Free fixes
Eight fixes you can make this week, no help needed
None of these cost anything, and each takes under 20 minutes. They're the same first steps we'd take in a walk-through. Do them yourself, and call us when you want the bigger ones done.
-
10 minutes
Make your Google hours right, holidays included
Wrong hours on Google send customers away angry. Search your business name on Google while signed in, choose Edit profile, then Hours. Add special hours for the next holiday while you're there.
-
5 minutes
Put your booking or ordering link on Google
In the same Edit profile screen, look for the appointment or order link and paste in the page where people book or order. People ready to buy shouldn't have to call to find it.
-
15 minutes
Write down the ten questions you answer most
Keep a list by the register or phone for a week, with a tally mark each time a question comes up. That list becomes your voicemail, your website FAQ and your saved replies. It's also the first thing we ask for.
-
10 minutes
Record a voicemail that answers questions
Thirty seconds: your hours, your website, how to book and the top question from your list. Callers who only needed that won't need a call back.
-
15 minutes
Save your most-typed emails
In Gmail: Settings, See all settings, Advanced, turn on Templates. Write the reply once, then save it from the three-dot menu in the compose window. Outlook has the same idea under My Templates.
-
10 minutes
Turn on automatic invoice reminders
QuickBooks Online and Square Invoices can both send polite reminders on their own when an invoice is past due. In QuickBooks they're under Account and settings, Sales, Reminders. In Square you choose them when you create the invoice. Nobody enjoys chasing payments.
-
10 minutes
Answer every review, good and bad
Thank the customer by first name, mention one detail from their review, and for a bad one, offer to make it right offline with a phone number. Three sentences is plenty. People reading reviews notice the owner who answers.
-
10 minutes
Turn on two-step sign-in for your business email
Your email resets every other password you have. In Google, it's Security, then 2-Step Verification. In Microsoft, it's Security in your account settings. If someone gets into your email, they get into everything else too.
Using a chat tool to draft replies?
Free AI chat tools are good at first drafts of review replies, quotes and reminder texts. A few rules keep you out of trouble:
- Never paste in card numbers, passwords or health details
- Use first names only
- Read every word before it goes to a customer
- Never let it set a price or make a promise
Rather have it done?
These eight are the small fixes. The bigger ones are calls answered when you can't pick up, online ordering, and paperwork that fills itself in. Those take setting up and looking after, and that's what we do.
Free walk-through
An hour with us, a list you keep
We come by, watch a normal hour of your day and ask where the time goes. You keep a written list of the three things most worth fixing, whether you hire us or not.
- No cost and no sales pitch
- A fixed price for anything you want us to build
- Small fixes first, so you see it pay off