The advertising is the easy half. Enquiries can be bought fairly predictably — the harder question is what happens to them in the first hour. Most campaigns don't fail to bring work because there are too few leads, but because the lead goes cold before anyone calls back. (If it's the budget side you're after: what Google Ads costs.)
A lead is perishable
An enquiry is worth most at the moment they're thinking about you: they've just filled in the form, they have two other quotes open, and they haven't decided. A few hours later that same person is listening to someone else; three days later they don't even remember where they left their number.
That's why our contract says you call enquiries back within 4 working hours. It isn't a formality: it's the one condition we can't fulfil for you — and most campaigns stand or fall on it.
What should happen in the first minute
A good process isn't only about calling quickly — it's also about the enquirer knowing straight away that their message arrived.
- An automatic confirmation. An e-mail or WhatsApp message confirming you've received it and saying when you'll be in touch. That few-second step is what removes the “the form probably vanished” feeling.
- A notification to whoever will make the call. Not into a shared inbox where everyone assumes someone else will handle it.
- One place where the status is visible. Have we called? What did they say? When do we try again? If that only lives in someone's head, it's lost by the third lead.
Follow-up brings in most of the work
One call isn't enough. The enquirer doesn't pick up because they're working; they mean to call back, but something comes up. Anyone who only tries once is handing part of their own leads to the competition.
A sustainable minimum: first call within 4 working hours; if they don't answer, a message the same day; then two more attempts that week, at a different time of day. After that it can move to the slower track — a check-in after a few weeks, a newsletter — but don't throw it away.
Decide up front: what counts as a lead
Most disputes come from the agency and the client meaning different things by “lead”. That's why our definition is in the contract, and all four conditions must be met: real contact details · in your area · a specific need · they saw the price. What doesn't count: a wrong number, the same person twice, competitors, job seekers, anyone outside your catchment area, and enquiries with no specific need. The full definition is here.
The last condition is the one most often skipped. If the ad and the landing page show the starting price, the price isn't a surprise on the phone — and you don't spend twenty conversations with people it was never going to suit.
The maths: closing better is cheaper than buying more
Take a modelled worked example — not any specific client's data. 80 qualified leads a month produce 5 signed jobs: a 6.25% close rate.
Close those same 80 leads at 10% and it's 8 jobs — three extra jobs for zero extra ad budget. To get those same three at a 6.25% close rate you'd have to buy 48 more leads, which depending on the cost per lead is roughly 150 000–380 000 HUF of extra ad spend.
So callback time and consistent follow-up aren't a “soft” topic: they're the fastest-returning part of the whole process. And that's exactly why our guarantee covers the lead target, not the signed job. We can commit to the lead; closing is decided on your side — there we can help at most.
Where leads get lost in practice
- The form goes to an inbox someone checks once a day.
- The ad runs at the weekend too, but nobody calls back until Monday.
- Nobody owns it — everyone assumes someone else is handling it.
- The lead is closed after one call because “they didn't answer”.
- There's no price in the ad, so half the conversations are about price rather than the job.
- Nobody records what happened — so next month the same mistake repeats.
The bottom line
You can buy an enquiry; you can't buy trust. Three things decide what happens in between: how fast you reply, how many times you try, and whether the enquirer knows roughly what it costs beforehand. Get those three right and the same ad budget brings noticeably more work.
If callbacks and follow-up currently run on memory and paper: this is what we automate, and the SOULSILVER CRM shows where every enquiry stands.
Related articles
- What Google Ads costs, and the budget your lead target needs
- Why your website is slow — and what a slow landing page costs you
Want us to handle it?
If you'd rather not deal with this, SOULSILVER takes it over. We build campaigns that produce actual enquiries — and we put the lead target in the contract. This is how we win clients, or write to info@soulsilvermarketing.com.