Why Most Brisbane Business Owners Are Working Too Hard for Too Little
I see it every week. I’ll be sitting down with a landscaper in Chermside or a boutique law firm owner in the CBD, and they are exhausted. They are doing 'everything right'—running ads, posting on social media, and trying to keep up with emails—but they feel like they’re running on a treadmill.
The problem isn't that they aren't working hard enough. It’s that they are doing manual work that a computer should be doing for them.
When we talk about automation, I’m not talking about robots taking over the world. I’m talking about setting up systems so that when a potential customer finds you, they get an immediate response, they get booked into your calendar, and they get followed up until they pay you—all without you lifting a finger.
If you want to grow your profit without doubling your stress, you need to stop thinking like a worker and start thinking like an architect. This guide is a deep dive into how you can use smart business tools to buy back your time and make more money.
The Real Cost of 'Doing it Yourself'
Most business owners think automation is expensive. They see a software subscription for $100 a month and think, "I’ll just do that myself and save the money."
That is the most expensive mistake you can make.
Let’s look at the numbers. If you spend 5 hours a week manually replying to basic enquiries, chasing invoices, or trying to schedule appointments, that’s 20 hours a month. If your time is worth $150 an hour (which it should be), you are 'spending' $3,000 a month to do basic admin.
Even worse, if you take 4 hours to reply to a lead because you were on a job or in a meeting, that lead has already called your competitor in Indooroopilly who answered the phone immediately. You didn't just lose time; you lost a customer.
Phase 1: Capturing Every Single Lead (The 'No Leaky Bucket' Strategy)
Marketing is a waste of money if your bucket has holes in it. You can spend thousands on Google Ads, but if people click your ad and then have to wait for a callback, they’ll leave.
The 5-Minute Rule
Data shows that if you don't respond to a new enquiry within 5 minutes, your chances of winning that job drop by 80%. In the real world of running a business in Brisbane, you can’t always be on your phone.This is where automation wins. You can set up a system where: 1. A lead fills out your website form. 2. They immediately get a text message saying: "Hi, it’s [Your Name] from [Your Business]. I’ve received your enquiry. Are you looking for a quote or just some general info?" 3. If they reply, the system can even handle customer questions automatically while you’re busy.
This costs about the price of a couple of cases of beer a month, but it can easily double your sales because you're the first person to talk to the customer.
Dealing with the Phone
If you’re a tradie, you’re often on a ladder or driving. You miss calls. Every missed call is a missed opportunity. Using voice technology to answer those calls, take a message, or even book a quote into your calendar means your business stays open even when you're on the tools.Phase 2: Sorting the Gold from the Junk
Not every lead is a good lead. We’ve all dealt with the 'tyre kickers' who want the world for five dollars.
An advanced automation tactic is using 'Lead Scoring'. It sounds fancy, but it just means the computer looks at what a person does and tells you if they are worth your time.
For example, if someone downloads a price list from your site and visits your 'Contact' page three times, the system flags them as a 'Hot Lead'. If someone just looks at a blog post once and leaves, the system leaves them alone.
By focusing your energy only on the people ready to buy, you stop wasting hours on the phone with people who were never going to hire you anyway. I’ve seen this save business owners 10+ hours a week in wasted sales calls.
Phase 3: The Fortune is in the Follow-Up
Most small businesses are terrible at following up. You send a quote, don't hear back, and then forget about it because you're busy with the next job.
This is leaving tens of thousands of dollars on the table.
Automation allows you to create a 'Follow-Up Sequence'. Day 1: Quote sent. Day 3: Automated email: "Hi [Name], just checking you got the quote and if you had any questions?"
- Day 7: Automated text: "Hi [Name], we're booking up for next month. Did you want to lock in that spot?"
Phase 4: Getting Your Life Back from Admin
Once a customer says yes, the work really starts—and so does the paperwork. Invoices, contracts, booking reminders, and review requests.
If you are still manually typing out invoices or texting people to remind them of their appointment, you are stuck in the 90s.
I worked with a pest control business in Morningside that was spending every Sunday night doing paperwork. We automated their booking-to-invoice flow. Now, when a job is marked 'done' on the technician's phone, the invoice goes out, the payment is tracked, and a review request is sent to the customer automatically. The owner got his Sundays back to spend with his kids. That’s the real value of automation.
What Should You Do First?
Don't try to automate everything at once. You'll get overwhelmed and give up. Here is the order I recommend for 90% of Brisbane businesses:
1. Automated Lead Response: Get a text message out to anyone who fills out your website form immediately. 2. Online Scheduling: Let people book quotes or meetings directly into your calendar. No more back-and-forth emails. 3. Automated Reviews: Send a text 24 hours after a job is finished asking for a Google review. This is how you beat your competitors on Google Maps.
What Is a Waste of Money?
Avoid any 'advanced' marketing automation that requires you to hire a full-time person to manage it. If a software company tells you that you need a 6-month training course to use their platform, run away.
You need 'set and forget' tools that work in the background while you run your business.
How Long Until You See Results?
You can have a lead response system set up in a few days. You will see the results—more booked appointments and fewer missed opportunities—almost instantly. Within a month, you'll notice you have more free time because you aren't doing the same repetitive tasks over and over.
Summary: Work Smarter, Not Harder
Automation isn't about being lazy; it's about being efficient. It's about making sure your business can grow without you having to work 80 hours a week.
If you're tired of chasing leads, missing calls, and spending your nights on admin, it's time to let the machines do the heavy lifting.
Ready to get your time back and grow your sales?
At Local Marketing Group, we specialise in helping Brisbane business owners set up these systems so they can focus on what they do best. We don't do 'fluff'—we do results.
Contact us today to see how we can automate your growth.