The Great Disconnect: Why Your Ads Look Good but Your Bank Account Doesn't
I was sitting down with a cabinet maker in Brendale a few months ago. He was frustrated. He’d been spending $3,000 a month on Google Ads, and his screen showed plenty of 'conversions.' According to the reports his previous agency sent, he was getting dozens of enquiries every week.
"The problem," he told me, leaning over a half-finished kitchen island, "is that half those enquiries are people wanting a $50 repair on a drawer slide, and the other half never pick up the phone when I call them back. I don’t want more 'leads.' I want more $20,000 kitchen renovations."
He’s not alone. Most Brisbane business owners are caught in this exact trap. You pay for clicks, Google tells you people are filling out your forms, but you know that only a fraction of those people actually hand over money.
If you want to grow your business in 2024 and beyond, you have to bridge the gap between a click on a screen and a deposit in your bank account. That is exactly what we are talking about today. It’s the single biggest trend in local business marketing: moving from 'getting clicks' to 'tracking sales.'
What is This Actually? (Without the Jargon)
In the old days of Google Ads (like, two years ago), you’d tell Google: "If someone fills out my contact form, that’s a win." Google would then go out and find more people likely to fill out that form.
But Google is just a machine. It doesn't know if that form-filler was a serious homeowner in Ascot or a kid doing a school project. It just sees a 'win.'
Tracking what happens after the click—offline—means you tell Google: "Hey, remember that guy who filled out the form on Tuesday? He just signed a contract for $15,000. Find me more people like him."
This is the difference between throwing spaghetti at the wall and using a laser-guided system. When you tell Google exactly who your best customers are, the machine stops chasing cheap, useless clicks and starts hunting for the big fish.
Why Most Brisbane Businesses are Wasting Money Right Now
I’ve looked under the hood of hundreds of Google Ads accounts. Most of them are set up to fail because they treat every enquiry as equal.
Let’s say you’re a plumber in Coorparoo. You get two enquiries today: 1. Someone with a blocked drain who needs a $200 fix. 2. Someone with a burst pipe and a flooded basement who needs an emergency call-out and a $4,000 repiping job.
To a standard Google Ads setup, these look identical. They are both just 'leads.' If the $200 job was cheaper to get, Google will spend all your money finding more $200 jobs. Pretty soon, you’re busy, but you’re not making any real profit.
By tracking the actual sale, you’re teaching Google that the $4,000 job is worth twenty times more than the other one. Over time, Google gets smarter. It starts showing your ads to people who look like your high-value customers and hides them from the tyre kickers. This is the most effective way to get prices down on your marketing while actually making more money.
The "Secret Sauce" for 2024: Value-Based Bidding
If you want a prediction for where things are going, here it is: The business with the best data wins.
Google’s AI is incredibly powerful, but it’s only as good as the information you give it. If you feed it rubbish data, it will give you rubbish results. In the next 12 months, the local businesses that thrive in Brisbane won't be the ones with the biggest budgets; they’ll be the ones who show Google exactly where the profit is.
We call this "closing the loop."
How it works in the real world:
1. The Click: A customer in Chermside searches for "best lawyer near me" and clicks your ad. 2. The Lead: They call you or fill out a form. Google records this. 3. The Sale: Two weeks later, they come into your office and pay a $2,000 retainer. 4. The Feedback: You (or your marketing team) upload a simple file to Google that says "That lead from two weeks ago was worth $2,000." 5. The Result: Google’s brain goes "Aha!" and adjusts your bidding to find more people in Chermside who need retainers, not just free advice.Is This Going to Cost Me a Fortune?
This is where I get blunt: If you aren't doing this, you are already losing money. You’re likely wasting 30% to 50% of your ad spend on people who will never buy from you.
Setting this up doesn't necessarily require a massive increase in your monthly fee, but it does require a change in how you handle your leads. You need a way to track which lead turned into which sale. For many small businesses, this is just a simple spreadsheet or a basic CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system like ServiceM8, Pipedrive, or even just a well-organised Gmail.
In terms of time, you’ll start seeing the "machine" get smarter within 30 to 60 days. It takes a little while for Google to see enough sales to spot the patterns. But once it does? It’s like turning on a tap of high-quality customers.
What Most People Get Wrong (And Why You Should Care)
Most business owners think that if they have a 'tracking phone number' on their site, they are doing this. You aren't.
Knowing that a phone call happened is step one. Knowing that the phone call turned into a $5,000 job is the game-changer. Most agencies are too lazy to set this up because it requires them to actually talk to the business owner about their sales. They’d rather just show you a graph of 'clicks' and tell you they’re doing a great job.
Don't be fooled by 'vanity metrics.' Clicks don't pay the mortgage. Sales do. If your current marketing person hasn't asked you "Which of these leads actually turned into money?", they are wasting your ad budget on the wrong people.
The "Morningside Mechanic" Example
We worked with a mechanic shop near Morningside. They were getting plenty of bookings for $150 basic services through Google Ads. They were 'busy' but barely breaking even after paying for the ads and the mechanic's time.
We helped them set up offline tracking. We started telling Google which clicks resulted in major engine repairs and logbook services for European cars (the high-profit stuff).
Within three months, their total number of enquiries actually went down slightly, but their total revenue went up by 40%. Why? Because they stopped paying for the people looking for the cheapest oil change in Brisbane and started winning the jobs that actually moved the needle.
Three Steps to Start This Week
You don’t need to be a tech genius to start moving in this direction. Here is what I’d tell a mate to do if we were grabbing a beer at the Brewhouse:
1. Start a "Source" Column in Your Sales Records
Whether you use a whiteboard, a diary, or a computer, you need to record where every customer came from. When someone calls, ask: "How did you find us?" If they say Google, mark it down. If you want to be pro, use a system that attaches a unique ID to every web enquiry.2. Stop Obsessing Over the "Cost Per Click"
I don't care if a click costs $2 or $20. I care how much it costs to get a customer. If a $20 click turns into a $5,000 sale, it’s the cheapest click in the world. If a $2 click turns into a 'wrong number,' it’s a waste of money. Focus on the end result.3. Demand Better from Your Marketing People
Ask your agency or your 'computer guy': "How are we telling Google which leads actually spent money?" If they start talking about 'algorithms' or 'pixels' and can't explain it in plain English, they probably aren't doing it. You want to see a direct line from your ad spend to your bank balance.The Verdict: Is It Worth the Effort?
Look, I get it. You’re busy. You’re on the tools, you’re quoting jobs, you’re managing staff. The last thing you want to do is muck around with data.
But the reality of business in Brisbane today is that everything is getting more expensive. Fuel is up, wages are up, and Google Ads prices are definitely up. You can’t afford to be inefficient anymore.
Offline conversion tracking—or "tracking real sales" as we call it—is the only way to make sure your marketing is an investment, not an expense. It’s the difference between guessing and knowing.
In my experience, businesses that make this shift see a massive jump in their 'quality' of life. They deal with fewer annoying customers, they make more profit per job, and they finally feel like their marketing is actually working for them instead of just draining their account every month.
Where to Go From Here
If you’re spending more than $1,000 a month on Google Ads and you don't know exactly which ads are bringing in your biggest jobs, you are leaving money on the table.
At Local Marketing Group, we specialise in helping Brisbane businesses stop the guesswork. We don't care about 'impressions' or 'click-through rates.' We care about how many times your phone rings with a customer you actually want to talk to.
If you want to see how this could work for your business, let's have a chat. No jargon, no fluff, just a look at how to get more of your best customers.
Ready to stop wasting money and start getting real results? Contact Local Marketing Group today and let’s get your ads focused on profit, not just clicks.