To get your first 10 NDIS participants in 90 days, you need six things working together: a defined ideal participant profile, a website that captures leads, targeted Meta and Google ads, sub-2-minute response automation, a 7-day structured follow-up cadence, and parallel cold outreach to support coordinators in your service region. Doing any one of these alone won't move the needle. Doing all six in sequence will.
- The referral trap (why most providers stay stuck)
- Step 1: Define your ideal participant in plain language
- Step 2: Build a lead-capture website (not a brochure)
- Step 3: Run targeted Meta and Google Ads
- Step 4: Wire sub-2-minute response automation
- Step 5: Run a 7-day follow-up cadence
- Step 6: Coordinator outreach in parallel
- Realistic timeline and budget
The referral trap (why most providers stay stuck)
Roughly 87% of NDIS providers in Australia rely on referrals as their only source of participants. The problem isn't that referrals are bad - they're high-intent and high-converting. The problem is that referrals are not a system. They arrive when they arrive. You can't forecast them, you can't scale them, and you can't hire ahead of them.
Providers who escape the referral trap don't replace referrals. They add a second, predictable channel that runs in parallel: paid acquisition. The first 10 participants from this channel are the hardest. After that, the system compounds.
Step 1: Define your ideal participant in plain language
Most providers can name their services but can't describe their ideal participant. The fix takes 30 minutes. Open a blank document and answer:
- What plan management types do you serve? (Plan-managed, self-managed, NDIA-managed)
- What disability types or support needs are you best at?
- What age ranges?
- What service regions do you actually cover?
- What's your average billable hours per participant per month?
The answers become your targeting parameters in step 3 and your qualifying questions in step 2. If you can't answer these specifically, paid ads will burn money. If you can, every other step gets cheaper.
Step 2: Build a lead-capture website (not a brochure)
Most NDIS provider websites are brochures - they describe services, list locations, show photos, and end at a generic "contact us" form. That's not a lead-capture site. A lead-capture site does three things differently:
- Single-purpose landing page - one page per service, one CTA per page, no top-nav distractions
- Qualifying form - asks plan management type, location, service needed, urgency, contact details. Filters out ineligible enquiries before your team sees them.
- Booking-direct calendar - participant chooses their own meet-and-greet slot. No back-and-forth email scheduling.
You don't need a fancy website to do this. You need a focused one. A Netlify-hosted single-page site can outperform a $20K WordPress build in NDIS conversion if the form and the booking flow are right.
Step 3: Run targeted Meta and Google Ads
For NDIS participant acquisition, Meta (Facebook + Instagram) typically beats Google for cold reach because participants and their families spend more time on social. Google captures higher-intent search traffic but at higher cost per lead. Run both if budget allows; if you're starting with $20-30/day, lead with Meta.
Recommended starting parameters for Meta:
- Objective: Conversions, optimised for "Lead" event on your form submission
- Targeting: Australia, your service region, ages 25-65, interests in NDIS, disability support, allied health, home care
- Budget: $20/day total, split across two ad sets ($10/day each)
- Creative: Two static ads + one carousel, A/B tested. Don't invent your own creatives - use proven NDIS templates from our free creative pack.
Expect $15-30 per qualified lead in your first month. As you accumulate data, costs typically drop 30-50% by month three.
Step 4: Wire sub-2-minute response automation
This is the highest-ROI change in the entire system. NDIS participants and families typically request quotes from 3-5 providers simultaneously. The first provider to respond converts 3-9x more often than the slowest. If you wait an hour, you've already lost most enquiries.
The simplest setup: form submission triggers a workflow that sends an automated SMS within 60 seconds ("Hi [name], thanks for reaching out about [service]. We'll call you within 5 minutes - or pick a meet-and-greet time here: [calendar link]"), an automated email confirming details, and a notification to your team's phone. Total cost: under $80/month with the right tools.
Detailed setup walkthrough is in our free speed-to-lead setup guide.
Step 5: Run a 7-day follow-up cadence
Even with sub-2-minute response, only 30-40% of leads will book a meet-and-greet on the first contact. The remaining 60-70% need 5-7 touchpoints over the next 7-14 days. Most providers give up after 1-2 follow-ups. The ones who run a structured cadence convert significantly more.
A simple 7-day cadence:
- Day 0: SMS within 2 mins + email within 5 mins + first call attempt within 15 mins
- Day 1: Second call attempt + value-add email (e.g. "what to expect from your meet-and-greet")
- Day 3: Third call attempt + SMS check-in
- Day 5: Email with social proof (testimonial or case study)
- Day 7: Final SMS + soft "no rush, here when you're ready" close
Step 6: Coordinator outreach in parallel
While ads run inbound, run cold outreach to support coordinators in your service region in parallel. This is slower-burn (30-60 day relationship-build) but produces high-trust referrals that convert faster than cold leads.
Identify 50-100 SCs in your area through the NDIS Provider Finder, LinkedIn, and Clickability. Run a 7-email outreach sequence over 60 days. Don't pitch in the first email - introduce yourself and offer something useful. Detailed templates and timing are in our free SC outreach pack.
Realistic timeline and budget
Most providers who run all six steps consistently hit their first 10 participants between day 60 and day 120 from launch. The variation comes from your service region (more participants in metro areas), your ICP definition (clearer = faster), and your follow-up discipline (the biggest variable).
Budget for the first 90 days:
- Ad spend: $1,800-$3,600 ($20-40/day across Meta + Google)
- Tools (form, automation, calendar, SMS): $80-150/month
- Time: 8-12 hours per week running the system, plus the actual meet-and-greets
Total cash outlay: roughly $2,500-$4,500 in the first 90 days. Each participant is worth $2,000-$5,000/month in billable supports. The math works fast.
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Book Your Free Call →Frequently Asked Questions
Most providers running this system consistently hit 10 participants between day 60 and day 120 from launch. The biggest variables are service region, ICP clarity, and follow-up discipline. Metro providers usually move faster than regional providers because of audience size.
Start with $20-40 per day total ad spend, split across Meta and Google. Over 90 days that's $1,800-$3,600. Expect $15-30 per qualified lead in month one, dropping 30-50% by month three as the campaigns optimise.
Not strictly - you can deliver to plan-managed and self-managed participants without registration today. But mandatory registration kicks in on 1 July 2027, so factor that into your timeline. Our $999 registration service handles it end-to-end.
Yes. Sole traders run smaller versions of this same system regularly. The tooling is the same. The main difference is your ICP definition (likely narrower) and budget (likely $10-20/day instead of $40+).
Slow response time. Replying to enquiries in 2 hours instead of 2 minutes loses 50-70% of conversions. Sub-2-minute response is the highest-ROI thing you can fix. Set up the automation before you start spending on ads.