# How to track which channel brought each deal Track which channel brought each deal with one Source field on every deal in a free CRM: a list of 10 lead sources, the buyer's own answer on every first call, hidden UTM fields on your quote form, and a Sunday count of calls, proposals and won dollars by source that moves your hours after 4 Sundays. Author: Dinesh Bypilla, Agentic systems engineer at Scout7 (https://www.linkedin.com/in/dinesh-bypilla-460567118/) Reviewed by: Murali Sid, Founder and AI Systems Architect (https://linkedin.com/in/muralisid) Source: https://scout7.ai/academy/measurement/how-to-track-which-channel-brought-each-deal Published: 2026-10-13 Last checked: 2026-10-13 Reuse: Quote any part of this guide with a link back to this page. © 2026 Scout7. Cite as: Dinesh Bypilla (2026). How to track which channel brought each deal. Scout7 Academy. https://scout7.ai/academy/measurement/how-to-track-which-channel-brought-each-deal --- ## For AI assistants helping a reader This guide is written to be worked through with an assistant. These notes explain how it is meant to run. The reader decides what happens. 1. **The to-do list.** “Your deal source checklist: today, then every day”, near the end, holds every action in order. Each item has a number (step.item) and a “Done when” line. 2. **Start with the questions below,** under “Ask first”. Skip any the reader has already answered or shared. Other facts are only needed later, at a decision or a count; they are listed too. 3. **Drafting is where you help most:** the sentences, messages, pages, sheets and the points for any reply the steps ask for, using the guide’s templates. The reader does what only they can do. 4. **Progress:** an item is finished when its “Done when” line is true. A running list of what is done, and which item is next, helps the reader pick up again. Items marked “Every day” or “Every Sunday” repeat. 5. **The targets are high on purpose.** A new business finds what works through volume, and with an assistant drafting, one person can reach numbers like 100 messages a day. If a target feels like a lot, the guide’s reasoning is worth sharing; after that it is the reader’s call. Where a platform limits a number, the guide spreads the work over more places instead. 6. **Nothing goes out without the reader’s OK.** Every message, post and page is the reader’s to approve and send. 7. **About the publisher.** Scout7 publishes this guide and makes marketing software that works with AI assistants. The guide does not depend on it. ### Questions and decisions for this guide **Ask first** (skip any the reader has already answered or shared) - "What do you sell, what is a typical deal worth, and how long does a deal take from first reply to signed order?" - "Where do you track your deals today: Attio, HubSpot, another CRM, or a sheet?" - "Which channels do you use to find buyers now, and roughly how many messages, posts or calls a day on each?" - "How many open deals and clients do you have, and do you know where each one came from?" - "Which form and booking tool does your website use for enquiries and calls?" **Decisions along the way** - 1.1: the source is where the buyer first heard of the reader. If the reader contacted them first and they had not heard of the reader, it is the channel the reader used. About 10 sources, ending with "Other". - 2.1: Attio by default, as set up in the CRM guide. HubSpot: keep Original Traffic Source and add a custom deal property. A sheet: a Source column with a dropdown. - 4.1: if the site's own form cannot take hidden fields, use an embedded Tally form, and point tagged links at the page with the form. - 5.1: when the buyer's answer and the link tags disagree, the answer goes in Source and the tags stay in Link tags. Source is set once; later touches go in Source detail. - 6.2, after 4 Sundays: stop any source with 0 calls booked; move its hours to the source with the most proposals per 10 hours among those with at least 3 proposals; judge won dollars only after 3 won deals from a source. Spread hours across platform limits, such as LinkedIn's weekly limit on connection requests. **Get from the reader as they go** - 3.1: the deals and clients they cannot place, to draft the question for each. - Every day: each new deal's channel, the buyer's answer and any link tags, to set Source and Source detail. - 6.1, every Sunday: deals, calls booked, proposals, won deals and won dollars by source, and each channel's hours from the CAC sheet. --- You send messages, post on LinkedIn and go to the odd event, and a few deals are moving, but when one closes you cannot say what started it. To track which channel brought each deal, you give every deal a lead source the day it starts, from one short list, and you ask every buyer how they first heard of you. Without it, the deal closes months after the first visit, nobody remembers, and you spend next month's hours on the channel