Call tracking for contractors: see which ad made the phone ring

3. Get one number for each campaign

A campaign is one ad push with one goal, like "spring house painting on Facebook." Give each campaign its own number. Name the number after the campaign.

Pick local numbers if most of your work is close to home. A toll-free number fits work spread across a wide area.

Start small. Get one number for each paid campaign, one for your Google Business Profile, and one for your signs. You can add more later.

4. Send every number to the phone you answer

In the tool, set each number to ring the phone you answer. If a helper takes calls, you can ring them first, then you if they miss it. That setting is called call routing. Keep it simple at first.

5. Put each number in one place only

Paste the Facebook number only in the Facebook ad. Print the sign number only on signs. If one number shows up in two places, you can't tell those places apart.

Before you change the number on your Google Business Profile, read Google's current rules for tracking numbers. Keep your regular number listed too.

Once a number is on a sign or a truck, keep it. Changing it later breaks every old sign. A new number may have belonged to someone else before, so a few odd calls at first are normal.

6. Add the number swap to your site

Your site gets visitors from many places at once, so one printed number can't tell them apart. Dynamic number insertion fixes that. It is a small piece of code from your tool. It shows each visitor a number based on how they found your site. A visitor from your Google ad sees the Google number.

Your tool gives you the code and the steps. If someone else built your site, send it to them. Then ask your tool how to test the swap without clicking your own paid ad, since each click costs you.

7. Turn on the recording notice

If you will record calls, first get the permission the rules above ask for, on both sides of the call. Then turn on the notice you picked. If you are not sure, or you don't have that permission, leave recording off. Tracking still works without it.

8. Connect your CRM or a sheet

A call is not a job yet. Send each call into your CRM, or add it to a sheet. Add one column: what happened. Booked, quote sent, not a fit, or spam.

That one column turns a pile of call logs into a choice you can make.

9. Call every number yourself

Before any ad goes live, call each number from a phone that is not yours. Check four things:

• It rings the phone you answer.
• The notice plays, if you turned it on.
• The report shows the right name for that number.
• The recording saved, if you turned it on.

Fix anything that fails before you spend money on ads.

The tool counts calls. It does not answer them. Decide these things before your first ad runs:

• Who picks up during work hours? You, a helper, or an answering service?
• What happens when nobody can? Set a clear voicemail message.
• Who calls back missed calls, and by when? Write down a name and a time.
• Which calls come straight to you, no matter what? For example, an upset customer or a big job.

The tool can show you a missed call. Only a person can win that job back. If speed is where you lose work, here is how to respond to leads faster.

Pick one time each week. Start with half an hour.

1. Open the report and look at calls by number.
2. Mark what happened on every new call.
3. Listen to two or three recordings from each source. Did they ask for work you do? Did you answer well?
4. Mark spam and wrong numbers so they don't count.
5. Write one choice for each source: keep, fix, or stop.

Here is how to choose:

• Keep a source that brings calls that become booked work.
• Fix a source when calls come in but they are the wrong jobs, or when calls go unanswered.
• Stop a source when, after a fair test, it brings few calls and no work.

A fair test takes a few weeks. One slow week tells you very little.

The tool counts. You decide. That split is the idea behind Market Loop: six steps, and you make the big calls.

A call report is strong evidence, but it is never the whole story. Know these limits before you cut an ad:

• People see more than one thing. A homeowner might see your truck, then search your name and call from your Google ad. The ad gets the credit, but the truck did work too.
• Old customers call the number they saved. Repeat work often comes in on your regular number.
• Word of mouth has no number. Ask new callers, "How did you hear about us?" Write the answer down. People forget, so treat it as a hint.
• The number swap only works on your site. A visitor who copies the number and calls a week later still counts for the source that showed it.
• Calls are not money. A busy number full of price shoppers can earn less than a quiet one.
• Small counts can fool you. Three calls against two is not a real difference.

So read the report, then add what you know about your own business. Marketing attribution gives you a better guess, not a perfect answer. The final call on where your money goes is yours.

There are three separate things to pay for.

Add these up before you choose a tool. Then, each month, hold the cost up against the booked work it helped you see. If you are paying for numbers you never check, cut them.

If you would rather pay someone to set this up: We found no published agency price for call tracking setup alone. You can compare what every kit costs on our prices page.

• List every place your number shows up.
• Mark the sources you pay for.
• Pick a tool and write down its monthly fees.
• Check the recording rules for both sides of the call.
• Get one number for each paid campaign, your profile and your signs.
• Name each number after its source.
• Ring every number to the phone you answer.
• Put each number in one place only.
• Add the number swap code to your site.
• Get the permission you need and turn on the notice, or leave recording off.
• Add a "what happened" column to your CRM or sheet.
• Decide who answers and who calls back.
• Call every number yourself and check the report.
• Set a weekly time to review your calls.

Read about the Call Tracking Kit with the other kits.

Some owners set this up alone. Some would rather talk it through first. Either way, every number and every choice stays yours.

Bring your questions about anything on this page. If you book, you talk with Desmond Landry, the founder.

See how Truline helps you run your marketing with AI, or see what our leads and sales service covers. If you run an agency, here is how call results can feed your client reports.