Connex Electrical's first agency burned through two months without a working campaign. We took over in February 2025 and built a $25/day Meta Ads + GHL system that's now 15 months deep, still active, still compounding.
When Darren came to us in February 2025, Connex Electrical had just spent two months with another agency that produced nothing. No working creatives, no leads, no system worth keeping. He'd written the spend off and was sceptical that paid ads would ever work for the business.
That was the starting position. Brisbane and North Brisbane homeowners replacing AC systems is a real market, but the previous account had no offer that landed, no audience setup that filtered out tenants and quote-shoppers, and no follow-up that caught a lead before it went cold.
Fifteen months later, the campaign is still running on the same daily spend it launched with. The creative refresh discipline is what's compounded. Twenty-seven ads tested across the engagement, with one breakout that pulled most of the volume.
AC replacement is a comparison-shopping market. The buyer is in-market, the install is a planned purchase, and the ad has about three seconds to look like the right offer. So we leaned into proven direct-response principles and let the creative refresh cadence do the rest.
Classic direct-response copywriting. Time-limited offer language, area call-out for Brisbane homeowners, and anchor pricing (a strikethrough original price next to the discounted current price) to frame value at a glance.
Full GHL workspace built in Connex's account. Mapped to Darren's quoting and install flow, with the qualification questions designed to filter out the lead types that wasted his old agency's spend.
Two automations doing 90% of the heavy lifting. SMS within 60 seconds of form submit. No-show recovery if a booked estimate gets missed. The rest of the lead handling stays with Darren and his team.
The "before" column reflects the state at the start of our engagement. The previous agency's campaigns produced nothing usable, so paid acquisition for Connex effectively started from zero in February 2025. Fifteen months later, the picture looks like this.
| Metric | Before us (Feb 2025) | Now (May 2026) | Delta |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working paid channel | None (agency #1 failed) | 15 months active | Built from 0 |
| Total paid leads | 0 | 1,229 | +1,229 |
| Average CPL | N/A | $9.80 | Sub-$10 lifetime |
| Daily ad spend | N/A | $25 | Lean and stable |
| Ads tested | 0 working | 27 | 1 breakout winner |
| CRM | None usable | Full GHL build | Built in his account |
Of the 27 ads we tested for Connex, one outperformed every other by an order of magnitude. AD 1 AC 3 - NEW pulled 828 leads on $7,754 spend, which is roughly two-thirds of the entire campaign's lifetime volume from a single ad. Above average quality ranking from Meta. Still active, still pulling.
The first month after the agency rebuild was rough. By month three the angle clicked. From there, the discipline was creative refresh on a fresh stack, with one ad eventually emerging as the lifetime workhorse.
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