Why so Many of Your Leads Are Junk

Most of your leads feel like junk because the bad ones are loud and the good ones are quiet. One tire-kicker at 9 p.m. sticks in your head. Ten ordinary jobs booked without a fuss do not. So the junk you feel is usually higher than the junk you count. And when you do count, the main problem is rarely spam. It is a lead that is real but not for you.

I am not going to tell you what share of leads are junk. I do not have a number I trust, and anyone who gives you one for your trade and city is guessing. Count your own month. It takes a pencil.

Junk Leads From Google Ads: How to Count a Month

1. Take every lead from one month. A lead here is a call or form that turned into a person with a name, a phone and an address, or tried to.
2. Write one line per lead: the date, and what happened. Booked, wrong job, wrong place, can't do it in time, price shopper, no answer, spam.
3. Add up each reason.
4. Compare it with what you felt.

That is the whole method. Everything below is what the count usually shows.

Four Ways a Lead Is Wrong

1. Wrong Job

You do garage door springs and they want a new opener installed on a Saturday, or an HVAC job for a trade you do not do. Check it: the number of leads asking for something you do not offer. Fix: your ad's words and your negative keywords.

2. Wrong Place

A real customer, forty miles out. Check it: the ZIPs of the lost leads. Fix: your ad's location setting.

3. Wrong Size or Time

The job is too big for one truck, or they need it in an hour and you are booked. Check it: the notes on the lost ones. This is not junk. It is capacity.

4. Wrong Person

Someone asking the price of a thing and never meaning to book. Some will, later. Check it: did they pick up when you called back, and did you call back the same day?

And Then Spam

Real, but usually the smallest bin. If your count shows it is large, tell your ads person with the evidence. If it is small, stop letting it set the mood.

Felt Against Counted

What to Do With the Count

• If wrong job and wrong place lead, change the ad words and the area. Your ads person can do it from your count.
• If wrong time leads, look at your calendar, not your ads.
• If no answer leads, the problem is how fast you call back.
• Count the same month again after the change.

HeadHoncho keeps the evidence for you: every job has its source, its status and, if you canceled it, why you canceled it, which you can filter and count. That reason is how a count like the one above happens without a pencil. Read the rest of the picture in Is My Marketing Working?, and see how the app shows booked jobs against spend on How It Works.