These 5 things will stop you from succeeding with lead sources

Updated
August 27, 2025

Video Embed

Video Transcript

If you've tried a bunch of different lead sources and nothing seems to be working for you, it's usually one of these five problems. Today, we're gonna dive into the five problems, what they are, what causes them, and how to solve them. Without further ado, let's dive right in. So problem number one is you have a lead source problem. That means that the lead sources you've tried in the past, for some reason, they're just not a great fit in your market maybe.

Maybe just the way that company gets lead in particular is getting really low intent leads or or really, you know, leads that just don't have the money or something like that. I see this in some cases where, like, in one part of the country, contractors will absolutely hate, Angi Leads, and then another contractor or another, you know, guy across the country is having great success with it, and in his market it is doing amazingly. Right?

So how you solve that? If it is a lead source problem, what I recommend doing is finding a bunch of different lead source, options that you can go with that you can start on a smaller budget and run them all simultaneously. A lot of guys make the mistake of hopping from one and putting all the budget on that and hoping it works, then hopping to the next one, all the budget on that, hoping it works, then the next one. And the problem is is that you just don't know which one is gonna be the good one you when you start. So what I recommend doing is starting a couple things at the same time to even out the results. So that means that, you know, like, let's say you try Angi Leads, Thumbtack, you know, maybe you put up Yelp, maybe you put up, you know, ninety nine calls or something like that.

And by by doing that, you know, in your market, in your area, some of the lead sources probably are gonna suck, but then there's probably also gonna be some good ones. So if you're running five different options at the same time, the results should even out to where, you should be able to get some leads that are good and get some sales. So that's how to solve that problem if it is that you have a lead source problem. Now, if you've already kinda done that and you've already tried out like five to ten different lead sources, it's probably not a lead source problem.

Right? In that case, it might be the next thing, which is a scheduling problem. A scheduling problem means that you're getting all these leads, you're, you know, they're coming in, but you're just not able to get them on the schedule. You're not able to book a sales appointment with them. There's a variety of reasons that this happens. One could just be the amount of competition, everybody else calling them and getting to them first, and maybe they have already booked appointments with three to five contractors. It could be that maybe they just did a little research on your company and didn't trust you or something like that. Whatever the problem is with scheduling, usually it's a process problem.

Meaning, it's something that you need to do on your end to improve your speed to lead, to improve the amount of follow ups you're doing with the lead. A lot of people don't realize this, but sometimes you can book up to half of the leads just by texting. So if you're not texting, that's definitely something you're gonna wanna utilize and try to get those leads booked.

Now if you are, so a couple ways to solve this, right? If you are not able to do this yourself, there are lots of great outbound options that you can plug into your CRM, plug into your leads that can actually do the calling for you. So take a look at those. That might be the solution to your problem. You know, if you're like the operator, you're the guy doing all the sales and you don't have time to call through the leads, that can be a great option. Now, that being said, if you're currently booking between, let's say twenty to thirty percent of your leads, but you're still not getting the results that you need to get from these lead sources, then chances are it's not a scheduling problem. It sounds, in that case, you would be getting a decent amount of leads scheduled and twenty to thirty percent for a lead source is typically pretty good, for a marketed lead source. So then it's like, okay, what is the, you know, what is the problem then?

Well, the next problem could be a sales problem. So the sales problem is, you know, you're running all these appointments, you're giving estimates, and you're giving estimates, and you're giving estimates, but people just aren't calling you back, you're not making the sales. What's going on? Right? If that's the case, it's most likely some type of sales process issue. Meaning, you are, for some reason clients don't necessarily trust you enough to give you their business.

There could be, you know, something you're saying or some way of dealing with a customer that you have that is rubbing people the wrong way. A big mistake that, a lot of guys make, when they're technicians or they're, you know, and they're starting their own HVAC company is they wanna go into the home and be the expert and tell the customer what the problem is and tell, tell, tell. Right?

But what you wanna do is ask the customer what's going on, you know, when did you start experiencing this, and just, like, empathize. Like, oh, you've been without, you know, AC for two days? Oh, that must suck. What did you guys do? You know what I mean? Like empathize, right?

There's a lot of different things that you can do for sales. There's so much good sales training on YouTube. You can look at contractor growth network. You can look at contractor fight. You can look at there's just a lot. There's a lot of good sales training on YouTube. If you look at how to sell HVAC units or how to sell, whatever it is you're trying to sell, you should be able to find some good stuff.

Now, if you are currently closing the leads, but your lead sources still aren't working, meaning you're not making enough money from them, then so in other words, if you're running these calls and you're selling, twenty to thirty percent, then the next problem that you might have is a gross profit problem. So you're getting the leads, you're booking the leads, you're closing the leads, but you're still not making enough money to justify your marketing sources. What's the problem then? If that's the issue, then likely you need to increase your prices to account for marketing and your prices.

If you're not if you don't have marketing built into the marketing is a real expense. Right? So you do wanna have some room in the gross profit that enables you to pay for the marketing to get the customer in the first place. Right? So if you know, that you're you know, let's say you you spend a thousand dollars for, fifteen leads, and out of those fifteen, you'll book five. And out of those five, you'll sell one. Right? So, one, you know, ten thousand dollars unit or something like that.

