File 06 — Review & referral sequences
Ask once, at the right hour, with the link in the message.
Happy customers stay silent because nobody asks them at the moment they are happiest — and the one unhappy customer writes the story Google shows everyone. The fix is not charm. It is a sequence: one request, sent 24–48 hours after a completed, paid job, with your review link inside it. This file is that sequence, plus the referral ask that rides behind it.
Timing
24–48 hours after completion and payment.
Not at the door — the customer has not lived with the repair yet. Not next week — the relief has faded and the details with it. The pack sends the request 24–48 hours after the job is complete and paid, when the customer has run the tap, flushed, and confirmed the fix holds. One request per job: a customer who has already reviewed is never re-asked for the same job, and nobody gets a drip campaign about a review. Load your own Google and Yelp profile URLs into the sequence when you install the pack; the request carries the direct link, because every extra click between the ask and the review box costs you reviews.
Wording
The words matter less than the exit.
The pack's suggested wording, which you edit into your own voice: “Thanks for trusting us with your home. If we earned it, a short review helps a small shop like ours more than any ad: [your review link]. Anything we could have done better? Reply here first and we will make it right.” Note the second door in that message. A customer with a complaint who replies to you has given you a service job. A customer with a complaint and no door writes it on Google instead.
The unhappy reply
A bad reply is a service ticket, not a PR crisis.
In the pack's sequence, a negative reply routes to your service-recovery inbox the same day, and a human reads it before any public response exists. That order matters. The recovery — a call, a return visit, a fixed detail — happens privately and fast; anything public comes after, calm and factual. Never argue in a review response, never disclose job details the customer did not publish, and never let an automated sequence be the thing that answers an angry customer.
Referrals
The referral ask rides the 30-day follow-up.
At the 30-day follow-up, satisfied customers are offered the recurring maintenance plan — for plumbing, an annual inspection, water-heater flush, drain treatment, and priority scheduling — with their inspection findings attached. At the same follow-up, ask once: “Know a neighbour with a plumbing headache? Send them our booking link — we will take it from there.” One ask, attached to real findings about the customer's own system, at a moment when you have already given them something. Seasonal touches complete the rhythm: freeze-prevention reminders in the fall, plan renewal and re-inspection scheduling annually.
The hard line
Never pay for a review. Never filter who gets asked.
Google prohibits offering incentives — discounts, gifts, free services — in exchange for reviews, and selective asking (only inviting customers you expect to be happy) is review gating, which platform policies and the FTC both treat as deceptive. The compliant system is also the effective one: ask every completed, paid job, the same way, once. A review profile built that way can be shown to anyone, including a regulator, without a footnote.
From the pack
File 06 ships the review sequence, the recovery routing, and the 30-day referral and maintenance-plan follow-up as working playbooks. The last file covers switching systems without losing your history — read Files 07–08 — load real data, then walk it.
Straight answers
Asked about reviews and referrals.
When is the best time to ask for a review?
24–48 hours after the job is complete and paid — late enough that the customer has confirmed the work holds, early enough that the relief is still fresh. Send one request, with your direct Google or Yelp review link inside the message.
Can I offer a discount in exchange for a review?
No. Google prohibits incentives for reviews, and asking only customers you expect to be happy is review gating. Ask every completed, paid job the same way, once — it is both the compliant system and the one that builds a profile you can defend.
What should happen when a customer replies negatively?
Route the reply to a human the same day, before any public response. Recover privately — a call, a return visit, a fixed detail — and let anything public come after, calm and factual.
End of shift
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