Name and contact
First name and mobile. You need enough to call or text them back.
📋 Tradie Admin Guide
How to Build a Simple Lead Tracker for a Trade Business
What you need
The minimum fields for a useful lead tracker
Suburb and job type
Where is the job and what kind of work is it? This helps you filter and prioritise.
Status
New, contacted, quoted, follow-up, booked, closed. Simple stages you can update quickly.
Next action
What needs to happen next: call back, send quote, follow up. One clear action per lead.
Follow-up date
When to next contact them. Without a date, leads drift and go cold.
Tools to consider
Where to build the tracker
Start with a Google Sheet or Excel spreadsheet if you are new to tracking. When the volume grows or reminders become essential, move to a simple CRM like HubSpot Free, Zoho Free or a job management tool designed for tradies. The habit matters more than the tool at the start.
Common questions
Frequently asked questions
A spreadsheet is often enough to start. Move to a CRM when sharing, reminders and integrations become important.
Daily, or at least at the end of each working day. An outdated tracker is worse than no tracker.
Next action and follow-up date. Without these, the tracker just shows you old information.
AI can help summarise incoming enquiries or draft follow-up messages, but the data entry needs to be done by a person.
Make it simple enough to update from a phone. If it takes more than 60 seconds to add a lead, it will not get used.
Related links
Helpful next steps
Service
AI Lead Tracker and CRM Assistant
Get help setting up a simple lead tracker.
Guide
Best Simple CRM Setup for a Small Trade Business
Move from spreadsheet to CRM when you are ready.
Tool
Tradie CRM Readiness Checker
Check whether your business is ready for a CRM.
Guide
How to Prepare Your Business for a CRM
Get the workflow ready before picking a tool.
Tradie admin cluster
More help for small trade businesses
Hub
Tradie Business Systems Hub
Start here for missed calls, quote follow-up, job notes and simple admin systems.
Guides
Tradie Admin Guides
Plain-English guides for AI, CRM, lead tracking, job notes and safer automation.
Tools
Free Tradie Tools
Use quick checkers and template generators before changing your workflow.
Case studies
Tradie Systems Case Studies
See practical examples for plumbers, electricians, builders, cleaners and landscapers.
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Need a hand with this?
We help small trade businesses set up practical systems for admin, enquiries, quotes, job notes and follow-up. No jargon, no overselling.
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Related support
Core services that support tradie systems
These tradie pages connect back to our main small-business services, so you can move from one admin problem to the right practical support.