Most tradies run their marketing on gut feel. You throw a few dollars at Facebook, stick a magnet on the ute, maybe pay for a listing somewhere, and hope the phone rings. When it does, you're too flat out to notice why. When it doesn't, you've got no idea what to change.
The good news is you don't need to track everything. A handful of numbers, written down each week, will tell you more than any expensive report. Here are the ones that actually matter — and how to keep tabs on them without turning it into a second job.
Leads per week — your heartbeat number
A lead is anyone who reaches out wanting work done — a call, a text, a form, a message on socials. Counting them each week is the single most useful thing you can do. It's your heartbeat. When leads dip, you find out early instead of three quiet weeks later when the bank balance tells you.
Don't overthink it. A tally on the whiteboard or a line in a notebook is plenty. The point isn't the exact number — it's spotting the trend. Ten leads a week that slides to four means something's changed, and you want to know before it hurts.
Where they came from — always ask how they heard about you
This is the question that saves you the most money, and it costs you nothing. Every single time someone new gets in touch, ask how they found you. Then write it down. Within a month you'll have a clear picture of what's pulling its weight.
You'll probably be surprised. A lot of tradies discover the paid ad they've been feeding for months brings in less than a good review or a mate's referral. Once you know, you can pour more into what works and quietly kill what doesn't.
- Word of mouth or referral from a past customer
- Google search or your Google Business listing
- Social media — Facebook, Instagram, local groups
- Paid ads
- Signage, ute wrap, or a flyer
- A directory listing
Response time and missed calls — the sneaky ones
Here's the trap. You can nail every other number and still bleed jobs, because the leads are landing and nobody's answering fast enough. When you're up a ladder or under a house, the phone rings out — and most people who don't get through simply ring the next tradie. They don't leave a message. They don't try again. That job is just gone, and it never shows up as a lost lead because you never knew it existed.
So two numbers quietly decide whether all your marketing pays off: how many calls you miss, and how fast you get back to the ones you do. If half your leads never reach a human, spending more on ads just fills a leaky bucket.
How to plug the leak
This is where a tool earns its keep. InstantLead texts back your missed calls in under five seconds, asks the caller their name, the job and how urgent it is, then alerts you straight away — so a missed call becomes a captured lead instead of a lost one. It also quietly tracks how many leads you're catching and how quick your response time is, which turns two of your sneakiest metrics into numbers you can actually see.
Quote-to-job conversion — how good's your closing?
Count how many quotes you send and how many turn into paid work. If you're quoting ten jobs and winning eight, you're in great shape and should probably lift your prices. If you're winning two, the problem isn't leads — it's your pricing, your follow-up, or how long you take to get the quote out.
A low conversion rate is a gift, really. It means the work's already coming to you and you're leaving money on the table. Fixing your quoting is usually cheaper and faster than finding more leads.
Cost per lead and cost per job
Once you know your leads and where they came from, this is easy. Take what you spent on a channel and divide it by the leads it brought in — that's your cost per lead. Divide by the jobs it actually won and you've got cost per job, which is the number that really matters.
A channel with a cheap cost per lead can still be terrible if none of those leads book. Judge everything by cost per job, not cost per click or cost per lead. That's the figure that tells you what you paid to earn a dollar.
Reviews, repeat work and referrals
These three are the long game, and they're where the real money sits because they cost you almost nothing to earn again.
- Review count and rating — track how many Google reviews you've got and your star average. Aim to add a few every month; it's the first thing new customers check.
- Repeat rate — how many customers come back. Loyal regulars are the cheapest work you'll ever get.
- Referral rate — how many new leads come from happy customers sending mates your way. This is free marketing that compounds.
Keep it dead simple
You don't need software for most of this. A single spreadsheet with a row per week, or even a page in a notebook, will do. Columns for leads, where they came from, quotes sent, jobs won, and a running total of reviews. Five minutes each Friday and you're done.
The magic isn't the tool — it's the habit. Write the numbers down, glance at the trend, and let the pattern tell you where to spend your time and money. That beats guessing every day of the week.
Frequently Asked Questions
What's the one number I should track if I only track one?
Do I really need to ask every customer how they found me?
How do I know if I'm missing calls without following me around all day?
I'm hopeless with spreadsheets. Is there an easier way?
Stop guessing where your work comes from
You can't improve what you don't measure — and the leads slipping through missed calls are the ones you never even see. InstantLead catches those calls, captures the details and tracks your response time, so two of your most important numbers finally show up on paper. Your first month is free at portal.instantlead.com.au/register, and if you'd like a hand getting set up, get in touch.