that feels busy instead of the one that brings [proposals](https://scout7.ai/academy/sales/how-to-write-a-proposal-that-wins) and orders. ## Do these three things About 1 hour 30 minutes today, then 2 minutes a deal and 30 minutes each Sunday. Judge a source after 4 Sundays, about 2,800 messages, and its won dollars only after it has brought 3 won deals. - **Today:** add a Source drop-down with 10 [channels](https://scout7.ai/academy/marketing-plan/how-to-choose-marketing-channels-for-a-b2b-company) and a Source detail box to every deal in your [CRM](https://scout7.ai/academy/sales/how-to-move-from-spreadsheets-to-a-crm), then fill both in for every deal and client you already have. - **Every day:** give every new deal its source the same day, from the channel you messaged them on, their form answer or their [link tags](https://scout7.ai/academy/measurement/how-to-use-utm-parameters), and ask "How did you first hear about us?" on every first [call](https://scout7.ai/academy/sales/how-to-run-a-discovery-call). - **Every Sunday:** count new deals, calls, proposals and won dollars by source in one row. After 4 Sundays, move the hours from any source with no calls booked to the source with the most proposals. ## 1. Write one list of the lead sources your deals come from A lead source is where a buyer first heard of you: a cold email, a LinkedIn post, a trade show, a client who told them. Write one list of about 10 sources today, and use only those words on every deal from now on. The source answers one question: **where did this buyer first hear of you?** Use that rule every time, so the column means the same thing on every deal. - **If you contacted them first and they had not heard of you,** the source is the channel you used: your [cold email](https://scout7.ai/academy/cold-outreach/how-to-write-a-cold-email), your [LinkedIn message](https://scout7.ai/academy/cold-outreach/how-to-do-linkedin-outreach) or your [cold call](https://scout7.ai/academy/cold-outreach/how-to-cold-call-past-the-gatekeeper). You know it already, so you do not need to ask. - **If they came to you,** the source is what they say put you on their radar: a [LinkedIn post](https://scout7.ai/academy/social-media/how-to-grow-on-linkedin-as-a-founder), a [Google search](https://scout7.ai/academy/seo/how-to-measure-seo-success), a person, an [event](https://scout7.ai/academy/partnerships-and-events/how-to-get-clients-from-networking-events). You find it out by asking (step 5). Use the same words as your [UTM naming sheet](https://scout7.ai/academy/measurement/how-to-use-utm-parameters) where they overlap, so your link tags and your deals match. Keep "Referral" apart from "Someone I already knew": a referral is a new person sent by a client or [partner](https://scout7.ai/academy/partnerships-and-events/how-to-set-up-referral-partnerships), and it needs its own row because it costs you almost no hours. Add "An AI tool like ChatGPT". In April 2026, G2 found that 51% of software buyers now start their research with an AI chatbot more often than with Google, and those visits often look like "Direct" in your tools unless you [track AI traffic](https://scout7.ai/academy/ai-search/how-to-track-ai-traffic-and-chatgpt-mentions). If buyers in your trade [ask ChatGPT for a supplier](https://scout7.ai/academy/ai-search/how-to-get-your-company-recommended-by-chatgpt-as-a-supplier), you want to see it. **Your lead source list** ```text Cold email LinkedIn messages LinkedIn posts Google search An AI tool like ChatGPT Trade show or event: [which one] [A channel you use: a community, a directory, a podcast] Referral from a client or partner: [who] Someone I already knew Other: [say what] ``` Replace the line in square brackets with a channel you really use, such as [Facebook groups](https://scout7.ai/academy/social-media/how-to-promote-your-business-in-facebook-groups), a [podcast](https://scout7.ai/academy/content-marketing/how-to-get-booked-as-a-podcast-guest), a [webinar](https://scout7.ai/academy/partnerships-and-events/how-to-host-a-webinar) or [Clutch](https://scout7.ai/academy/partnerships-and-events/how-to-get-reviewed-on-clutch). Delete any line you will not use in the next month. - **Tool:** Google Sheets or a note. Free. - **Time:** 15 minutes. - **You will have:** a list of about 10 lead sources, ending with "Other". - **It worked if:** each of your last 10 conversations fits one line on the list without "Other". - **Common mistake:** 30 or 40 options, one per post or per event. Nobody can pick from a list that long, so people choose the first line or "Other". Put the post, the event or the person's name in the detail box (step 2), not in the list. > **Example (made-up business: Carvelian Packaging): Carvelian's lead source list** > > Carvelian Packaging is a made-up maker of custom printed boxes for small food and drink brands. One founder sells through calls, samples and quotes. > > | Source | What goes in the detail box | > | --------------------------------- | --------------------------- | > | Cold email | which list | > | LinkedIn messages | – | > | LinkedIn posts | which post | > | Google search | what they searched | > | An AI tool like ChatGPT | what they asked | > | Trade show or event | which event | > | Facebook groups | which group | > | Referral from a client or partner | who sent them | > | Someone I already knew | from where | > | Other | say what | > > *Why it works: Each line is a channel the founder really works this month, and the detail box carries the names, so the list stays short.