Growth work goes in a fixed order: make it easy to find you, make sure every inquiry gets an answer, then make follow-up automatic. Advertising before those three steps are in place usually buys attention the business cannot handle yet. This checklist is the order we use in a growth audit.
1. Audit the profile customers actually see
Search your business name plus your main service and read the result the way a customer would. Confirm the business name, address, phone number, and hours are correct, and that the primary category matches the work you want more of.
Add the services you sell with plain descriptions, and remove anything you no longer offer. Photos should show recent work, the team, and the location. If hours change for a holiday or season, update them the same day, because an inaccurate profile sends people to a competitor.
2. Answer every call, including after hours
Look at one week of calls. How many rang out during a job, after closing, or at lunch? Those are the inquiries with no record and no reply.
An AI receptionist handles that gap: it answers, asks the questions you decide on, captures a name, number, service address, and urgency, then either books through a scheduling system we support or sends an appointment request to your team with a booking link for the caller.
3. Follow up while interest is warm
Missed-call text-back turns a dropped call into an open conversation. Appointment reminders reduce no-shows. Post-appointment follow-up keeps the relationship alive after the work is done.
Write the messages in the business's voice, keep them short, and always include a way out: customers can reply STOP at any time.
4. Ask for reviews without screening them
Automated requests invite customers to share honest feedback after completed service, sent to every customer rather than only the ones you expect to be delighted. Offering incentives, screening unhappy customers, or suppressing critical feedback breaks platform rules and misleads the people reading the reviews.
Reply to reviews, including critical ones. A measured reply is visible evidence that someone is paying attention.
5. Then decide whether paid advertising makes sense
Once calls are answered and follow-up runs on its own, advertising has somewhere to land. Campaign work, landing pages, and ad spend are scoped separately from the monthly Growth System, and any estimate depends on your market and goals.