Reader question: I just hired a second electrician. How much more marketing do I need to keep him busy?
An owner adding a second truck asks how much to spend to fill it. The honest answer starts with the calls you already get, then the math on the new truck.
I have been a one-truck shop for six years. Mostly referrals and some Google. I just hired a journeyman who starts in November and I am nervous about keeping him busy through the winter. How much more do I need to spend on marketing, and where?
This is one of the most common worries in the trade, and the good news is that the answer usually costs less than owners expect. The bad news is that the first step is not spending anything. It is counting.
Start with the calls you already get
Before you add a dollar of ad spend, find out how many calls you are already losing. A one-truck electrician is on a ladder or in an attic for most of the day. Calls ring out. Some leave a voicemail, most do not, and the ones that do not have usually called the next electrician on the list within a few minutes.
Pull your phone log for the last 30 days and count:
- Total inbound calls from numbers not in your contacts.
- How many you answered live.
- How many you called back, and how long it took.
If you answered fewer than three in four, the second truck may already be paid for. You have been turning away work without knowing it because you were the only one who could pick up. Put your own numbers into the calculator and look at the monthly figure.
The fix for that is not an ad. It is a missed-call text-back, which usually runs $20 to $60 a month, and a rule that every call gets a reply inside ten minutes. The missed calls guide has the setup and the exact text.
Then do the second-truck math
Once the leak is plugged, work out what the new hire actually needs. A hypothetical example:
- Your journeyman costs you, all in, around $6,500 a month in wages, taxes, truck and insurance.
- Your average service ticket is $450 and your margin on it after materials is 60%.
- He can run two to three calls a day.
He needs about 25 billable calls a month to cover himself, and 40 or more to be clearly worth it. If you currently book 50 a month and are turning away 10, you need roughly 30 more booked jobs a month. At a 50% booking rate on inbound calls, that is about 60 more calls.
Your numbers will be different. The point is to have a target before you choose a channel. "More marketing" is not a plan. "Sixty more calls a month by February" is.
Where to get those calls, in order
1. Your Google profile, before anything paid
The median electrician on Google has 7 reviews, according to our benchmark report, and 57.6% have fewer than ten. A one-truck shop that has been doing good work for six years can usually close that gap quickly by asking every past customer. The reviews guide has the texts.
Also check your hours. 40% of electrical listings show no hours, and only 26.1% show Saturday hours. A second electrician means you can finally cover Saturday mornings. Say so on the profile.
2. Local Services Ads, if you are eligible
Pay per lead, and the leads tend to be ready to book. Start with a weekly budget you can afford to lose while you learn, often $300 to $500 a week in a mid-sized market, and dispute leads that are clearly not jobs.
3. Google search ads for the jobs the new hire will run
If your journeyman is strong on panels and service upgrades, build a campaign around those search terms specifically rather than "electrician near me." The Google Ads guide covers budgets and the campaigns that waste money.
4. Your past customers
Six years of customers is a list. Text them in late October with something specific: whole-home surge protection, a smoke detector check, a generator inlet before winter. It costs nothing, and it is the fastest way to fill November.
What not to do
- Do not sign a 12-month contract with a lead vendor because you are nervous in October.
- Do not double your ad budget before you know your booking rate.
- Do not let the new hire sit in the shop. A slow day is a day to call back old estimates and ask for reviews.
The short answer
Most owners in your spot need less new spend than they think and more follow-through on what already comes in. Plug the missed calls first, clean up the profile second, and add paid ads third with a written monthly call target. If you are still short after 60 days of that, you have real data to decide how much more to spend.
If you want help with any one of those pieces, the free 14-day trial of any service needs no card. See the free trial page or text or call (346) 496-4068.
Steven has spent the last several years running growth campaigns for local service businesses, electricians among them, and builds the benchmark datasets on this site from public Google listings. About the editor