The ads weren’t the only leak. The bigger one was what happened after the phone rang.

01 — Where it started

When I took over marketing, the company was paying $258 for a lead on Google and $362 on Meta. Expensive, but survivable if those leads turn into appointments. They weren’t. Only 12 out of every 100 leads ended up on the calendar. The other 88 were money spent with nothing to show for it.

02 — What was really going on

Most home service companies read that as an ad problem and keep tweaking ads. The math pointed somewhere else. A homeowner pricing new windows usually calls more than one company, and the one that reaches them first, and makes it easy, tends to get the appointment. The ads were bringing people to the door. The process was letting them walk away.

03 — What I did

1. 01

   Rebuilt the paid engine. New campaign architecture, audience segmentation and a steady creative testing cadence across Google and Meta, with TikTok working the top of the funnel.

2. 02

   Re-engineered the handoff. Tightened lead qualification and the speed-to-lead handoff between marketing and the call center. Speed to contact is now under 30 seconds.

3. 03

   Built the automation myself. In GoHighLevel: missed-call text-back, an AI voice agent, a website chatbot, after-hours call center workflows for weekdays, weekends, days and nights, and keyword-triggered replies to social comments and DMs.

4. 04

   Made every source accountable. Weekly reporting on every lead source, judged by booked jobs instead of clicks.

04 — The call that mattered

Owning the call center, not just the leads. Most marketing leaders stop at the form fill. I manage the call center manager and a team of four, because the space between a lead and a booked appointment is where home service companies make or lose their money.

05 — What changed

• Cost per lead down 57% on Google ($258 to $112) and 86% on Meta ($362 to $51).
• Appointment set rate from 12% to 34%, with a 90% demo rate.
• 7.07x return on ad spend overall and a 600% return on Google spend.
• $935,254 in jobs sold in a single month, up 59% over the prior period.

06 — What I'd tell you