Best Way To Get Leads For A Small Trade Business
Work out the cost per booked job, not just per lead, for a one to three person trade business. Compares Google Business Profile, small ad budgets, pay per lead and referrals.
Jobs, not leads. Expect to need roughly two to four leads for every job booked.
Google Business Profile is free to claim and free to run, so the only real cost here is your time or a small amount of outsourced help. The catch is that it needs consistent attention, meaning a fortnightly post, prompt replies to every review, and fresh job photos monthly. Profiles that go quiet for six months slide down the map pack and are slow to recover.
The number that matters for a small trade is cost per booked job, not cost per lead. Take your monthly channel spend, divide by jobs actually won, and compare that against your average job margin. Any channel costing more than 10 to 15 percent of job margin needs fixing or dropping.
💰 Ways to save
- Do the cost per job maths before committing to any channel, using your own conversion rate rather than the platform's claims. Take the cost per lead, divide by the share of leads you actually win, and you have cost per job. A $45 shared lead won one time in five is $225 a job. A $40 direct enquiry won one time in two is $80. Run that calculation for every channel monthly and the decision about where to spend becomes obvious.
- Max out the free channels completely before spending anything. A fully completed Google Business Profile with fifty or more reviews, accurate service areas and fresh job photos costs nothing but time and consistently produces jobs at under $30 each once it ranks. Most small trades have a half filled profile with twelve reviews and are simultaneously paying $600 a month for shared leads, which is precisely the wrong order.
- Set a hard weekly spend cap on any paid channel rather than a monthly one. Small trade businesses are highly exposed to variance, and an uncapped account can consume a month of budget in four bad days with nothing booked. A weekly cap forces the spend to spread and gives you four checkpoints a month to pull the plug rather than one, which matters enormously when the budget is $800 rather than $8,000.
- Ask every completed customer for two things at handover, being a Google review and whether they know anyone else who needs the work. Doing both consistently for six months typically lifts a profile from twenty to eighty reviews and produces a steady referral flow at $30 to $120 per booked job. It costs nothing, it is entirely within your control, and it lowers the cost of every paid channel by improving your conversion rate.
How we estimate this
## The number a small trade should actually track
Pricing reviewed: June 2026.
Pricing reviewed June 2026. Indicative Australian costs, not a quote.
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Understanding best way to get leads for a small trade businesss in Australia
The number a small trade should actually track
For a one to three person trade business, cost per lead is a distraction and cost per booked job is the only figure worth managing. The conversion between the two varies enormously by channel. A shared pay per lead enquiry converts at roughly 15 to 25 percent, a Google Ads enquiry that comes only to you at 30 to 50 percent, a call from your Google Business Profile at 40 to 60 percent, and a referral at 60 to 80 percent. Applying those rates to 2026 Australian prices, a $45 shared lead costs $180 to $300 per job, a $40 ads lead costs $80 to $130, a profile call costs $10 to $40, and a referral costs $30 to $120. The order of preference writes itself once you finish that arithmetic.
How many leads you need for the jobs you want
Work backwards from the diary. If you want eight jobs a month and your blended conversion is around 35 percent, you need roughly 23 leads. If your mix leans heavily on shared platform leads at 20 percent conversion, you need closer to 40. If it leans on referrals and profile calls at 60 percent, you need 13. That difference is the whole argument for improving your channel mix rather than simply buying more leads. Improving conversion from 25 to 45 percent nearly halves the number of leads you have to buy for the same eight jobs, and it does so without increasing spend at all, which is the only lever available to a business whose budget is genuinely capped.
Starting with the free channels
Below about $500 a month, paid channels are unreliable for a small trade because volume is too low to smooth out variance. The channels that work at that level are essentially free. A fully completed Google Business Profile, meaning every field filled, correct categories, defined service areas, accurate hours, fifteen or more real job photos and a fortnightly post, is the highest return activity available. Pair it with a review request habit at handover, since moving from twenty reviews to eighty measurably lifts map pack position and click through. Add a stated referral incentive such as $100 credit and a seasonal message to past customers. That stack costs under $100 a month in software and typically produces jobs at $20 to $60 each.