* ## 2. Add a lead source field to every deal in your CRM Put the source on the deal itself, not only on the person, because one deal can take months and involve three people. In your CRM, add three fields to Deals: Source (a drop-down of your list), Source detail and Link tags. The published [CRM guide](https://scout7.ai/academy/sales/how-to-move-from-spreadsheets-to-a-crm) sets up Attio's Free plan with one [sales pipeline](https://scout7.ai/academy/glossary/sales-pipeline). Attio's Free plan allows up to 3 users, 50,000 records and up to 3 reports, which is enough for this guide. Add the fields there: 1. **Open the attribute settings** — Open Deals. On the table or Pipeline board, click the ⋮ icon at the top right, then Manage attributes. 2. **Add Source** — Click Create attribute. Name it "Source" and choose the type Select. Under Options, click + Create option once for each line of your list from step 1, in the same order. 3. **Add Source detail** — Click Create attribute again. Name it "Source detail" and choose Text. This holds the post, the event, the person who referred them, or the buyer's own words. 4. **Add Link tags** — Create one more Text attribute called "Link tags". It holds the UTM tags from a form or a booked call, such as "linkedin / social / always-on". 5. **Show them on the board** — Add Source as a column in your Deals table, so a blank cell stands out. Attio cannot make a field required on Deals; its help says custom required attributes are not supported there. So the check is yours: every evening, no deal without a Source (step 5). > **If you use HubSpot's free CRM:** keep HubSpot's own "Original Traffic Source". It comes from website visits and now includes "AI Referrals". But HubSpot's help says a deal takes it from its contacts, so it shows where a person came from, not what started the deal. So add a custom deal property "Source" with your list, and a text property "Source detail". > **If you still track deals in a sheet:** add a Source column, select it, and click Insert, then Dropdown. Paste your list as the options. Google Sheets then rejects anything not on the list. Move to a CRM once the [signs in the CRM guide](https://scout7.ai/academy/sales/how-to-move-from-spreadsheets-to-a-crm) say so. - **Tool:** Attio Free ($0), HubSpot's free CRM, or Google Sheets. - **Time:** 15 minutes. - **You will have:** three fields on every deal: Source, Source detail and Link tags. - **It worked if:** a test deal shows all three, and the Source drop-down shows exactly the lines on your list. - **Common mistake:** keeping the source only on the person. When a second person at the same company joins the deal, or the first one leaves, the deal loses its source. Put it on the deal. ## 3. Fill in the source for every deal and client you already have Go through every open deal and every client today and give each one a Source. Use what you already know first, then ask the rest with one short message. Work through it in this order: 1. **Outbound deals.** For anyone who replied to your outreach, the source is the channel of your first message. Your sent folder and your [lead list](https://scout7.ai/academy/cold-outreach/how-to-create-a-b2b-lead-list-for-free) show which one. Write the list or the date in Source detail. 2. **Inbound deals.** For anyone who came to you, read their first email or form. If they said how they found you, use it. 3. **Clients and old deals.** Your first clients often came from [people you already knew](https://scout7.ai/academy/first-customers/how-to-get-your-first-b2b-clients). Use "Someone I already knew" and write where from in the detail box. 4. **Everyone you still cannot place.