, required answers and disqualifiers supplied by your firm.
- Why it helps your firm
- Move first-pass screening ahead of your staff’s follow-up. Required answers and disqualifiers help filter known mismatches, while the responses give intake a starting point for remaining checks and a more purposeful conversation.
- What you receive
- Contact details plus the agreed screening responses and qualification context. Your brief may cover exposure, timing, reported diagnosis, geography and representation status.
- Your team’s next step
- Your team reviews the answers, contacts the prospect and completes any remaining intake, records review and representation steps. Self-reported answers are not medical-record verification.
- Define before launch
- The exact criteria, what evidence is included, which answers are self-reported, delivery fields, exclusive or shared distribution, and the review process.
A program whose agreed deliverable includes signed, firm-approved retainer documents and the specified intake information.
- Why it helps your firm
- Include the initial signing step in the purchased scope. Your team can concentrate on onboarding, obtaining outstanding evidence and reviewing the matter instead of owning every step from the first inquiry.
- What you receive
- The signed documents and supporting intake packet defined for the campaign. Document collection and records verification are separate scope decisions.
- Your team’s next step
- Your firm reviews the packet, completes onboarding and outstanding evidence checks, and determines final case acceptance. A signed retainer does not establish that all acceptance requirements are satisfied.
- Define before launch
- Approved forms, signature requirements, screening criteria, required packet contents, review windows and responsibility for missing information or later records.
Match distribution to your follow-up strategy
Exclusivity limits competing delivery by the supplier, giving your team room to develop the relationship within the agreed terms. Shared delivery offers another pricing and volume option for firms with prompt, consistent follow-up. Compare actual signing results and staff effort to decide which arrangement makes commercial sense for your campaign.
Raw leads and qualified leads describe how much screening has taken place. Exclusive leads and shared leads describe who can receive the inquiry. A shared lead can still be screened against agreed questions; an exclusive lead still requires the follow-up appropriate to its stage.
For an exclusive program, define the supplier scope, duration and resale restrictions. For shared delivery, agree on the permitted number of buyers and whether delivery is simultaneous or sequential. Neither label establishes legal eligibility or guarantees a retainer.
Translate the claimant profile into a usable brief
Your scripted qualifiers turn a broad tort category into the specific prospect your firm wants to review. Required answers create a consistent starting standard across sources; hard disqualifiers help stop known mismatches before they consume staff time. Separate those rules from information your team can collect later, so a useful inquiry is not rejected simply because later-stage evidence is still outstanding.
- Product, exposure and timing questions establish the initial fit your staff would otherwise need to assess from scratch.
- Reported injury or diagnosis helps intake prioritize review; labeling self-reported answers makes the remaining evidence work clear.
- Geography and representation questions flag defined exclusions early, helping protect staff time from avoidable mismatches.
- Assign evidence collection and review to a named party, so promising inquiries do not stall over unclear responsibility.
- Use an approved source and question brief, with the required permission evidence, to make deliveries easier for your firm to review consistently.
Build the handoff around intake capacity
A useful campaign protects the opportunities you pay for. Agreed delivery hours and caps help keep inquiry volume within your team’s follow-up capacity. Required fields give staff the context to act, and a defined acknowledgment helps surface handoff problems. Adjust the schedule or cap when the team cannot work more inquiries promptly, rather than letting a backlog grow.
Define duplicate matching and review windows before launch. For an exclusive program, state exactly who may receive or resell the delivery. Exclusivity from a supplier does not prove that the person has never approached another firm.
Where TortHarbor fits
TortHarbor coordinates inbound calls, exclusive & shared leads and traffic through one relationship. Give us one brief and a consistent set of screening requirements, then bring source or delivery concerns to one partner. That reduces repeat onboarding and vendor coordination for your team while giving you options to adjust the acquisition mix as capacity changes. Transfers screened by our proprietary AI qualification engine are an additional option when a live handoff fits your operation.
Start with one tort and a scoped pilot. Confirm the criteria, delivery method, billable event, exclusivity terms, review process and funding before launch. Availability and commercial commitments are established in the campaign agreement.
Evaluate the outcome beyond cost per lead
Use downstream outcomes to decide where the next acquisition dollar belongs. Compare spend with contacted inquiries, signed retainers and firm-accepted cases from the same delivery cohort. Separate wrong numbers, screening mismatches and later records issues so feedback points to an actionable change in sourcing, questions or intake, instead of one unexplained “bad lead” category.
Use your own conversion assumptions in the acquisition calculator. Then replace those assumptions with reconciled campaign outcomes. Price per lead alone cannot tell you which source creates the more useful intake opportunity.
Plan the next step with your intake team.
Turn your claimant profile into specific questions, acceptable answers and hard disqualifiers. A shared brief gives sources a consistent standard and helps keep your team from spending time on known mismatches.
- Identify exposure or product, relevant dates, reported injury, geography and representation questions.
- Separate information needed before delivery from evidence your team will collect later.
- Choose the format, distribution terms, budget, daily cap and staffed delivery hours.
- Name the people who approve criteria, receive deliveries and reconcile outcomes.
These describe different stages. Keeping them separate helps your team understand what it is buying and what remains to be done.
- Screened: responses have been assessed against the campaign’s questions and rules.
- Verified: specified facts have been checked against identified evidence; define which checks are included.
- Retained: the agreed retainer documents have been signed.
- Accepted: your firm has completed the review it requires to accept the case. Neither screening nor a signature guarantees that result.
Outcome feedback turns intake experience into acquisition decisions. Track the same group of deliveries over time so we can identify where prospects stop progressing and discuss changes to sources, screening or handoff.
- Keep delivered, contacted, screened, retained and accepted counts separate.
- Record why an inquiry did not progress, such as unreachable, screening mismatch or insufficient supporting evidence.
- Allow for your intake and records-review cycle before comparing results.
- Use reconciled outcomes to discuss source mix, questions, delivery timing and capacity for the next phase.
Questions before you start
Do you supply exclusive and shared leads?
Yes. Exclusive leads are reserved for your firm within the written terms; shared leads may also go to other buyers within agreed limits. Define raw or qualified separately from distribution. Retainer programs have their own agreed scope.
Does shared mean unqualified?
No. Shared describes distribution, while qualified describes screening. Agree on the qualification requirements and the permitted buyers separately. Available combinations depend on the campaign.
Can we use our own intake team?
Yes. The campaign can be scoped around your firm’s required fields, hours and review process. Any system connection or delivery method is confirmed before launch.
How much do mass tort leads cost?
Pricing depends on the campaign, screening, source mix and delivery terms. TortHarbor does not publish a universal rate card. The calculator uses illustrative inputs rather than quoted prices.