Are bought leads worth it?

Here is the answer both sides get wrong. Bought leads are a time machine: they compress months of DIY audience-building into a list you can call today. That compression has real value, IF you supply the part no company can sell you: fast first contact, five-plus follow-ups, decent conversation skills, and expectations rooted in reality. Where bought leads get their bad name is the buyer who calls once, three days late, pitches at whoever answers, and blames the list. Same leads, worked properly, build businesses every single day. So the real question is not whether bought leads work. It is whether YOUR follow-up works. Fix that first and leads become fuel. Skip it and no lead source on earth can save the engine.