From Tire-Kickers to Qualified Buyers: Reducing Cost Per Lead by 74%

How we reduced cost per lead by 74% while improving lead quality from tire-kickers to qualified homeowners booking $3k-5k garage coating projects.

Industry:
Home Services

Services Provided:
Google Ads Management
Local Lead Generation

Timeline:
5 months

Location:
USA

The Situation

A US-based garage coating company with 10+ years in business came to us in July 2025. They were spending $3,000/month on Google Ads through another agency and getting 20-30 leads per month at around $320 per lead.

The bigger problem? Most of those leads were tire-kickers. People asking for quotes they’d never accept. Homeowners shopping for 10 different contractors. Low-budget jobs that weren’t worth their time.

At that rate, Google Ads was generating leads, just not the right leads. The previous agency had also locked them out of their own account, leaving them with no visibility into where their money was going.

The Problem

The campaign was optimized for the wrong metric: lead volume.

High-volume, low-quality leads (mostly tire-kickers and quote shoppers)
No qualification mechanisms to filter serious buyers from browsers
Previous agency locked them out of their own Google Ads account
Budget optimized for “more leads” rather than “better leads”

For a premium service business doing $3,000-5,000 garage coating jobs, they didn’t need 30 leads per month. They needed 10-15 qualified homeowners ready to move forward with realistic budgets.

What we did

Over five months (July-December 2025), we shifted the entire strategy from volume to quality, focusing on attracting serious buyers instead of casual browsers.

Account Access & Initial Audit

Conducted full audit to identify waste and targeting issues
Rebuilt their account from scratch as it was locked by a previous agency
Established baseline metrics and qualification criteria

Targeting Refinement

Locked down geographic targeting to specific service areas only
Excluded demographics unlikely to own homes or have renovation budgets
Introduced negative keywords to filter out low-intent searches (price shoppers, DIY researchers)
Focused on high-intent keywords indicating readiness to hire professional services

Landing Page Strategy

Created service-specific landing pages instead of sending all traffic to homepage
Added pricing indicators and project timelines to pre-qualify visitors before they submitted forms
Emphasized quality, warranty, and professional installation to attract premium buyers
Made consultation and booking process clear and straightforward

Conversion Optimization

Improved conversion tracking to separate form fills from qualified inquiries
Adjusted bid strategies to optimize for qualified conversions, not just clicks or form submissions
Tested ad copy emphasizing quality over price to attract serious buyers
Refined audience signals based on customers who actually booked jobs

The Results

Metric	Before	After	Change
Cost Per Lead	$320	$81	-74%
Monthly Ad Spend	$3,000	$2,000 avg	-33%
Lead Quality	Mostly unqualified	50-75% qualified	4-6x improvement
Conversion Rate	5%	9-10% avg	+80-100%

Lead Quality Transformation

Before: 20-30 leads/month, mostly tire-kickers, quote shoppers, and homeowners with unrealistic budgets
After: 21-32 qualified leads/month—homeowners in service area with realistic $3k-5k budgets, ready to move forward within 30-60 days

Why this matters

The client went from chasing down unqualified leads to focusing exclusively on serious buyers:

More booked jobs from fewer total leads
Higher average project values (customers willing to pay for quality work)
Less time wasted on tire-kickers and quote shoppers who were never going to book
Increased revenue despite fewer total inquiries
Full visibility and control of their own Google Ads account

We’re happy with the lead quality and the size of jobs we’re booking now. Before, we were getting a lot of calls but not a lot of work. Now the calls we get actually turn into projects.

JoanneCompany Owner

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Common Questions

Do you only work with certain industries?

We specialize in three sectors: home services, professional services, and B2B industrial/commercial. If you’re a service business where lead quality matters more than volume, we can likely help.

What’s the minimum budget to work with you?

Our minimum is €1,000/month for our services, plus we recommend €2,000-4,000/month minimum in ad spend. Total investment starts at €3,000/month. This ensures we have enough budget to test, optimize, and generate meaningful results.

How quickly will I see results?

Initial traction typically within 30-60 days, full optimization by 90 days. This is why we require 3-month minimums—quality lead generation is strategic, not instant. Anyone promising results in 2 weeks is overselling.

Do you work with clients in my country?

We’re remote-first and work primarily with US and European clients (35%). As long as we share a language (English) and a reasonable timezone overlap, location doesn’t matter.

What makes you different from other agencies?

Three things: (1) We only do PPC lead generation. We’re specialists, not generalists. (2) We optimise for lead quality and conversion, not vanity metrics. (3) We operate with structured, calm delivery. No chaos, no manufactured urgency, no screaming or fire drills.

Do you guarantee results?

Stop right there. Agencies cannot guarantee specific results because lead generation depends on many factors (your offer, sales process, market conditions, etc.). We guarantee a structured, proactive partnership and transparent reporting. What control what we can control: strategic approach, quality execution, and honest communication.

Can you help with SEO, social media, email marketing, etc.?

We believe in doing one thing exceptionally well rather than many things adequately. We focus primarily on paid advertising lead generation, but we can support local SEO as an additional effort since it works hand-in-hand with paid advertising.

Clients We Worked With

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We’ll Provide Specific Recommendations
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If We’re Aligned, We Get Started
Simple contract, clear terms, and we kick off within a week. You’ll have a clear plan and know exactly what to expect.