You might be here because a friend referred you, you saw one of our posts, you opened our email, or you searched for help. However you found us, welcome. We work with contractors in foundation repair, waterproofing, roofing, remodeling, HVAC, and more. Our specialty is connecting businesses with homeowners that need or want their services.
Our job is simple: measure the machine that creates revenue. Tell the truth about what the numbers say. Build a plan that your team can execute.
We run everything through one source of truth and that is our shared Google Sheet that is unique to each client. No more dashboards that only the marketing team can access. Our clients see exactly what we see. Every month sits across the top. Every marketing and advertising line sits down the left. At the bottom we track the performance ladder an owner actually cares about. Leads, Appointments Set, Appointments Run, Sales, Revenue and more.
Before we start, we decide one thing with the client and write it down. Are we dating results by lead date, by close date, or a hybrid. That choice does not change once we start reporting. If lead and sales land in different months, the annual math still works because we picked one method and stayed with it. You will see the math, the steps, and the targets. Skim fast where you want. Slow down where it matters.
Baseline Target KPI’s
(These are a must for any successful business to track, so if you don’t know these numbers, start there):
Average ticket: $12,000
Cost per lead: $250-$300
Lead to set: 85%
Close rate: 30%
Simulated performance January through September.
Our read on year-to-date performance is as follows. The funnel is working with natural monthly changes. Lead to set averages 85.5 percent (range 83 to 88). Set to run averages 90.2 percent (range 88 to 92). Close rate holds near 30 percent while average ticket floats between $11,700 and $12,200, lifting into late summer. CPL stays in the 250 to 270 band, ticking up in September in a way that looks seasonal, not structural.
Leads: 3,120
Appt Set: 2,669
Lead to Set %: 85.5%
Appt Run: 2,408
Set to Run %: 90.2%
Sales Quantity: 722
Close Rate: 30.0%
Revenue: $8,656,300
Avg Ticket (per sale): $11,989
Total Spend: $1,151,500
Ad Spend: $806,050
Cost Per Lead: $258
Marketing %: 13.3%
ROAS: 10.74×
None of these numbers are good or bad on their own. They are a mirror. They show how the machine actually ran and give us a reliable starting point for next year.
HOW WE BUILT THE FORECAST
We used a rolling 8-week pace anchored on August and September, then applied a practical seasonal step-down for holidays, weather, and homeowner attention. We trimmed lead volume mid single-digits in October, high single-digits in November, and about ten percent in December. Set, run, and close rates vary by 1 to 3 points around target to reflect real-world noise. CPL rises modestly each month, and average ticket softens slightly into the holidays. Capacity and call-center coverage were assumed to remain stable.
Q4 softens as expected but holds efficiency. Leads step down from 365 to 300 across the quarter while set and run rates stay close to plan, finishing near 84 to 90 percent. Close rate drifts from 30 to 28 percent as holiday friction grows. Average ticket eases slightly yet keeps revenue over 2.62 million on 1,000 leads. CPL rises from $275 to $295, landing at a blended $284. At these levels, Q4 runs at about a 10.8 percent marketing rate.
What you’re looking at This combines January through September actuals with the October through December forecast.
Totals and KPIs (Full-Year 2025: Jan–Sep actuals + Oct–Dec forecast)
Leads: 4,120
Appt Set: 3,513
Lead to Set %: 85.3%
Appt Run: 3,163
Set to Run %: 90.0%
Sales Quantity: 942
Close Rate: 29.8%
Revenue: $11,284,150
Avg Ticket (per sale): $11,979
Total Spend (ad dollars, assets, and management): $1,557,714
Ad Spend: $1,090,400
Cost Per Lead (ad Spend ÷ Leads): $265
Marketing % (Total Spend ÷ Revenue): 13.8%
ROAS (Revenue ÷ Ad Spend): 10.35×
The machine is steady. Lead to set and set to run average right on plan, which keeps close rate just under 30 percent for the year. Average ticket holds near $12,000 even with a slight holiday dip, and CPL stays inside the target band, blending to about $265 for the year.
