Lead Smart Inc Voted a Top 3 Pay-Per-Call Network for the Seventh Consecutive Year

MUNDELEIN, Ill. - Lead Smart Inc, a US pay-per-call and lead-generation affiliate network specialising in home services, has been voted a top three pay-per-call network in OfferVault's Top Networks Survey for Summer 2026 - the seventh consecutive year the company has placed in the category's top three.

OfferVault's Top Networks Survey is voted on by the affiliate marketing community. Lead Smart placed first in the inaugural 2020 awards and has appeared in the top three of every survey since: second in 2021, third in Winter 2022, third in Summer 2023, second in Winter 2024, third in Summer 2025, second in Winter 2025 and third in Summer 2026. Lead Smart is separately ranked #6 among more than 400 pay-per-call networks in mThink's 2026 Blue Book rankings, which are based on a survey of over 20,000 performance marketers.

"Being voted into the top three by the affiliate community for seven straight years matters more to us than winning any single year would," said Seth Pikus, Chief Executive Officer of Lead Smart Inc. "Publishers vote with their experience. They vote on whether they got paid, whether their calls converted, and whether someone answered when they needed help. Seven years of that is a verdict on consistency, not on a marketing campaign."

GROWTH THAT REACHES THE AFFILIATE

Lead Smart reports substantial growth in 2026 across both publisher volume and buyer demand. Because the network operates on a performance model, that growth passes directly to its publishers.

"Our growth and our affiliates' earnings are the same number viewed from two sides," Pikus said. "We do not make money unless a publisher's call converts into work for a contractor. When we add buyers and improve payouts, our affiliates earn more in the same month we do. It is all in step, and that alignment is the entire reason the model works."

The network works with more than 10,000 registered affiliate publishers worldwide and serves buyers representing an estimated 50,000 or more home-service business locations nationwide. Those buyers include multi-market franchise groups and chains, private-equity-backed roll-ups consolidating plumbing and HVAC contractors, and marketing companies serving their own large client bases - which is why the network maintains live payout coverage in essentially every populated ZIP code rather than only in major metros.

SUPPORT AND EDUCATION AS THE GROWTH ENGINE

Asked what has driven 2026's growth, Pikus points to support rather than payouts. Lead Smart staffs a support team available to publishers throughout the working day, and runs two of the larger communities in pay-per-call marketing - a Skool community and a Facebook group - where the network publishes what is currently converting, teaches search-engine-optimisation practice for local service traffic, and works through campaigns with publishers directly.

"Our whole business model only works if the affiliate makes money. That is not a slogan, it is arithmetic," Pikus said. "So we run our support desk like a partner rather than a ticket queue, and we teach openly: what is converting this month, how to rank a local service site, what to stop wasting money on."

A GLOBAL PUBLISHER BASE

Lead Smart's publisher base is worldwide, with significant concentrations in Pakistan and India, where the network works with young, technically capable marketers earning US-dollar income from their home countries. Publishers there have reported single qualified calls paying close to $500 - more than a month's typical earnings in those markets.

"We have publishers in Pakistan and India who are as sharp as anyone I have worked with anywhere, and who simply did not have access to a market that pays in dollars," Pikus said. "When someone messages you that one call earned more than they usually make in a month, and that it changed things for their family, that is a different kind of result than a revenue number."

PUBLISHED PAYOUT COVERAGE

Lead Smart publishes live ZIP-code-level payout coverage publicly, refreshed every morning at 8am CST. As of 11 August 2026 the tool listed 416,715 ZIP-by-service payout rows across 27 active verticals, spanning all 50 states, Washington DC and Puerto Rico. Top net payouts per qualified lead on that date included $497.50 for water damage, $365.50 for fire damage restoration, $288.50 for biohazard remediation, $169.00 for roofing and $122.50 for HVAC. Alongside more than 200 home-service categories, the network also runs legal verticals - personal injury, auto accident and DUI/DWI.

FOUNDER'S PERSPECTIVE

"When I started Lead Smart in 2008, contractors were being sold the same lead as three of their competitors and calling it marketing," said Matthew Zivkovic, founder of Lead Smart Inc. "Eighteen years on, the model hasn't changed: a homeowner picks up the phone and one real contractor answers. What has changed is the scale - we can now do that across more than two hundred trades in every state."

In pay-per-call marketing, affiliate publishers are paid for generating qualified inbound phone calls rather than clicks or form fills. Lead Smart qualifies every call through its own call center before routing it to a buyer, and pays publishers on calls lasting 90 seconds or longer, with a $100 minimum payout and monthly payment terms.

Full details, the company's newsroom and the published payout data are available at https://leadsmartinc.com

Lead Smart Inc
75 E Division Street, Suite B
Mundelein, IL 60060
United States

Media contact: info@leadsmartinc.com
Telephone: (855) 466-5542
Website: https://leadsmartinc.com

Contact person: Seth Pikus, Chief Executive Officer
Seth Pikus and founder Matthew Zivkovic are available for interview.

Lead Smart Inc is a US-based pay-per-call and lead-generation affiliate network specialising in home services. Founded in 2008 by Matthew Zivkovic and led by CEO Seth Pikus, Lead Smart connects more than 10,000 registered affiliate publishers worldwide with buyers across more than 200 home-service categories plus legal verticals, serving an estimated 50,000-plus home-service business locations nationwide, and operates on a performance model where publishers earn on qualified inbound calls and set appointments. The network maintains live payout coverage in all 50 states, Washington DC and Puerto Rico, and publishes that coverage publicly. Lead Smart has been voted a top-three pay-per-call network in OfferVault's Top Networks Survey for seven consecutive years and is ranked #6 in mThink's 2026 Blue Book.

This release was published on openPR.