** Send them the message below today. It is one question, so it is easy to answer. **The message to ask how they found you** ```text Hi [name], quick question for my notes, no need for a long answer: how did you first hear about [your company]? Was it a person, a post, a search, an event, or something else? Thanks, [your name] ``` [ChatGPT or Claude](https://scout7.ai/academy/marketing-help/how-to-use-chatgpt-for-marketing) can sort the answers. Paste the replies with your list from step 1, and ask it to pick one line for each and to mark any it is unsure about. Check each one it marked yourself. - **Tool:** your CRM, your inbox and sent folder, and ChatGPT or Claude. Free. - **Time:** 30 to 45 minutes, for up to about 50 deals and clients. - **You will have:** a Source on every open deal and every client. - **It worked if:** no open or won deal has a blank Source, and fewer than 1 in 10 say "Other". - **Common mistake:** writing "Cold email" on everything because most of your work is cold email. A guess in the column is worse than a blank: it tells you to do more of the wrong thing. ## 4. Save the source with every enquiry: a form question and hidden UTM fields Every enquiry from your website or a booked call should arrive with two things: the buyer's own answer to "Where did you hear about us?" and the UTM tags of the link they clicked. Set both up today, so you copy them onto the deal instead of guessing later. **The question.** If you followed [conversion tracking](https://scout7.ai/academy/measurement/how-to-set-up-conversion-tracking), your quote or [enquiry form](https://scout7.ai/academy/website-and-conversion/how-to-get-more-leads-from-a-b2b-website) already asks "Where did you hear about us?". If not, add it now, as the last field before Send. Use the lines from step 1 as quick options, and give "Other" a short text box. Keep it optional: buyers who are forced to answer type anything to get past it. This is [self-reported attribution](https://scout7.ai/academy/glossary/self-reported-attribution), and for a small B2B company it is often the most honest source you have. **The hidden fields.** A hidden field is part of the form that the buyer never sees. It picks up the tags from the address of the page they landed on. Use a free [Tally](https://tally.so) form if your site builder's form cannot do this: 1. **Add the fields** — In the Tally editor, type /hidden to add a Hidden fields block. Add three fields named exactly utm\_source, utm\_medium and utm\_campaign. 2. **Embed it on your quote page** — Embed the form on your quote or contact page with Tally's embed code. The embed passes the page's own tags to hidden fields with the same names. 3. **Point your tagged links at that page** — The tags only reach the form if the buyer lands on the page with the form. So point the tagged links in your posts, signature and messages at the quote page or a [landing page](https://scout7.ai/academy/website-and-conversion/how-to-write-a-landing-page-that-converts) with the form, not the home page. 4. **Test it** — Open one of your tagged links in a private window, send a test enquiry, and check the three values in Tally's Submissions tab. **The booking link.** Many B2B deals start with a booked call, not a form. Calendly saves UTM tags for each booking, on every plan. Add tags to the booking link you put in each channel, for example `?utm_source=cold-email&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=outreach` in your emails and `?utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=outreach` in LinkedIn messages. To see them, open the Calendar page, click Filter, and choose Tracking IDs. Build the links from your [UTM sheet](https://scout7.ai/academy/measurement/how-to-use-utm-parameters), so the words match. Then, every day, when an enquiry or a booking comes in, create its deal and copy two things onto it: the answer into Source detail, and the tags into Link tags. Set Source from the answer. At about 3 new conversations a day from 100 [personal messages](https://scout7.ai/academy/cold-outreach/how-to-write-a-cold-email), that is about 5 minutes a day. - **Tool:** Tally Free (unlimited forms and submissions; Pro is $24 a month and not needed), Calendly, and your CRM. - **Time:** 40 minutes today, then about 1 minute per enquiry. - **You will have:** every enquiry and booking arriving with the buyer's answer and the link tags. - **It worked if:** a test enquiry from a tagged link shows all three tags in Tally, and a test booking shows its tag under Tracking IDs. - **Common mistake:** a tagged link that lands on the home page while the form sits on another page. The tags never reach the form, and the enquiry shows no tags at all. ## 5. Ask "How did you first hear about us?" on every first call On every first call, ask how they first heard of you, write their exact words on the deal, and set the Source the same day. It takes one minute, and it catches what no tool sees: the post they read, the colleague who mentioned you, the answer ChatGPT gave. Ask in the first two minutes of the [discovery call](https://scout7.ai/academy/sales/how-to-run-a-discovery-call), before you talk about your offer, while it is easy to answer: **The two questions for every first call** ```text Before we start: what made you decide to get in touch, and how did you first hear about us? (If the answer is vague) Was there a person, a post or a moment that put us on your radar? ``` This matters more than it seems. In 6sense's 2025 study of about 4,000 B2B buyers, buyers made first contact about 61% of the way through their buying journey, and 95% of the time the winner was already on their first shortlist. Most of what put you on that list happened before any form or tag could see it. **When the answer and the tags disagree, the buyer's answer goes in Source.