Building an enquiry source log your team will actually keep

Why the two-city problem matters

Location is often recorded wrongly, and that hides useful patterns. North Road divides Burnaby from Coquitlam, yet residents treat the shops and stations on both sides as one neighbourhood. Lougheed Town Centre station is on the Burnaby side near the boundary, while Burquitlam station is in Coquitlam.

Ads, map listings and directories frequently target or report by city. If you're paying to reach Burnaby while most of your booked work comes from Coquitlam, or the reverse, you'll only see it if each enquiry carries the right city. That's why the log below records city and neighbourhood or building separately.

Step 1: Choose your source list

Agree a short list of sources that matches how your customers actually reach you. Use plain names everyone in the office understands. A typical starting list:

1. Google map listing
2. Website (found by search)
3. Paid search ad
4. Paid social ad
5. Referral from a past customer
6. Repeat customer
7. Strata or property manager
8. Vehicle, sign or storefront
9. Directory or marketplace listing (named)
10. Not sure

Separate the map listing from the website and from paid ads. Lumping them under "Google" is the most common reason logs become useless.

Step 2: Set up the record

Create one row per enquiry, not per job. Enquiries that never book are part of the picture. Suggested columns:

Keep the source, city and outcome columns as drop-down choices if your tool supports it. Free typing produces "google", "Google Maps", "GMB" and "map" for the same thing.

Step 3: Ask the intake question the same way every time

How you ask matters. "How did you hear about us?" invites a vague answer. Try something more specific and friendly:

"Just so I know, did you find us on Google Maps, on our website, through someone you know, or another way?"

Offering a few options helps people remember. Then ask for the address or building, which gives you the city and neighbourhood without a second question.

For texts and emails, add the question to your first reply template, for example: "Thanks, [Customer name]. Could you share your address and how you found us? It helps us plan."

Step 4: Record outcomes, not just enquiries

An enquiry log without outcomes only tells you which sources make the phone ring. You need to know which ones produce paid work.

Set a simple rule: whoever closes the job, or decides it's lost, updates the outcome and value. Review open rows weekly and mark anything older than a month as quoted or lost.

Step 5: The monthly twenty-minute review

Once a month, filter the log and answer five questions:

1. How many enquiries came from each source?
2. How many of each became paid work?
3. What was the revenue from each source?
4. For paid sources, what did each cost, and what was the cost per booked job?
5. How did Burnaby and Coquitlam compare?

Here's a worked example with illustrative numbers. Suppose a month shows 18 enquiries from a paid search ad, of which 4 booked, and the ads cost $900. That's $225 per booked job. The same month shows 7 enquiries from strata managers, of which 5 booked, at no direct cost. Neither number says to stop the ads; it does say the manager relationships deserve attention, and that the ad's cost per job should be weighed against your average job margin.

Make one decision each month based on the review, even a small one. A log that never changes a decision will soon stop being kept.

Common mistakes

• Too many sources. People stop choosing carefully. Keep it short.
• Only recording booked work. You miss the sources that waste time.
• One person's job. If only the owner records, the log stops when the owner is busy.
• Changing categories every month. Comparisons break. Adjust quarterly at most.
• Treating 'not sure' as failure. It's honest data. Watch it, and improve the question if it grows.
• Changing your main phone number across listings to track them. Consistent contact details matter to customers. If you add tracking numbers, do it carefully.

Keeping it going when the business gets busy

Logs usually fail in the busiest weeks, exactly when the data is most valuable. Make recording part of something that already happens, such as creating the job in your calendar or sending the first reply text, rather than a separate task. If a week slips, fill the gaps from your phone history and calendar on Friday afternoon. An imperfect log that continues beats a perfect one that stops in March.

When the log starts paying off

After a month, you'll see patterns. After three, you can make spending decisions with confidence. Many owners find that a source they barely thought about, such as repeat customers or one property manager, carries more of the business than any paid channel.

If you'd like the log set up for you, including platform checks so your ads and profile reports line up with it, see our two-city enquiry tracking engagement. If enquiries are fine but calls are going unanswered, start with the missed-call cost worksheet. All guides are on the guides page.