How many inquiries does a small business need to hit its goals?
Work backwards from your goal. Take the number of new jobs you want each month and divide it by the share of inquiries that usually turn into paid work. If you want ten new jobs and you win about one inquiry in four, you need about forty inquiries a month. Then look at where your inquiries come from today and decide which channels can realistically supply the gap.
The calculation
Inquiries needed each month = new jobs wanted each month ÷ the share of inquiries you win.
The share you win, often called a close rate, should come from your own records: inquiries won divided by inquiries that ended won or lost, over at least a few months. A guess here makes every number after it a guess. If your goal is a revenue figure, divide it by your average job value first to turn it into jobs.
A worked example
| Step | Example |
|---|---|
| New jobs wanted each month | Ten |
| Share of inquiries won | About one in four |
| Inquiries needed each month | About forty (ten times four) |
| Already arriving each month from referral and direct | About twenty-five |
| Gap for other channels to fill | About fifteen |
Which channels can supply them
Look at your inquiries by channel: search, AI answer, social, referral, paid, email, campaign and direct. For each one, ask how many inquiries it brought last quarter, how many you won, and whether it could give more.
Paid ads can often add inquiries quickly, but they usually stop when the spending stops. Search and AI answers tend to build over months. The related answer on getting leads without ads covers the channels that cost no ad budget. Round the target up a little, since some months are slower and some inquiries will not be a fit.
Or win more of the inquiries you get
Raising the share you win can matter as much as finding more inquiries. In the example, winning one in three instead of one in four cuts the inquiries needed from about forty to about thirty. Faster replies, clearer quotes and steady follow-up are often where that comes from, and the related answer on setting up a simple lead tracker shows how to measure it.
To go one step further back, from website inquiries to visitors, use your conversion rate; the related answer on conversion rates covers it. And plan only for the work you can take on, since more inquiries than you can answer quickly tend to lower the share you win.
Related answers
- How can a small business get leads without paying for ads?
- How do you set up a simple lead tracker?
- What is a conversion rate, and how do you improve it on a service website?
- How do you know if your marketing is working?
Lead systems and lead tracking
A lead that waits a day goes cold, and a lead with no source teaches you nothing. Ascent Vision fixes both.