Define a good lead before trying to buy more
| Call type | Owner decision | Count as a lead? |
|---|---|---|
| Broken spring in area | Route and book | Yes, if serviceable |
| Opener brand not serviced | Decline or refer | No for paid-lead reporting |
| DIY parts request | Handle by policy | No |
| Existing customer callback | Route to service | No new lead |
| Job applicant or vendor | Route elsewhere | No |
The phone rang is not a definition. Write one rule the office, technicians, agency, and owner all use.
Find where bad calls begin
Label every bad call with a reason. After a few weeks, group the reasons by campaign, search term, page, area, and time of day. That turns complaints into something fixable.
Do not call a lead bad merely because it did not book. A serviceable customer can be lost by a missed call, no appointment availability, or weak follow-up.
Use simple filters without making the customer work
- ZIP or city: confirm the real service area.
- Problem: spring, opener, track, cable, panel, new door, commercial, or other.
- Property: residential, landlord, property manager, or commercial.
- Timing: urgent, soon, or planning.
- Contact: a working phone number and preferred callback.
Do not turn an urgent repair form into a 20-question application. Collect only what helps decide who should call back and what happens next.
Say what you do—and what you do not do
Ads should not promise 24-hour service when the phone is not covered overnight. A page should not imply gate work, loading docks, parts sales, every opener brand, or every city unless the business supports them.
Use the Google Ads for garage door repair guide for campaign structure and the search-term guide for cleanup.
Use an owner scoreboard, not a lead spreadsheet
Booking rate = booked jobs ÷ serviceable calls
Completion rate = completed jobs ÷ booked jobs
Customer acquisition cost = ad and management cost ÷ new completed customers
Review those numbers by repair, opener, installation, commercial, area, and source. One blended cost-per-lead number can hide the service losing money.
A 30-day bad-lead cleanup
- Agree on the qualified-call definition.
- Add a short list of outcome reasons to the phone or CRM workflow.
- Label calls for two weeks without changing everything at once.
- Fix the largest repeated mismatch in searches, ads, pages, or area targeting.
- Compare booked jobs, completed jobs, and revenue—not merely fewer complaints.
Connect the results with the garage door call-tracking guide.