Why a tradie needs a lead log, not a CRM
Lead tracking sounds like something a sales team does in an office. For a one-van business it is a running list of every person who asked for a price, where they found you, what happened next, and whether you won the job.
You do not need a CRM to do this. You need a sheet you can open on your phone and a habit of filling it in. Six months from now you can then answer questions like 'is hipages actually worth it' and 'why do I keep losing bathroom quotes' with numbers instead of a hunch. Think of it as a job book for work you nearly did.
Where your enquiries are really coming from
Before you track anything you need an honest list of the ways people reach you. For most Australian tradies it is short:
- Google Business Profile: the map listing that shows up when someone searches 'electrician Joondalup'. Usually a phone call.
- Word of mouth: a mate, a neighbour, a previous customer.
- Lead marketplaces: hipages, Oneflare, ServiceSeeking. You pay per lead or per month and the enquiry lands in an app inbox.
- Local Facebook groups: someone posts 'anyone know a good plumber in Frankston' and you get tagged.
- Van and site signage: a call from an unknown number while you are parked in someone's driveway.
- Google Ads or a website form: if you run ads or have a contact form.
- The missed call: a number that rang once while you were up a ladder and never rang again.
That last one is a real channel. It is just the one nobody records. It will matter later.
The free setup: one sheet, six columns
Open Google Sheets on your phone. One tab, six columns. That is the whole system, and it costs nothing.
The six columns
- Date and time enquired: when they first called, texted or messaged. Not when you replied.
- Name and number: enough to find them again. Add the suburb if you cover a big area.
- Source: one word from your channel list above. Google, referral, hipages, Facebook, sign, ad, missed call.
- Job: a few words. 'Hot water unit replacement, Logan' or 'Switchboard upgrade plus two fans'.
- Status: a short code from the list below.
- Value: what you quoted, and later what you actually invoiced. Leave blank until you know.
Add a seventh column for 'time I replied' if you want to measure your response speed. It is worth it.
Status codes that actually mean something
Keep the codes short so you will actually use them from the ute. Five is plenty:
- NEW: they have enquired, you have not spoken to them properly yet.
- QUOTED: you have given a price, in writing or over the phone.
- WON: they said yes and the job is booked.
- LOST: they said no, went elsewhere, or went quiet for more than two weeks.
- DEAD: not a real lead. Wrong trade, outside your area, or a spam call.
The difference between LOST and DEAD matters. A Frankston plumber getting ten marketplace enquiries from Geelong has a targeting problem, not a sales problem. Marking those DEAD keeps your win rate honest.
Asking 'how did you find us' without it being weird
The source column is the one most tradies leave blank because asking feels awkward. It is not, if you fold it into the conversation: 'No worries, I can get out there Thursday arvo. Just so I know, did you find me on Google or did someone pass my number on?' Nine out of ten people answer without thinking. If they came through hipages or a Facebook tag you already know, so only ask when the call comes out of the blue.
The five-minute habit that keeps it alive
A sheet you fill in once a fortnight is worse than no sheet, because you will trust numbers missing half the story. The habit that works is two touch points a day and one a week.
- Smoko: add anyone who has called or messaged since you knocked off yesterday. Name, number, source, job. Thirty seconds each.
- End of day: update statuses. Who got a quote today, who said yes, who has gone quiet.
- Friday arvo: scan for anything sitting in QUOTED for more than five days and send a chase text.
That chase text can be two lines. 'Hi Sarah, Mick from Logan Sparks here. Any questions on the switchboard quote? Happy to lock in a date whenever suits.' Plenty of people were simply waiting for a nudge.
Slow follow-up is not a tradie-only problem. According to LocaliQ's 2026 lead tracking guide, 41% of businesses say they struggle to get back to leads quickly. A sole trader at least has a good excuse: they were on the tools. The sheet makes sure nobody falls off the list while you are busy.
What the sheet tells you after a month
Thirty days of honest entries is enough for three calculations worth doing.
Cost per won job, by channel
Filter by source, count the WONs, and divide what you spent on that channel by that number. Say a plumber in Frankston spent $450 on marketplace leads last month, received 14 enquiries, marked 3 as DEAD, quoted 9, and won 3. That is $150 per won job. Meanwhile Google Business Profile cost nothing, brought 8 calls, and 5 turned into work.
That does not mean cancel the marketplace. Paying $150 to win a $2,800 hot water job is fine. But it does tell you where an extra hour of effort should go: more reviews on the free listing, not topping up the paid one.
Response time and win rate
If you added the 'time I replied' column, sort by it. Most tradies find a clear line: enquiries answered within the hour close far more often than ones answered the next morning. Seeing that in your own numbers changes how you handle the phone on site.
Where jobs are stalling
Count how many leads sit at each status. Lots stuck at NEW means a call-back problem. Most reaching QUOTED and then going LOST points at pricing, quote presentation, or how long you take to send it. A sparky in Logan who loses most quotes over $3,000 but wins nearly everything under $1,000 has learned something no marketing course would tell them.
Three ways tradies quietly wreck their tracking
The sheet only works if what goes into it is close to complete. These are the usual leaks.
Missed calls never make the sheet. If someone rings while you are under a house, leaves no message, and you never call back, that enquiry never existed as far as your numbers are concerned. Your win rate looks great and your lead count looks low, and both are wrong. Log every unknown number that rings during work hours as NEW with source 'missed call'. If that is too much admin, a missed-call text-back service such as InstantLead will reply automatically, collect the job details by text, and keep a record you can copy into the sheet later.
Two rows for the same lead. A customer messages on Facebook, then calls, then their partner emails through the website. Three rows, one job. Search the sheet for the number or surname before adding a row. Duplicates inflate your enquiry count and shrink your win rate.
Statuses that never change. A row that says QUOTED for three months is a lie. Set a rule: anything untouched 14 days after a quote gets one chase text, then gets marked LOST. Stale rows are what make people stop trusting the sheet, and once you stop trusting it you stop filling it in.
When the spreadsheet stops being enough
The free setup carries a sole trader a long way. Signs it is time to move on:
- You are logging more than 30 or 40 enquiries a month and the smoko update is taking longer than smoko.
- A second person, an apprentice or your partner, is now answering the phone and you both need the same list.
- A lot of your enquiries land after 5pm or on weekends, and by the time you see them the customer has booked someone else.
- You want people to book a slot without ringing you at all.
At that point the job is less about tracking and more about capture. A tool that texts back every missed call, asks the customer what the job is and where they are, and lets them pick a time from your calendar takes the first few columns off your plate. InstantLead does exactly that for Australian tradies, and the record it keeps is the same six columns, just filled in for you.
Until then, the sheet is enough. Start it this week, fill it in at smoko, and read the numbers on the last Friday of the month. That alone puts you ahead of most of the vans on your street.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I really need to track leads if I am already busy enough?
What is the best free app for tracking tradie leads?
How do I find out where a lead came from if they just rang?
How long should I chase a quote before marking it lost?
Should I count missed calls as leads?
Stop losing the leads you never see
A lead sheet tells you what happened to every enquiry. InstantLead makes sure there is an enquiry to write down in the first place. When you miss a call on site, it texts the customer back within seconds, collects the job details and suburb by AI, and lets them book a time straight into your calendar, all logged for you. Your first month is free at portal.instantlead.com.au/register, with no lock-in. If you would like to see how it would work for your trade, get in touch and we will walk you through it in ten minutes.