Number one: total spend, all in
Media plus fees plus software plus your own time. Compare it to the same period last year.
The decision: if it grew, did revenue grow faster? If not, you have a scale problem rather than a budget problem, and adding money will make it worse.
Number two: cost per booked job
Not cost per lead. Cost per job you actually did, blended across every channel.
The decision: compare it to your average job value. Anything above 15 percent of job value needs attention; above 25 percent, something is broken — usually the close rate rather than the advertising.
Number three: close rate on leads
Of the leads that arrived in the first half, what share became customers?
The decision: under 30 percent, stop optimizing ads entirely and fix follow-up. Response speed is the single biggest factor and it costs nothing to change.
Number four: channel mix versus channel results
List what each channel got and what it produced. Then ask whether the split matches the results — it usually does not, because budgets are sticky and results move.
The decision: move 20 percent from your worst performer to your best, and re-check in six weeks. Do not overhaul; shift.
Number five: what you have not changed all year
Creative that has run since January. A landing page nobody has looked at. A geography set before you expanded. A negative keyword list last touched at launch.
The decision: pick the one with the most spend behind it and fix that one thing. Stale settings quietly cost more than any strategic mistake.
What not to do in this review
Do not add a channel, do not rebuild anything, and do not change the definition of a lead. Reviews that turn into overhauls destroy the comparability you need next time.
Two changes maximum, written down, revisited in September.