Knowing your business numbers requires that you measure everything you do. This is particularly true of your marketing spend. For example if you have business cards, a leaflet or flyer, a website, and a brochure all generating leads wouldn’t it be important to know which source generates the most leads? Maybe you are planning a campaign and want to place an ad in your local paper with your telephone number for prospects to call you.

There is a simple and effective way to track which source generates the most leads and how effective your campaign is – and it won’t cost you a fortune. It’s called tracking numbers.

Tracking numbers are special telephone numbers that can be set to divert to a number of your choice (i.e. your switchboard, direct line, mobile or call answering service) and will give you a detailed analysis of which number your lead has come from and what is working in terms of your marketing spend. For example if you have 5 tracking numbers, you can put a different one on each of your lead sources (i.e. business card, flyer, website, brochure and ad).

Then if 100 quality calls are coming in each month, 60 of which are from your website but only 5 of which are from your flyer then you know where your money should be invested for the most benefit. We will be using www.invoco.co.uk. Tracking numbers will probably be the best small investment you can make in your business.