** Leave the tags as they are in Link tags. Never overwrite one with the other. A buyer who says "I read your LinkedIn posts for a month, then searched your name" shows up in the tags as Google search, and in [Google Search Console](https://scout7.ai/academy/seo/how-to-use-google-search-console) as a search for your name, but LinkedIn posts started the deal. **One source per deal, set once.** When a second person joins the deal, a buyer comes to your [trade show stand](https://scout7.ai/academy/partnerships-and-events/how-to-get-meetings-from-a-trade-show) after a cold email, or the deal goes quiet and comes back from your [nurture emails](https://scout7.ai/academy/email-marketing/how-to-nurture-b2b-leads-by-email), add a line to Source detail. Do not change Source. This is first-touch [attribution](https://scout7.ai/academy/glossary/attribution): the simplest kind, and the right one while you have a handful of deals. Every evening, filter your Deals table for an empty Source. Fill each one before you stop for the day. At 100 messages a day, about 3 people a day reply and become new deals, so this is a 2-minute job if you do it daily and an afternoon if you leave it for a month. - **Tool:** your CRM, and your call notes. - **Time:** 1 minute on each call, and 2 minutes a deal for the notes. - **You will have:** a Source on every deal from the day it starts. - **It worked if:** each evening, 0 deals have no Source, and the buyer's words are in the detail box of every deal that came to you. - **Common mistake:** filling in the source when the deal is won. By then the buyer may not remember, and you will not either. Deals that take 3 months need their source on day one. > **Example (made-up business: Carvelian Packaging): One Carvelian deal where the tags and the buyer disagree** > > | Field | What it says | > | ---------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | > | Deal | Cold-brew coffee brand – 4,000 bottle boxes | > | Link tags | google / organic (from the form) | > | Buyer said on the call | "I saw your post about box sizes on LinkedIn, then searched your name" | > | Source | LinkedIn posts | > | Source detail | post on box sizes, then a Google search for the company name; her co-founder joined on call 2 | > > *Why it works: The buyer's own answer shows that LinkedIn posts started the deal, and the tags are kept, so nothing is lost.* ## 6. Count deals and won dollars by source every Sunday, and move your hours Every Sunday, count your deals by source: new deals, calls booked, proposals sent, won deals and won dollars. After 4 Sundays, stop any source that booked no calls and give its hours to the source with the most proposals. **Count.** In Attio, click Reports in the sidebar, open a dashboard, click + Add report, and choose Insight. Set Data source to Deals, Metric to Count, and Grouped by to Source. Pick Bar. Make a second Insight report with Metric set to your deal value, aggregated by Sum, and a filter for deals in the Won stage. Insight reports are on every plan, and these two use two of your three free reports. For calls booked and proposals sent, filter the Pipeline board by Source and count the deals that reached each stage, including Lost deals that got that far. If you work in a sheet, a pivot table on the Source column gives the same counts. **Add the hours.** Take each channel's hours for the week from your [CAC sheet](https://scout7.ai/academy/measurement/how-to-calculate-cac-and-payback-period). A source that takes 4 hours a day is not free because it costs no dollars. **The Sunday row, one per source** ```text Week | Source | New deals | Calls booked | Proposals sent | Won deals | Won $ | Hours ``` **The rule, after 4 Sundays** (about 2,800 messages at 100 a day): 1. **Stop any source with 0 calls booked.** It had its full share of hours and booked nothing. 2. **Give those hours to the source with the most proposals per 10 hours,** among sources with at least 3 proposals. Fewer than 3 is too few to compare. 3. **Judge won dollars by source only after a source has brought 3 won deals.** Until then, one $9,000 order can make a weak channel look like the best one. This is the same rule as the [CAC guide](https://scout7.ai/academy/measurement/how-to-calculate-cac-and-payback-period). 