What one local enquiry is actually worth
You cannot judge any offer until you know this number. One enquiry is worth your average order value times your closing rate, so a 900 euro average with one in three closing makes an enquiry worth 300 euros. Every price you are quoted should be read against that figure.
The two numbers you already have
Average order value is in your invoices. Closing rate is in your enquiry log, or in your memory of the last twenty calls if you keep no log. Nothing else is needed, and no industry average can substitute for either, because both vary more between two businesses in the same trade than between trades.
Multiply them and you have the only figure that makes marketing decisions comparable. Without it, every quote is just a price, and price without value is a matter of taste.
Worked through, twice
Take an average order of 900 euros and a closing rate of one in 3. One enquiry is then worth 300 euros. Ten enquiries a month are worth 3,000 euros in expected revenue, and a channel that costs 250 euros a month has to produce fewer than 1 enquiry a month to pay for itself.
Now change one number. At an average order of 180 euros and the same closing rate, an enquiry is worth 60 euros, and the same channel needs 4.2 enquiries a month before it breaks even. Same offer, entirely different decision, and the difference has nothing to do with the channel.
Then add repetition, which most calculations leave out. If a customer returns on average 2 more times, the value of an enquiry triples: 300 becomes 900 and the break even in the first example falls below 0.3 enquiries a month.
| Average order | Closes one in | Value of an enquiry |
|---|---|---|
| 180 € | 3 | 60 € |
| 450 € | 3 | 150 € |
| 900 € | 3 | 300 € |
| 900 € | 5 | 180 € |
| 2,500 € | 4 | 625 € |
How to get the closing rate honestly
Count enquiries for one month, every channel, including the ones that arrive by telephone and get forgotten. Then count how many became orders. That single month gives you a workable rate, and repeating it once a quarter keeps it honest.
Do not use a rate somebody quoted for your industry. A one in three closing rate and a one in ten closing rate lead to opposite decisions on the same offer, and only your own log knows which one you have.
Write the finished figure somewhere you will see it again. Every offer that arrives over the next year, from a directory, a printer or an advertising sales call, gets divided by that one number, and most of them answer themselves before the conversation starts.
Questions and answers
What if I have no closing rate?
Should I include repeat business?
Does this work for high value trades?
What if enquiries arrive by phone?
Sources
- Seer Interactive, AI traffic conversion study Measured closing rates by source, for comparison with your own
- BrightLocal, Local Consumer Review Survey 2026 How consumers arrive at the enquiry in the first place
