Not enough leads: find the leak before you pay for more traffic

Step one: the leak audit

The first two weeks go into finding out where enquiries die. Answer first: most lost leads in trades die on the phone, not on Google.

We look at five places, in this order:

1. Calls. How many calls went unanswered last month, and how many callers left no voicemail? Most phone systems and call-tracking tools can show this. Owners are often surprised by the number.
2. After-hours handling. Emergency trades get a large share of their best calls in the evening and on weekends. If those go to a full voicemail box, the caller calls the next name on the list.
3. Google Business Profile. Wrong primary category, missing services, outdated hours, a service area that doesn't match where you work, or no photos from the past year.
4. Website pages. If you want more panel upgrades or more roof replacements but have no page for that job, Google has little reason to show you for it.
5. Quote follow-up. Quotes sent and never chased are leads that became silence.

Each leak gets a monthly dollar estimate, so you can see which ones to close first.

Step two: close the leaks

Closing leaks is usually cheaper than buying traffic, and it makes every later dollar work harder.

Typical fixes include a call-answering plan (a person, a service or a text-back for missed calls), a cleaned-up Google Business Profile, a service page for each job type you want more of, and a simple follow-up routine for open quotes. If missed calls are the main leak, a missed-call text-back tool such as the ones described on CallText.chat can recover a share of callers who would otherwise move on.

Step three: add channels that fit your trade

Only after the leaks are closed do we add demand, and the channel depends on how fast your customers decide.

A renovation company that buys "emergency" style ads wastes money; a plumber who waits for organic rankings loses the urgent calls in the meantime.

What's included

• Leak audit with a dollar estimate for each leak
• Google Business Profile review and corrections
• Call tracking so every channel's calls are counted
• Service pages for the jobs you want more of
• Channel plan and setup (search ads, Local Services Ads or organic, as fits)
• A monthly report built around enquiries reached, quotes and jobs, not clicks

Timeline and how results are measured

Month one is the audit and the leak fixes. Months two and three add the first new channel and collect enough data to judge it. Organic search work keeps compounding after that.

We measure four things every month: enquiries received, enquiries that reached a person, quotes issued and jobs won. Clicks and impressions appear in the report only as supporting detail. If enquiries rise but jobs don't, the problem has moved and we say so; it may now be a lead-quality problem.

Mistakes to avoid

• Buying traffic into a leaky phone line. Fix answering first.
• Copying a competitor's channel mix. Their trade, area or capacity may differ from yours.
• Judging a new channel after ten days. Search ads need several weeks of data; organic work needs months.
• Counting form fills and calls the same way. A three-minute call is not the same as a 15-second hang-up. Call tracking with duration shows the difference.

For proof of the method, see BCWide.ca, which reached 3× leads in 90 days, and CanroHeat.ca, with 250% lead growth. Those are results from our HVAC work, explained on the results page. To work out your own leak, start with the self-diagnosis guide, or call, text or email us.