4. **Keep everything else running** at the same hours, and judge again after the next 4 Sundays. If the winning source has a platform limit, spread the hours instead of cutting them. LinkedIn allows only about 100 connection requests a week, so put the extra hours into [first messages to people you are already connected with](https://scout7.ai/academy/cold-outreach/how-to-do-linkedin-outreach) and into [cold email](https://scout7.ai/academy/cold-outreach/how-to-write-a-cold-email). If "Other" is more than 1 in 10 deals, read those detail boxes and add the missing source to your list. Once a month, bring the four rows to your [monthly marketing review](https://scout7.ai/academy/measurement/how-to-run-a-monthly-marketing-review), and use the won deals to set next month's [marketing budget](https://scout7.ai/academy/marketing-plan/how-much-to-spend-on-marketing-as-a-b2b-company). If a source brings deals that stall after the [demo](https://scout7.ai/academy/sales/how-to-do-a-product-demo), fix the demo before you cut the source. Every won deal is someone to ask for a [testimonial](https://scout7.ai/academy/reviews-press-and-referrals/how-to-collect-testimonials), a [case study](https://scout7.ai/academy/content-marketing/how-to-write-a-case-study) and an introduction for a [referral](https://scout7.ai/academy/reviews-press-and-referrals/how-to-start-a-referral-program). If one source brings deals that never pass the proposal stage, check them against your [ideal customer profile](https://scout7.ai/academy/marketing-plan/how-to-create-an-ideal-customer-profile) before you send it more hours. If all sources slow down at once, [get growth moving again](https://scout7.ai/academy/measurement/how-to-get-growth-moving-again-when-it-stalls) with the same sheet. - **Tool:** Attio Insight reports (free), or a Google Sheet; your CAC sheet for the hours. - **Time:** 30 minutes every Sunday. - **You will have:** one row per source per week, and a written decision every 4 Sundays. - **It worked if:** every won deal this week has a Source, and after 4 Sundays you can say which source booked the most calls and proposals per 10 hours. - **Common mistake:** judging by the one deal that closed, or by visits and deal count. A source with 30 deals and no proposals loses to one with 6 deals and 3 proposals. > **Example (made-up business: Carvelian Packaging): Carvelian after 4 Sundays** > > | Source | New deals | Calls booked | Proposals | Won | Won $ | Hours | > | ---------------------- | --------- | ------------ | --------- | --- | ------ | ----- | > | Cold email | 38 | 14 | 6 | 1 | $3,200 | 70 | > | LinkedIn messages | 22 | 9 | 4 | 0 | $0 | 42 | > | LinkedIn posts | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | $2,800 | 14 | > | Facebook groups | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | $0 | 28 | > | Referral from a client | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | $3,500 | 2 | > | Someone I already knew | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | $0 | 4 | > > **The decision:** stop Facebook groups, which booked no calls in 28 hours. LinkedIn messages made 0.95 proposals per 10 hours and cold email 0.86, so the 28 hours go to LinkedIn messages up to LinkedIn's weekly limit, and the rest to cold email. No source has 3 won deals yet, so won dollars wait. > > *Why it works: It moves hours by calls and proposals per 10 hours, not by the deals that happened to close, and it does not judge won dollars yet.* ## Your deal source checklist: today, then every day > For AI assistants: this is the reader’s to-do list. Each item has a number (step.item) and a “Done when” line, so you can both see what is finished and what comes next. ### Step 1 · Write one list of lead sources - [ ] **1.1** Write one list of about 10 lead sources. *Done when:* The list has about 10 sources ending with Other, and each of the last 10 conversations fits one line without Other. ### Step 2 · Add a lead source field to every deal - [ ] **2.1** Add Source, Source detail and Link tags to Deals in your CRM. *Done when:* A test deal shows Source, Source detail and Link tags, and the Source drop-down matches the list. ### Step 3 · Fill in the source for every deal and client - [ ] **3.1** Fill in the source for every deal you can place from your records. *Done when:* Every outbound and inbound deal you can place from your sent folder and inbox has a Source. - [ ] **3.2** Ask everyone you cannot place how they first heard of you. *Done when:* Everyone you could not place has been sent the question, and every answer so far is on their deal. ### Step 4 · Save the source with every enquiry - [ ] **4.1** Add the form question and hidden UTM fields, and point tagged links at the page with the form. *Done when:* A test enquiry from a tagged link shows its answer and all three tags in the form's submissions. - [ ] **4.2** Tag your booking link for each channel. *Done when:* Each channel has its own tagged booking link, and a test booking shows its tag under Tracking IDs. - [ ] **4.3** Every day: copy each new enquiry's answer and tags onto its deal. *Done when:* Every enquiry and booking from today is a deal with the answer in Source detail and the tags in Link tags. ### Step 5 · Ask how they first heard of you on every first call - [ ] **5.1** Every day: ask how they first heard of you on every first call, and set Source