Before you pay for ads, check these 7 things.
Ads can send people your way. What happens next decides whether they turn into a job. This free checklist covers the 7 basics worth having in place before you spend a dollar on marketing.
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What happens when that lead reaches out?
If calls wait until the end of the day, web requests sit overnight and estimates never get a second touch, more ad spend won’t fix it. Ads bring people to you. Your foundation decides what happens next. Get the basics working first, and the leads you already get have a better chance of becoming jobs.
Seven basics, one at a time
Each one is something you can check and start fixing this week, with no agency and no big budget.
Call coverage.
What happens when you can’t pick up? Callers who reach a dead end often try the next number on the list.
Self-check: call your own business number at night or on a weekend. Does the caller hear something useful, and do you find out about the call the next morning?
Speed to lead.
When a request comes in, how fast does the customer hear back? Think minutes, not hours.
Self-check: send yourself a request through your own website form. How long until you get a reply, and is it a real answer?
Your Google Business Profile.
Your hours, service area, phone and recent photos should all be correct, because homeowners may check them before they call.
Self-check: search your business name on Google Maps. Is everything right?
Something to share.
Paper cards get lost. A link with your services, reviews and a way to request an estimate is easy to send from a job site.
Self-check: when someone asks for your info, can you text them a link?
Estimate follow-up.
Estimates that never get a second touch can go cold while you’re busy.
Self-check: pick the last five estimates you sent. Did each customer hear from you again?
Online reviews.
Ask every happy customer the same way, with a direct link and no incentives, as Google requires.
Self-check: after your last finished job, did the customer get a direct link to leave a Google review?
A CRM, or a plan to get one.
A spreadsheet and a pile of voicemails aren’t a pipeline.
Self-check: could you list last month’s leads, where it came from and what happened to it?
Every “no” is a place to start. None of these needs an ad budget.
Built for you, in your own CRM
- Call coverage: Pro adds an AI answering line that answers its own local number at any hour and emails you each caller’s details.
- Speed to lead: every estimate request and booking gets an instant email reply, and you get an alert.
- Something to share: a digital business card on your own link, with a request-an-estimate button.
- Estimate follow-up: 3-touch follow-up emails on estimates you’ve sent.
- Reviews: an automatic review-request email when you mark a job done.
- CRM: your own GoHighLevel CRM with a 9-stage pipeline.
- Google Business Profile: our free setup guide walks you through creating or claiming yours.
Built within 48 hours of your completed intake · No setup fee · From $197/mo, 3-month minimum