When a small Google Ads budget makes sense
Google Ads becomes worthwhile for a small trade once you can commit $800 to $1,500 a month consistently for at least three months, and once your website converts. Below that, the budget is spread too thin across a day to gather useful data, and the account never leaves the learning phase. Trade cost per click runs $4 to $12 for general work and $15 to $35 for emergency categories in the capitals, giving cost per lead of $15 to $60. Restrict geography to a radius you will genuinely drive, schedule ads only to hours you answer the phone, and build a solid negative keyword list to strip out DIY searchers, job seekers and course enquiries. Those three settings account for most of the difference between an account that works and one that burns money.
Where pay per lead platforms fit
Shared lead platforms suit one situation, which is a genuine gap in the diary that needs filling within a fortnight. Nothing else delivers volume that quickly with no setup. The cost is competing against two to five other quotes on price, paying for enquiries that were never serious, and a credit dispute process that is narrow and slow. For a business with a budget under $500 a month, the variance is punishing, because eight leads at $50 each might produce one job or none. If you do use them, tighten job type filters, cap the postcode radius, set a minimum job value where available, and use a weekly rather than monthly spend cap so a bad run cannot consume the month.
Reactivation and referral, the underused pair
The two cheapest sources of work for a small trade are people who already know you. Reactivation means messaging past customers with a genuine reason, such as a pre storm gutter clean, an annual safety check or servicing before summer, using an email and SMS tool at $20 to $80 a month. Done two or three times a year it produces jobs at under $20 each. Do not overuse it, since a database fatigues quickly under monthly promotions. Referral means a stated incentive asked for at handover and again a fortnight later, producing jobs at $30 to $120. Both require systematic habit rather than budget, which is why they are simultaneously the best value and the most commonly neglected.
Putting a realistic plan together
A small trade wanting eight jobs a month typically needs $800 to $2,000 in monthly marketing spend, which on a $3,000 average job value against $24,000 of booked work is around 4 to 8 percent of revenue and squarely normal for the sector. Structure it as a free base of Google Business Profile, reviews, referrals and reactivation, then a controllable layer of Google Ads at $800 to $1,500 once the site converts, and keep pay per lead platforms as an emergency valve rather than a fixture. Review cost per booked job by channel every month, and drop anything costing more than 10 to 15 percent of the margin on the jobs it produces.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best way to get leads for a small trade business?
In order of cost per booked job, it is Google Business Profile calls at $10 to $40, referrals at $30 to $120, direct Google Ads leads at $80 to $130, and shared pay per lead platform enquiries at $180 to $300. Max out the free channels first, since most small trades have a half filled profile while paying for shared leads.
How many leads do I need to book eight jobs a month?
Around 23 leads at a blended 35 percent conversion rate. If you rely on shared platform leads converting at 20 percent you need closer to 40, and if you rely on referrals and profile calls at 60 percent you need about 13. Improving conversion is cheaper than buying more leads.
What should a small trade business spend on marketing each month?
Typically $800 to $2,000 for a business targeting eight jobs a month. On a $3,000 average job that is $24,000 of booked work against 4 to 8 percent of revenue in spend, which is normal for the sector. Below $500 a month, stick to free channels rather than spreading a paid budget too thin.
Is Google Ads worth it on a small budget?
Only once you can commit $800 to $1,500 a month for at least three months and your website converts. Below that the account never leaves the learning phase. Cost per click is $4 to $12 for general trade terms and $15 to $35 for emergency categories, producing leads at $15 to $60 each.
Are pay per lead platforms good for a small trade business?
They suit filling a genuine gap in the diary within a fortnight, and little else. Leads cost $20 to $90 and are shared with two to five trades, so at a 20 percent win rate a $45 lead becomes $225 per job. On a budget under $500 a month the variance is punishing, since eight leads might produce one job or none.
How do I calculate cost per job rather than cost per lead?
Divide the cost per lead by the proportion of leads you actually win. A $45 lead won one time in five is $225 per job, while a $40 lead won one time in two is $80. Compare that figure against your margin on the job and drop any channel costing more than 10 to 15 percent of that margin.
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