With total marketing promotion at 13.8% and ROAS north of 10% on ad dollars, there is room to scale if capacity and call center coverage hold. An improved closing % would help lower the CPL.
NOW THE QUESTION EVERY OWNER ASKS.
What number can we set for 2026 and still sleep at night. We teach from a clean ten percent marketing percent for this exercise. That is total promotion spend as a percent of revenue. Advertising and marketing overhead together. If you want to use seven or thirteen instead, the same method applies.
We used the 2025 full-year KPIs as the benchmark and modeled 2026 at three revenue targets: +10%, +20%, and +30% year over year. Each scenario varies lead-to-set, set-to-run, close rate, average ticket, and CPL to reflect real-world noise while aiming to hold Marketing % at 10%. This gives you a clear view of the leads, budget, and implied CPL required to hit each target.
2026 Scenarios at a 10% Marketing Budget
These 2026 scenarios assume modest but achievable performance gains in each stage of the funnel while holding total marketing spend at 10% of revenue. The improvements, slightly higher set, run, and close rates, represent the refinements that come from consistent call center discipline, tighter speed to lead, and stronger in-home presentation. The slight increase in CPL is intentional. Growth requires more fuel, and efficiency naturally shifts as you press the accelerator. Think of the metrics like the gauges on a vehicle: as you increase speed (revenue targets), the RPMs rise (lead volume and spend), and MPG (marketing efficiency) tightens slightly. The key is staying in the optimal performance band where every dollar of marketing still delivers sustainable, profitable growth.
Our business growth strategist reviews CallRail each month. We do not answer calls for the client, but we like to help the owner hold customer service accountable with clear targets and simple optics.
Answer rate: target ≥ 90%
Missed call rate: track the monthly trend
Coverage: find hours and days where answer rate dips
Leads from calls: calls that become appointments
Speed to Lead matters even though CallRail cannot track it. Aim for ≤ 5 minutes as a starting target for responding to lead forms and missed calls.
Rehash is a monthly opt in program we offer our clients. Each month we pull the quoted not closed list from the your CRM and target those individuals with OTT and digital. The client assigns a sales rep or trained CSR to call, text, and email the same list. This keeps the pipeline warm and converts missed demand into booked demand.
MARKETING
CPL target and trend
ROAS on ad spend (Revenue / Ad Spend)
MER on total promotion (Marketing Efficiency Ratio: Revenue / Total Spend, including overhead)
Marketing percent of revenue inside your guardrail
Share of leads by channel so we know where to scale
CALL CENTER / INSIDE SALES
Answer rate at or above 90%
Missed call rate below 10%
Callback inside five minutes (Speed to Lead)
Lead to set at or above 85%
Booked appointments per seat by hour so you staff to coverage
REHASH / UNSOLD DEMAND
Quoted not closed backlog size at the start of the month
Attempts, contacts, sets, runs, sales, revenue (The full funnel math)
Contribution to total sales and total revenue
A respectful day thirty, day sixty, day ninety cadence with opt out honored
SALES
Set to run at or above 95%
Bid Rate near 80% (Percentage of appointments resulting in a formal quote/bid)
Close rate near 30%
Average ticket around your target by product line
Contribution from rehash as a visible line on your scorecard
We advertise across digital, print, email, billboards, yard signs, television, OTT, radio and more. We measure everything we can with first party data and clean naming. We use CallRail for call tracking because it gives owners recordings, routing, and attribution that tie back to the plan. Calls are only one conversion type. They are often the most valuable in our industries. That is why we measure them carefully.
You can’t have predictability without measurement, and each stop along the journey for an appointment and sale should be measured to achieve the best level of optimization
If you want to close out 2025 clean and build a 2026 plan that makes sense for the way your machine actually runs, schedule a marketing and business audit with a strategist at Greenbaum Stiers Strategic Marketing Group.
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