Why set a plan (and how to actually make one work)
Goals change everything. Without a target you’ll spin your wheels—throw money at random channels and wonder why growth stalls. The right plan starts with clear revenue targets, then reverse engineers the leads, jobs, and budget required to hit that target.
Work the math, not the guesswork
Start with four numbers you can measure or reasonably estimate:
- Annual revenue target
- Average job value (ticket)
- Close rate (lead → booked job)
- Average cost per lead by source
Example: if your revenue target is $2.5M/year (≈ $208k/month) and your average job is $7,000, you need ~30 jobs/month. If you close 50% of appointments, that means you need 60 leads/month. With a blended cost per lead of $250, that implies roughly $15,000/month in lead acquisition spend to make that plan realistic.
Budget allocation: a practical breakdown
A common benchmark is to allocate 5–20% of revenue to marketing depending on growth goals. Use percentages as guardrails, not rules.
- Example: 15% of revenue for marketing. For a $1M target that’s $150k/yr or ~$12.5k/month.
- Split that between Online, Offline, and Repeat/Database: 75% online, 20% offline, 5% repeat is one simple model to test and tweak.
Break your monthly marketing budget into channels: PPC (including LSA), SEO/AEO, pay-per-lead providers, and any offline BD or BDM salaries. Then reverse-engineer the number of leads each channel must deliver to hit your overall target.
Fishing poles: diversify lead sources
Think of each lead channel as a fishing pole. The more quality poles you have in the water, the more consistent your catch will be. Key “poles” for restoration companies:
- Local Service Ads (LSA) — high buyer intent in many markets.
- PPC / Google Ads
- SEO + AEO / GEO — organic visibility plus AI/answer engine optimization.
- Google Business Profile (GBP) & reviews — impacts map pack and buyer trust.
- Pay-per-lead providers and referral partners
- Database reactivation — past customers and email lists.
One channel alone can feel cheap or expensive depending on market rates and exclusivity. Blend channels to reduce risk and lower blended CPL over time.
Conversion is the multiplier
Marketing puts opportunities in the pipeline. Sales closes them. Improving conversions at any step drastically reduces required lead volume and budget.
- Website built to convert: fast, mobile-first, clickable phone number, authentic photos, team bios, and video.
- Reviews and GBP: more reviews → more trust → higher conversion from searches to calls.
- Speed to lead: respond fast. Under 60 seconds massively improves conversion on inbound calls and messages. Under five minutes is a practical baseline for emergencies.
- Follow-up cadence: non-emergency prospects typically require 5–7 touches. Automated email, text, and call reminders close a lot of estimates.
Small conversion lifts compound. A modest bump in booking rate or estimate-to-job conversion can add tens of thousands a month without more lead spend.
Tracking and KPIs: measure to manage
If you don’t measure each pole’s output, you’re optimizing in the dark. Key tracking includes:
- Calls, texts, chats by source (call tracking number per channel)
- Lead quality tagging (good lead / bad lead) and outcome (booked, no-show, won)
- Average CPL and average revenue per job by source
- Pipeline value and conversion rates at each funnel step
- Call recordings and regular call reviews
Listening to calls reveals problems faster than dashboards. If prospects are booked two weeks out or the rep is scripting poorly, you will find that in call recordings. Fixing staffing or process issues is often the cheapest way to increase revenue.
Automation and AI: make every lead worth more
Automation and AI are not about replacing humans. They are about making your existing leads and team more effective.
- Immediate text or email on missed calls engages prospects before they call competitors.
- Automated follow-ups for outstanding estimates—text, email, and scheduled calls—lift close rates without manual effort.
- Conversational AI and voice bots can handle level-one triage and booking; human backup should be available for complex or emotional calls.
- AI content workflows speed up GBP posts, review responses, social clips, and short-form video captions.
Tools that auto-generate short clips from long-form video or suggest hooks and captions save time and keep a steady stream of content going to GBP, social, and email.
Website and content: future-proof for AEO / GEO
Search is changing. Answer Engine Optimization and generative AI overviews are appearing in search results, but local intent searches still favor GBP, map pack placements, and strong local content.
- Keep your site fast, mobile-optimized, and focused on conversions.
- Create real content that answers homeowner questions—comparison pages, FAQs, and service-specific pages.
- Optimize for AI and LLMs by structuring answers to common queries and maintaining consistent local signals (NAP, GBP, reviews, schema where possible).
Quick checklist to implement in 2026
- Define your annual revenue target and reverse-engineer required leads and jobs.
- Calculate blended CPL by channel and set a monthly marketing budget aligned to your target.
- Put multiple lead channels in place (LSA, PPC, SEO, GBP, pay-per-lead, referrals).
- Optimize your website for conversion: speed, mobile, authentic images, and video.
- Implement call tracking, CRM lead tagging, and call recordings. Review calls weekly.
- Install follow-up automations that include texting and email sequences for estimates.
- Build a review-generation plan for GBP and use review responses to improve conversion.
- Start testing AI tools for review responses, GBP posts, short-form video creation, and conversational follow-up.
“You want multiple poles in the water. The more you have, the more consistent the catch.”
Prioritize: one to three initiatives first
Don’t try to do everything at once. Pick 1–3 priorities that unblock growth for your business today. For most restoration companies these will be:
- Fix website conversion and GBP (so every visitor is more likely to call)
- Set up call tracking and a CRM to measure lead quality and conversion
- Deploy speed-to-lead automations and follow-up sequences
Once those foundations are working, scale the lead channels that deliver the best ROI.
Final notes and next steps
Growth is predictable when you stop guessing and start measuring. Reverse-engineer your revenue target, set a realistic marketing budget, diversify lead sources, and optimize conversion. Use automation and AI to make your team more efficient, not to cut corners on service.
Write down your numbers, run the math, and pick your top three initiatives to complete in the next 90 days. Those three actions will materially increase your odds of hitting big targets in 2026.