Field note · marketing
Have you ever paid for a lead source for months without one client from it?
The calls and clicks came in, and it felt busy. Nobody could say which of them became paying work.
Who this is for
- You pay for ads, listings, job boards or referral visits.
- Each channel keeps its numbers in its own dashboard.
- Someone stitches it together monthly, when there's time.
When we'd tell you not to bother
One channel? Its own report will do. Not recording where clients come from? Start there. No report can find what was never written down.
The chain
What we see in the chain
- Spend
- Leads in
- Contacted
- Won or lost
- Revenue booked
- Report
- Budget moved
Each channel counts its own clicks and calls. None of them knows who became a client.
Joining it up is a monthly chore. By the time it's done, next month's money is already spent.
In home health, it's which hospitals and doctors send admissions. In staffing, it's which job boards send people who actually start. In construction, it's whether the home show or the ads brought in the signed kitchen.
The fix
The fix we'd build: a source-to-revenue sheet
It ties each source of spend to the work it actually brought in.
What that changes
- Spend, leads and revenue sit in one monthly view.
- Each source shows its cost per client won, not per click.
- Sources that cost a lot and bring little are flagged.
- The sheet lands on the first, with a note on what changed.
Worth
What it's worth, by your own count
List every channel you paid for last year, and what each cost.
Now try to name the revenue each one brought. Every blank is a guess you keep paying for.
October · source sheet
7 sources tracked
- Physician referrals18 admissions, top source
- Paid listings212 calls, 3 admissions
- Job board A180 applicants, 2 starts
- Flaggedlistings and job board A
Method
How it runs, every step
+ Show the method
What it works from
Your ad and listing accounts, your intake system or CRM, and your billing records. It runs on the first, with a weekly check in between.
The steps
- Pulls spend and activity from each channel.
- Matches leads and referrals to clients in your records.
- Joins each client to the revenue they brought.
- Works out the cost per client won, by source.
- Flags sources that cost more and bring less.
- Writes one page on what changed and why.
Who signs off
The sheet suggests. The owner or marketing lead decides every budget move.
What it never does
It never changes a budget, bid or campaign. It never moves data between channels.
What we'd need from you
Read access to channel accounts and your CRM. How you record where a client came from. One person who owns marketing spend.
Neighbouring jobs
- Fast follow-up, so good leads aren't wasted.
- A month-end close where marketing numbers agree with the books.
- Campaigns to current clients, often your cheapest new revenue.
You become the owner who knows what each marketing dollar does.
You stop paying for sources that never send a client.
Your sheet won't look exactly like this. We work out what it should hold in a first conversation.
Next step
Rather talk it over?
A first conversation with one of our co-founders costs nothing. It runs about an hour, and we need no access.
Someone reads every note, and replies within a working day, usually.