Scalus · concept build · 28 July 2026

Three directions for a Melbourne trade directory.

Same idea underneath: a free directory of Melbourne trades and local businesses, seeded with the businesses currently on the books, with a “get listed free” form as the reason to pick up the phone. Three different ways of framing it, because the framing is what changes how the cold call lands.

Real data, demo plumbing. Every business listed across all three concepts is a real Melbourne business with correct contact details. The counters and the forms are working demos and do not send anywhere yet. No invented reviews or star ratings have been attached to any real business. All three pages are noindex.

What is the same across all three

01 Seeded with 17 real businesses

Every current client that trades in Melbourne is already listed, across 10 live categories and 11 suburbs. The directory does not look empty on day one, which is the thing that kills these.

02 Six categories deliberately empty

Plumbing & gas, carpentry, painting, roofing, concreting and heating & cooling have nobody in them. That is the call: “the spot is open and it is free.” It is honest, and it is the whole hook.

03 Working search, filter and listing form

Live search across trade, suburb and job type, category filters, and a get listed form that captures everything needed to build the listing properly.

The three concepts

Open each one. Check it on your phone as well as the desktop.

Concept 1 previewMelbourne Trade Register
Concept 1

The Register

Melbourne Trade Register

Dark, industrial and official feeling. Reads like a licensing register rather than a marketing site: reference numbers, confirmed detail badges, no fluff.

  • Best cold call line: “I am putting together a register of Melbourne trades and I want you on it.”
  • Flatters the prospect. Being listed feels like being accredited
  • Strongest for older, established trades who care about credibility
Open concept 1
Concept 2 previewThe Melbourne Trade List
Concept 2 · chosen direction

The List

The Melbourne Trade List

Warm, editorial and hand kept, now built out in full. Every listing carries its real photo, its Google rating, a real review and direct contact details. Framed as a list of trades people actually recommend to a friend, not a lead pool.

  • Real Google ratings, review counts and photos on every card
  • Live map of the whole list, plus find trades near me on location
  • Best cold call line: “someone put your name forward for a list I keep.”
Open concept 2
Concept 3 previewTradie Board
Concept 3

The Board

Tradie Board Melbourne

Bold and tool like. Leads with “post one job, the right trades call you”, so the directory is a lead engine first and a listing second.

  • Best cold call line: “jobs are coming in for your trade and I have nobody to send them to.”
  • Strongest promise of actual work. The most direct hook
  • Also the one with the most to live up to once they say yes
Open concept 3

How it works as the cold prospecting reason to call

The directory is the excuse, not the product. It gives a warm reason to ring a business that has never heard of you, and it ends the call with their details in hand instead of a brush off.

  1. Call. “I run a Melbourne trades directory. There is nobody listed under plumbing yet and I would rather it was a local. Want the spot? It is free.”
  2. They say yes. Almost nobody says no to a free listing, which is the point. The ask is tiny.
  3. Collect the details. Trade, suburbs, phone, website, what work they take on. That is a qualification call disguised as admin.
  4. Build the listing. They now owe you a small favour and they have seen your work, because their listing is the work.
  5. The obvious follow up. Half of them will not have a website, or will have a bad one. That conversation happens by itself.