From Getting Burned by Marketing to 4-5 Leads Per Day
I hope you enjoy reading this blog post.
Author: Brady Carlson | Co-Founder of Dirt2Dollars
Published Date: 3 June, 2026
David had been burned before. More than once.
He had tried marketing companies in the past. The results were the same every time. A handful of leads per week, most of them an hour and a half away from his house, and a team that took days to respond when he had questions. He was paying money and getting almost nothing in return.
When David came to us, he was hesitant. He had every right to be. When you have been burned by two different marketing companies, the last thing you want to do is hand someone else your money and hope it works this time.
But something had to change. His business was not growing the way he knew it could. He had the equipment. He had the skill. He just did not have enough work coming in to keep things moving.
Watch the full breakdown here:
What Was Not Working
Before D2D, David was getting four to five leads per week. That sounds okay on paper until you realize that almost every single one of those leads was an hour to an hour and a half drive away from his home base.
You get a lead. You drive 90 minutes to look at the property. Give the bid. Drive 90 minutes home. Three hours gone for one estimate. And half the time the person was never serious in the first place.
Bad marketing. Volume without quality. Names on a list with no regard for location, budget, or whether the person is actually serious about getting the work done. David was getting volume without quality, and volume without quality is a waste of money.
The previous companies he worked with were not targeting his service radius. They were not qualifying leads. They were not filtering for project type, budget, or location. They were just generating names on a list and calling it marketing.
What Changed with D2D
When we started working with David, we did what we always do. We built a system around his specific business, his specific market, and his specific service radius.
The ads were targeted to property owners within a tight radius of where David actually operates. Not an hour and a half away. Within 15 minutes of his home.
Every lead that came in went through our pre-qualification process. We confirmed the project details, the location, the budget, the timeline. Then our in-house team called each lead and converted the qualified ones into on-site appointments for David.
The difference was immediate.
“The amount of leads, the quality of leads, and the locations. Before, the leads would be an hour and a half drive, almost always. Now 80% of those are within 15 minutes of our house, which we never got before.”
David went from 4-5 leads per week to 15-20 per week. On a good day, he gets 4-5 in a single day. That is more in one day than he was getting in an entire week before.
And the leads are not just closer. They are better. Real property owners with real projects who are ready to get the work done.
What David Did Not Expect
When David signed up, he was cautiously optimistic at best. He figured he would maybe get two to three leads per week. That was his baseline expectation after being let down before.
“I didn’t really expect to get as many leads as we’re getting though, with the money that we’re paying. I kind of thought it would be two to three a week. And sometimes they’re four or five a day.”
Four to five a day versus two to three a week. One system works. The other one burns your money.
David was not spending dramatically more money. He was not running some complex, high-budget campaign. The system we built for him just targeted the right people in the right area with the right messaging. And then we qualified and called every single lead before putting them on his calendar.
The Communication Difference
One thing David mentioned that matters more than most people realize is the communication.
With his previous marketing companies, it would take days to get an answer to a simple question. Days. When you are running a business and you need something adjusted, you can not wait three days for a response.
With D2D, David has direct access to our team through Slack. He asks a question. He gets an answer back within hours. Not days. Hours.
“I was unsure about Slack at first, but I actually like it. If I ask a question, a few hours later I’ve got an answer back. Before, it would be days before I got answers. You guys have been great.”
For a contractor who has been burned by companies that go ghost after they collect the check, getting a real answer the same day changes everything. You stop wondering if your marketing company even remembers you exist.
Why David's Story Matters
David’s story is not unique. Almost every contractor we work with has been burned by someone before. Angi. HomeAdvisor. A freelancer. A local agency. The story is always the same. Bad leads, wrong locations, no communication, and money down the drain.
The speed of the change is what hits hardest. Within a few months of working with us, he went from 4-5 low-quality leads per week that were an hour and a half away to 15-20 high-quality leads per week, with 80% of them within 15 minutes of his house.
Nothing about his business changed. Same pricing. Same service area. Same crew. The only thing that changed was the system that put the right opportunities in front of him, in the right location, with the right level of qualification.
We do not sell leads. We build systems that put qualified on-site appointments on your calendar with property owners who are ready to move. You show up. You walk the property. You give the bid. You close.
Ready to Stop Getting Burned?
If you are a land clearing, excavation, or forestry mulching contractor and you have been burned by marketing before, you are not alone. Most of our best clients came to us after getting burned by someone else.
The difference is the system. Targeted ads in your service radius. Pre-qualification on every lead. In-house calling to convert leads into on-site appointments. And a team that actually responds when you have a question.
We have generated over $100M+ in land clearing estimates for contractors just like David. And we are just getting started.
Book a Call with Our Team: https://link.toolboxx.co/widget/bookings/intro-blogs
