Lead source tracking means recording where every lead came from, then following each one to the end: whether it became a site visit, a proposal, a signed job and how much revenue. Counting leads per source isn’t enough. The source that sends the most calls isn’t always the one that books the most work, and a growing contractor spends real money and estimator time on every source.
This lesson shows how to set up a source list your team uses the same way, the columns a lead tracking spreadsheet needs, how to read a source report, and how to turn marketing up or down to match what your crews can actually deliver.
Why “how many leads did we get?” is the wrong question
A lead costs money to get and time to work: the first call, the site visit, the proposal, the follow-up. A source that sends 60 leads and 3 jobs can cost more, in money and estimator hours, than a source that sends 12 leads and 5 jobs.
To compare sources fairly, you need to follow each lead past the first call. That only works if the source is recorded at the start, the same way by everyone.
Step 1: Set one source list
Pick 8 to 12 sources that cover where your leads really come from. Example list:
- Google Business Profile
- Website (found you in search)
- Google Ads
- Lead service (one line per service you pay)
- Referral: past customer
- Referral: partner business (designer, realtor, supplier, another trade)
- Repeat customer
- Yard sign or truck
- Social media
- Home show or event
- Other (with a note)
Rules that keep it clean:
- One source per lead: where they first heard about you. If a referral then looked you up on Google, it’s a referral.
- Recorded at first contact, by whoever takes the call or reads the form. A required field, not an optional one.
- Ask, then check. “How did you hear about us?” on every call. If the lead came through a form, ad or lead service, the source is already known.
- No new sources without a decision. Twelve spellings of “Google” make the report useless.
Step 2: Track each lead to the end
One row per lead. If you use a spreadsheet, these are the columns:
| Column | Example |
|---|---|
| Date received | Oct 3 |
| Customer | J. Rivera |
| Source | Referral: past customer |
| Job type | Bathroom |
| Qualified (go / maybe / no-go) | Go |
| Site visit date | Oct 7 |
| Proposal amount | $34,500 |
| Outcome | Won / lost / open |
| Won amount | $34,500 |
| Lost reason | (from your fixed list) |
| Owner | Estimator’s name |
The source comes from Step 1; the qualification and outcome columns come from the earlier lessons in this course. Lead tracking puts them in one row, so they can be counted by source.
Step 3: Read the source report
Once a month, or once a quarter if your volume is low, total the rows by source. A quarter’s numbers, made up to show the method:
| Source | Leads | Proposals | Won | Revenue | Spend | Close rate | Cost per won job |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lead service | 60 | 14 | 3 | $96,000 | $4,200 | 21% | $1,400 |
| Google Ads | 30 | 12 | 4 | $132,000 | $3,600 | 33% | $900 |
| Google Business Profile | 22 | 10 | 4 | $118,000 | time only | 40% | n/a |
| Referral: past customer | 12 | 9 | 5 | $176,000 | $500 (thank-you gifts) | 56% | $100 |
| Referral: partner | 8 | 6 | 3 | $141,000 | time only | 50% | n/a |
| Repeat customer | 6 | 5 | 4 | $58,000 | none | 80% | n/a |
| Total | 138 | 56 | 23 | $721,000 | $8,300 | 41% |
Close rate here is won ÷ proposals.
What it says:
- The lead service sends the most leads and has the lowest close rate (21%): 20 leads per won job. It also takes the most estimator time: 14 proposals for 3 wins. At an assumed 3 hours per visit and proposal, that’s about 42 hours of estimating for $96,000 of work.
- Referrals send a fraction of the leads and a big share of the revenue, at a higher close rate and with larger jobs.
- Google Ads cost less per won job than the lead service in this example.
The decision isn’t automatically “drop the lead service.” It might be the only source that fills a slow month. But it’s no longer a guess: you can cap it, change the job types you accept from it, or put that money into asking every happy customer for a referral.
Add gross profit by source once your job costing is in place. A source that brings large jobs at thin margins is worth less than its revenue suggests.
Step 4: Match marketing to crew capacity
Marketing, sales and delivery have to move together. Leads you can’t schedule for three months can turn into lost proposals and frustrated customers. An empty schedule next month is a cost you can see coming in the backlog.
Use your backlog, the signed work not yet done, measured in crew-weeks, to set simple rules. Example rules; set your own:
| Backlog | What to do with marketing |
|---|---|
| Over 10 crew-weeks | Pause or cut paid sources for the job types that are full. Give realistic start dates in every proposal |
| 6 to 10 crew-weeks | Keep spend steady. Push the job types with the best gross profit per crew hour |
| Under 6 crew-weeks | Turn up the paid source with the lowest cost per won job. Follow up every open proposal. Contact past customers |
Check the backlog in the weekly pipeline review and the full source report in the monthly KPI scorecard. That’s how marketing spend follows your capacity instead of habit.
Your next action
- Write your source list and make the source a required field wherever leads are recorded.
- Ask “How did you hear about us?” on every first call from today.
- Fill in the source for the last three months of won jobs, as far as you can.
- Run the first source report at the end of the month, and set your capacity rules.
Free tool: the Lead Source Tracking Spreadsheet builds the source report from your lead list.
What to review:
- Won jobs, revenue and cost per won job by source
- Leads with no source recorded (that number should be close to zero)
- Backlog in crew-weeks against your marketing rules
Next course: build a team that can take ownership: hiring, onboarding and crew leaders.
The course toolkit
You’ve reached the end of Build a Sales Process Your Team Can Run. The course toolkit (PDF) has a worksheet for each of its five lessons in one file, in lesson order, ready to print or fill in on your phone. It comes with one spreadsheet: the Lead Source Tracking Spreadsheet.
Where MotionOps helps
In MotionOps, the source stays with the lead, so you can see revenue by source:
- Lead Source Tracking: create and manage your own lead sources and track where leads come from.
- Lead Source Breakdown: analytics on your different lead sources.
- Revenue by Lead Source: see how much revenue each source brings in.
- Connect with 7000+ apps: sync and automate lead tracking with Zapier.
See plans and pricing, or book a MotionOps demo.
Contractor Scaler Hub: Build a Sales Process Your Team Can Run, lesson 5 of 5
- Previous lesson: Construction Sales Process: A Pipeline Your Team Runs Without You
- Next course: Hire, Onboard and Grow Crew Leaders
- Course toolkit: Build a Sales Process Your Team Can Run toolkit (PDF)
- All courses and lessons: Contractor Scaler Hub
