You pay for ads, a directory listing and a stand at a local trade show, and when a new job comes in, nobody knows which one brought it. The form email says "Website", the phone call says nothing, and the "how did you hear about us?" box keeps getting "Google", which could mean a search, an ad or the map. The fix is one field on every lead, a short list of allowed values, and a rule for who fills it in at each entry point.
One field, a short fixed list
Add a field called Lead source to wherever leads live: a spreadsheet column or a CRM field. Make it a dropdown, not free text. Free text gives you "google", "Google search", "googled you" and "internet", which nobody can count.
Keep the list short enough that a person picks the right value without thinking. For a small service business, something like this:
- Google search (not an ad)
- Google ad
- Google Maps / Business Profile
- Directory (name it if you only use one)
- Referral: existing client
- Referral: partner or supplier
- Repeat client
- Social media
- Event / trade show
- Other (with a note)
- Unknown
"Unknown" matters. It is better to admit you do not know than to guess "Google" because it seems likely. If "Unknown" grows past a fifth of your leads, the capture process has a leak somewhere, and that is worth knowing too.
If you need more detail, such as which ad campaign or which partner, add a second free-text field for it. Keep the dropdown for counting and the second field for the story.
Fill it at each entry point
The field is only as good as the moment it gets filled. Each way a lead reaches you needs its own rule.
Web forms. Do not rely on the visitor alone. Two things help:
- Give each campaign its own link with tracking parameters (UTM tags), and have the form pass them into a hidden field. Many form builders and CRMs can store these. Then an ad click arrives labeled as an ad, whatever the visitor remembers.
- Add a short required question, "How did you find us?", with the same values as your dropdown. Use it as a second opinion when the hidden field is empty.
If you run several forms, such as a quote form and a callback form, make sure each one records which form it was. Otherwise everything arrives as "Website".
Phone calls. Whoever answers asks, near the end of the call: "Can I ask how you found us?" If the answer is "online", ask one more question: "Was that a Google search, an ad, or the map?" Then they set the dropdown before hanging up, not later.
A cheap extra: put a different phone number on your ads or your printed material, so the number dialed tells you the source. Call-tracking services do this for a monthly fee; a second mobile number works for one channel.
Referrals. Ask who sent them and write the name in the detail field. "Referral: existing client" in the dropdown, "Maria at Greenfield Dental" in the note. The name lets you thank the person who sent the work.
Repeat clients. Mark them as repeat, not with the original source. Otherwise one good Google lead from three years ago keeps getting credit for every job since.
What to look at once a month
Once a month, put three numbers next to each source:
| Source | New leads | Won jobs | Revenue from won jobs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google ad | |||
| Google Maps | |||
| Referral: client | |||
| Directory |
Then add what you spent on each paid source that month. A made-up example: the directory brings 12 leads and 1 job, referrals bring 4 leads and 3 jobs. The directory looks busier; referrals are where the work comes from. That is the kind of difference the table shows and gut feeling misses.
Three months of data says more than one, because one big job can make any source look good for a month. Do not cancel a channel on the first bad month.
Common ways it breaks
- The person on the phone forgets to ask. Put the question on the call notes template so it is part of taking the details, not an extra.
- Leads arrive by email, not through the form. The forwarded email has no hidden fields. Ask the source in your first reply if you do not know it.
- The list keeps growing. If someone adds "LinkedIn post", "LinkedIn message" and "LinkedIn ad", merge them back. Review the list once a quarter.
- Source is changed later. The source is how the lead first reached you. Do not overwrite it when the client later finds you on another channel.
Where a CRM helps
A spreadsheet does all of this for a few leads a week. A CRM helps when forms, calls and email leads come in from several people and you want the monthly table without building it by hand.
Pipedrive has built-in source fields on leads and deals. One of them, the source origin, is filled in by Pipedrive and records how the record was added, such as manually, by import, through a web form or by the chatbot. The source channel is a list of values an admin can edit, which works as the dropdown described above. Pipedrive's documentation says the source data stays with the record after a lead becomes a deal, and that you can report on it in Insights. The origin only knows how the data entered Pipedrive, not whether the visitor came from an ad or a search, so the UTM tags and the phone question are still yours to set up.