Trace your last 300 inquiries before you buy more ads
Published Nov 14, 2026 · Last checked Nov 14, 2026 · Last changed Nov 14, 2026Before you spend more on ads or leads, follow your last 300 inquiries to the end. Count how many became a paid sale. Fix the step where the most people drop out.
- Verdict
- ACT
- For
- Any business that gets inquiries by phone or web. 5 to 100 employees. Owner or office manager.
- Cost and time
- No cost. About one day for the owner or the office manager, with your phone log and your sales records.
Why
A marketer described a solar installer that got 10 to 20 inquiries a month. During one campaign it got about 3,300 a month. More inquiries put more load on the same follow-up steps. Her advice is to audit what happens after the first contact, before the ad budget grows. A study in Harvard Business Review tested 2,241 US companies with real inquiries. It found that 23% never answered. Most businesses count leads. This count shows what each paid sale really cost.
What to do
- List the last 300 inquiries from every source: calls, web forms, emails, social media messages and bought leads.
- For each one, write when it arrived and when a person first answered.
- Mark where each one ended: no answer, answered, quote sent, sold, or lost.
- Count the calls that went to voicemail during working hours.
- Find the step with the largest drop.
- Work out the cost of one paid sale for each source.
- Fix the largest drop first. Then decide on the ad budget.
- Repeat the count every quarter.
The rule to check
Call or text an inquiry only if the person gave permission, and stop when the person asks. A lead you bought needs proof of that permission from the lead seller.
What can go wrong
Many small businesses have no record of missed calls, so that count starts today. If 300 is too many, start with the last 100. A sale can close weeks after the inquiry, so use inquiries that are at least 60 days old.
Sources
- HackerNoon, article by Andra Ciucescu, practitioner article, Nov 10, 2026.