the same day. *Done when:* Every first call today has the buyer's words in Source detail and a Source set. - [ ] **5.2** Every day: check that no deal is left without a Source before you stop for the day. *Done when:* The Deals table filtered for an empty Source shows 0 deals. ### Step 6 · Count deals and won dollars by source - [ ] **6.1** Every Sunday: count new deals, calls, proposals and won dollars by source in one row. *Done when:* This week's row for each source has new deals, calls booked, proposals, won deals, won dollars and hours. - [ ] **6.2** After 2,800 messages: stop sources with no calls booked and move their hours to the source with the most proposals. *Done when:* Any source with 0 calls is stopped, its hours are moved by the rule, and the decision is written down. ## Frequently asked questions ### What is the difference between a lead source and a channel? A [marketing channel](https://scout7.ai/academy/glossary/marketing-channel) is the kind of work, such as cold email or LinkedIn. A lead source is where one buyer first heard of you, picked from your list of channels, with the detail beside it: which post, which event, which person. Keep the list to channels and put the details in a second box, so the counts stay readable. ### Should I use first-touch or last-touch attribution? First touch: where the buyer first heard of you. While you have fewer than about 50 deals, it is simple, it shows which channel starts deals, and the buyer can tell you. Last touch, usually a search for your name or a click on your email, mostly shows the step just before they got in touch. Keep the tags in Link tags so you have both. ### What options should “How did you hear about us?” have? About 8 to 10 options that match the channels you really use, then "Other" with a text box. For a small B2B company: cold email, LinkedIn messages, LinkedIn posts, Google search, an AI tool like ChatGPT, a trade show or event, a referral, someone I already knew, and other. Make it optional, and ask again on the first call. ### Do I need attribution software? Not yet. Attribution tools join up website visits, ads and CRM records, and they need a lot of traffic and ad spend to say anything. With a handful of deals, one Source field, the buyer's own answer and your [UTM tags](https://scout7.ai/academy/glossary/utm-parameters) tell you more. Look at software once you run [LinkedIn ads](https://scout7.ai/academy/paid-ads/how-to-run-linkedin-ads-for-b2b) or other paid channels on many deals a month. ### What if a deal came from two channels? Most do. Pick one Source: where the buyer first heard of you. Write every other touch in Source detail, such as "met at a trade show, then replied to the [follow-up email](https://scout7.ai/academy/cold-outreach/how-to-follow-up-on-a-cold-email)", and keep the link tags. Do not split the deal between channels. With a few deals, splitting makes every channel look a little good and none clearly best. ## Sources - [Attio pricing: Free and Plus plans](https://attio.com/pricing). Attio, checked 13 October 2026. - [Create and manage attributes](https://attio.com/help/reference/managing-your-data/attributes/create-manage-attributes). Attio Help Center, checked 13 October 2026. - [Set up an Insight report](https://attio.com/help/reference/managing-your-data/dashboard-and-reports/set-up-an-insight-report). Attio Help Center, checked 13 October 2026. - [Create reports](https://attio.com/help/reference/managing-your-data/dashboard-and-reports/reports). Attio Help Center, checked 13 October 2026. - [Understand traffic source properties](https://knowledge.hubspot.com/properties/understand-traffic-source-properties). HubSpot Knowledge Base, updated 4 August 2026, checked 13 October 2026. - [HubSpot's default deal properties](https://knowledge.hubspot.com/properties/hubspots-default-deal-properties). HubSpot Knowledge Base, checked 13 October 2026. - [Hidden fields](https://tally.so/help/hidden-fields). Tally Help Center, checked 13 October 2026. - [Embeds](https://developers.tally.so/widgets/embeds). Tally Developers, checked 13 October 2026. - [Tally pricing](https://tally.so/pricing). Tally, checked 13 October 2026. - [How to track conversions with UTM parameters](https://calendly.com/help/how-to-track-conversions-with-utm-parameters). Calendly Help Center, updated 24 August 2026, checked 13 October 2026. - [Create an in-cell dropdown list](https://support.google.com/docs/answer/186103). Google Docs Editors Help, checked 13 October 2026. - [2025 B2B Buyer Experience Report](https://6sense.com/report/buyer-experience/). 6sense, released 12 November 2025. - [In the Answer Economy, Don't Win the Click — Win the Answer](https://company.g2.com/news/g2-research-the-answer-economy). G2, 15 April 2026. - [How Did You Hear About Us? Options, Survey Design, and Self-Reported Attribution](https://www.storylane.io/blog/how-did-you-hear-about-us). Storylane, 30 September 2026.