So, you paid a thousand dollars to get one sale. So, you wanna have that thousand dollars in your gross profit on average, and then enough gross profit on top of that to pay for your other expenses. So you have your, yeah, so you have your marketing expense, your your gross profit for your operational expense, all your labor expenses, and stuff like that, because that's the only way then that you can actually afford to get that customer in the first place. So, if you're doing all that stuff and you're still not making money, probably a gross profit problem.

You'll probably have to increase your prices. So, number five. You've got all this stuff. You've gotten the leads. You're You're booking them. You're closing them. You got the gross profit. But you are constantly still looking for new lead sources because something just isn't working. Right?

If that's the case, if you're just running around, you're super busy all the time, and you can't, your your gross profit is there, but you you're just not able to keep up, then it's likely you actually have an operations problem. Meaning, there's somewhere in your company that there's something in your company that's not properly being delegated. Maybe in that case, you have to have somebody else do the calls, like an out outside company. Maybe you have to have somebody else do sales. Maybe you need to start, getting some good technicians in to actually do some of the repairs and the replacements.

Something is operationally broken. But, the most common thing I see is that the technician is trying to do too many services at the same time Or handle too many different types of projects. So, like if you go into the customer's home and do HVAC, they might, excuse me, they might say, Oh, well, do you guys also do plumbing? Do you also do electrical? And then you're, Okay, well, let me charge you and then call this guy to subcontract and do it.

There's a lot of things like that in the remodeling space, especially. Not as common in HVAC, but in the remodeling space where, you know, they'll start off with doing bathrooms and the customer says, can you do my kitchen? Can you do my deck? Can you do my floor?

Can you and so now there's all these complex things you have to learn. And, when you're and and, you know, handyman stuff too. Right? So when you're trying to do that, it's really hard to keep up because you're the only one that has the broad knowledge and the broad skill set to be able to do all those different things.

And so, if you're not properly delegated, then you're kinda stuck in this rat race and you can't keep up with everything that has to be done and you can't really streamline your business. So, if you're doing all that stuff, you got the gross profit, you probably have an operations problem somewhere, you have to probably delegate a little bit better, streamline a little bit better. And, the easiest way to do that is to look for the activities that are the most repeatable in your business, but also the least complex. And then make a checklist, make an SOP, and hire someone and delegate that to them.

All right, so we dove into what the five problems typically are when you can't make your marketing work. I hope you learned something. Now, it's time to take action, right? So what can you what do you see from this list that you're like, oh, that's probably me? And what can you take and go apply it? If that's you, comment below and tell me what you're gonna do to apply what we talked about. And if you got value from this video, please like, please subscribe, and we'll see you in the next one.

Resources Mentioned

Related Videos

No items found.

Frequently Asked Questions

What makes Service Allies different from other HVAC Facebook ads companies?

What makes us different from other Facebook ads companies is the pains we take to make the leads good quality. This includes the way ads are written, images that are used, the video ads we create, qualifying questions we ask in the lead form, and getting feedback from you to know which campaigns are getting the best quality leads.

How will we get notified when new leads come in?

You can get notified by text, email, app notification, or any combination of the three.

Is there a contract?

There’s no long term commitment with Service Allies. It’s a month to month agreement!

How do people see the ads?

Local homeowners see the ads depending on where we tell Facebook to target. We can use zip codes, or multiple targeting radiuses, to show ads in the areas you want. Homeowners who are on Facebook or Instagram in those areas see your sponsored ad as they scroll.

How many leads can we generate?

It depends on 1) how low we can get your cost per lead and 2) your monthly ad spend budget. Lead costs typically fall between $25 and $75 per lead. If you spend $5000 per month on ads, that would mean between 200 and 66 leads. The more populated your service area is, the higher the scaling potential.

How much do you charge?

You will have two separate costs. The first cost is ad spend, which Facebook will bill you directly for. I typically recommend a monthly budget of $1000 - $2000 to start. Since the average lead cost is $50 in ad spend per lead, this should get you roughly between 20-40 leads monthly. If you need more or less, we can adjust advertising spend as you need. The second cost is our agency fees, which are only available on a live demo call.

How good are the leads?

Normally, between 20% and 40% can normally be booked for sales appointments. This requires that you follow up with the leads consistently, and have a good process for getting them scheduled.

How long does it take to start working?

When a new client signs up, we start with an onboarding call, and launch 7 days later. Over the past 5 years I’ve run this lead generation program, I’ve never seen it take longer than 2-3 days after launch to start getting leads.

How many people are you working with in my market?

We only serve one contractor in a local market. Even if you are part of a large metro area, we’ll single out an exclusive zone just for you. We still have a relatively small client base at the time of writing, so there is a good chance your market is still available. However, the sooner you reach out the better.

How many contractors are going to get the leads?

Just you. Facebook ads will be shown under your business name, and all the generated leads will be exclusively yours.

What if I'm not on Facebook or don't have a business page?

No problem. It's fairly simple to set up a Facebook business page, so we can do this for you at no extra charge. Also, don't worry if your current Facebook page doesn't have many likes. It doesn't seem to affect the volume or quality of leads at all.

How do you get the leads?

We get leads by running ads on Facebook. Ads are like Facebook posts, except you pay Facebook to show your ad to a specific local area and demographic. If you currently don’t use Facebook, or don’t have a Facebook page, that is no problem. We’ll set up a page on your behalf to run ads from.