When a trade owner tells me they need more leads, the first thing I ask is what happened to the ones they already got. Very often the answer is a lot of quotes going out and very few coming back as jobs. That's not a leads problem. That's a funnel problem.
The way I put it: you've got a bucket full of holes, and everyone's trying to sell you more water. You don't need more water. You need the holes patched.
Where the holes usually are
Missed calls with no callback
If you're on a job, you're not answering the phone. Most people who hit voicemail don't leave a message; they call the next name on the list. With no text-back and no fast callback, those jobs are gone before you knew they existed.
One person doing everything
In a lot of shops the owner is the estimator, the phone, and the scheduler, on top of the actual work. Something has to give, and it's usually the follow-up.
No intake questions
Without a short, written set of questions for every call (what's the problem, how old is the house, when do you need it, how did you find us), every call goes differently. You can't tell a real job from a tire-kicker until you've already driven out.
Quotes that go quiet
A quote with no follow-up is a coin flip. A simple text a couple of days later closes more than you'd think, and it costs nothing.
No price book
If every price lives in your head, you're the only one who can quote, and two customers with the same job can get two different numbers. A written price book fixes both.
Patch first, then pour
Fix those and the leads you already get start turning into more jobs. Then, when you do spend on ads or SEO, more of what you pay for actually lands on your calendar.
Want a rough idea of what one of these holes costs? The missed-call calculator works it out from published industry figures, no email needed. For the full picture on your shop, book a free diagnostic call.