Five lead sources and a hunch
You pay for a trade directory listing, take leads from a pay-per-lead site, run search ads in the winter, have a website and a van with your number on it. Word of mouth is still the best, you think. But when the directory renewal comes up, nobody can say how many of last year's jobs came from it, let alone how much they were worth.
The lead site sends plenty of enquiries. A lot of them are small repairs, or the customer never answers the phone. Is it worth it? It feels like it might not be.
Why the numbers never add up
Source is only captured if someone asks the caller and writes it down, and busy offices forget. Even when it is recorded, it sits in the enquiry list, and the quote, the job and the invoice are in different places. Joining them up is a spreadsheet job nobody has time for.
- The source of phone enquiries is not asked or recorded.
- Web form enquiries do not carry where the visitor came from.
- Lead site enquiries are handled in the lead site's app.
- Enquiries, quotes and invoices are not linked.
- Costs of each source are in the bank statement, not with the leads.
What guessing costs
You may be paying for sources that produce enquiries but little paid work, and underinvesting in the ones that bring bigger jobs. Surveyors spend time visiting leads that were never likely to buy. And when a busy season ends and you need work, you do not know which lever to pull.
There is a time cost too. Each survey visit takes a surveyor out for the best part of half a day with travel. If one source produces enquiries that rarely become jobs, those visits are the real price of the lead, not the fee on the invoice.
The lead source tracking we build
- Separate tracked phone numbers for each paid source, such as the directory listing, the ads and the van, so calls record their source automatically, using a call tracking provider.
- Website forms capture where the visitor came from, including ad campaigns, and store it with the enquiry.
- Enquiries from lead sites are brought in by email parsing or their API where one is offered.
- Every enquiry, from any channel, sits in one list with its source, and the office confirms the source for anything uncertain.
- The enquiry is linked through survey, quote, accepted job and paid invoice, so the value of work from each source is known.
- Monthly costs of each source are entered or pulled from your accounts.
- A report shows, per source, enquiries, surveys, quotes, jobs won and paid value against cost, over any period you choose.
| Source | How it is captured |
|---|---|
| Trade directory | Tracked number, profile link |
| Pay-per-lead site | Email parsing or API |
| Search ads | Campaign details on web forms, tracked number |
| Van and boards | Tracked number |
| Referral | Asked and confirmed by the office |
The report shows what happened. Deciding where to spend is still your call.
What you can decide with it
Renewal decisions get based on paid work, not enquiry counts. You can see which sources bring re-roofs and which bring small repairs, and plan survey time accordingly. And if a source dries up, you notice in weeks rather than at year end.
Do you know where your jobs come from?
- You pay for several lead sources.
- Callers are not reliably asked how they found you.
- You cannot link a paid invoice back to its source.
- Renewal decisions are made on gut feel.