These guides are written for owners who want to fix things themselves, or at least understand the problem before paying anyone. Each one is long because the subject needs it, and each ends with something you can do this week. If you read them and decide you don't need help, that is a fine outcome.
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How to diagnose your biggest marketing problem in 20 minutes
Four numbers from last month (enquiries, enquiries answered, quotes and jobs won) reveal most of what is wrong with a trades business's marketing. This guide shows how to collect them, read them and rank your problems by cost.
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The lead quality scorecard: find out which lead sources are worth paying for
A lead source that looks cheap per lead can be the most expensive per job. This guide shows how to score every enquiry in a few seconds and, after 60 days, rank your sources by what a won job actually costs.
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Marketing in two hours a week: a routine for owners who are on the tools
You can't do everything, and you don't need to. Five tasks, done every week in about two hours, keep a trades business visible, trusted and reachable. This guide sets out the routine and the shortcuts.
Guide 1: Diagnose your biggest marketing problem
Answer first: this guide shows you how to work out which of the four problems (too few leads, bad leads, no reviews, no time) is costing you the most money, using numbers you already have.
It covers:
- The four numbers every trades business should know: enquiries, enquiries answered, quotes and jobs won
- How to find the missing numbers if you don't track them yet
- Warning signs for each problem, and the problems that disguise themselves as other problems
- How to put a monthly dollar figure on each one so you can rank them
Read this one first. It decides which of the other guides is worth your time.
Guide 2: The lead quality scorecard
Answer first: this guide shows how to score every enquiry in a few seconds and, after 60 days, see which lead sources are worth paying for.
It covers:
- What makes a lead bad, and how to tell a bad lead from a fair lost quote
- A three-part score for fit, timing and budget signal that the office can apply on every call
- How to set the scorecard up in a spreadsheet, with columns and formulas described in plain words
- How to read the results: cost per qualified lead and cost per won job by source
- What to change first when one source scores badly
This guide is for owners with the bad-leads problem, but it is useful to anyone spending money on more than one lead source.
Guide 3: Marketing in two hours a week
Answer first: this guide gives a weekly routine that keeps the basics running in about two hours, for owners who can't hand the work off yet.
It covers:
- The five tasks that matter most and the many that can wait
- A week-by-week routine, with the Google Business Profile, reviews, photos and quote follow-up fitted in
- Which tasks to automate first, and which to hand to the office
- How to know when two hours a week is no longer enough
It pairs with the no-time fix, which is the done-for-you version of the same idea.
Which guide fits which owner
Answer first: pick the guide that matches the sentence you'd use to describe your week.
| If you'd say… | Start with |
|---|---|
| "Something's off but I don't know what" | Diagnose your biggest marketing problem |
| "We get calls, but they're rubbish" | The lead quality scorecard |
| "I know what to do, I just never do it" | Marketing in two hours a week |
| "The phone's quiet" | Diagnose first, then the scorecard if leads turn out to be poor |
A quiet phone sends people to the diagnosis guide rather than straight to buying more leads, because a quiet phone is often an unanswered phone.
How these guides were written
Each guide comes from the same diagnostic approach we use with clients, as described on the about page. The arithmetic examples use round, made-up numbers so you can follow them and swap in your own. Where a guide mentions a Canadian rule, such as consent for commercial texts and emails, it links the official source and dates the reference. Nothing in these guides is legal advice.
When a guide leaves you with a question, call, text or email. If it turns out you need help with more than one problem, the services overview explains how we rank and fix them in order.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need software to use these guides?
No. A spreadsheet, your phone records and your job list are enough. Where a tool helps, the guide says what kind and why, without pushing a brand.
Which guide should I read first?
The self-diagnosis guide. It tells you which of the four problems costs you the most, and that decides whether the other two guides matter to you right now.
Are these guides specific to one trade?
No. They work for any trades or home-service business. Where the advice differs between urgent trades and project trades, the guides say so.