THE SEASON
Three things to do with a quiet phone: the list you already have is worth more than a new ad
In Hialeah the phone is loud most of the year. Calls come in Spanish first, the caller has a long list, and whoever answers gets the job. Then, for some trades, the rains end and the weeks get slower. The first thought is an ad. Before that, look at what you already have: years of customers, most of whom have not heard from you since the invoice.
A note on what this is. It is three jobs for a slow week, in order. All three can be done by hand, this week, from your own phone and records.
THE SHORT ANSWER
Why start with past customers, not new ones?
Because they already said yes once. They know your trucks and your prices, and in Hialeah your name travels from one block to the next by word of mouth. A new ad has to win a stranger. A text to a past customer only has to remind someone who was happy.
Count them first. Open last year’s invoices, or your job list, and write down how many customers you served. Then count how many you have texted or called since the job. That gap is the list for this week.
What do you text a past customer?
Something useful, with one easy answer, in the language they used with you:
Sample. ES: Hola Sr. Díaz, le escribe Mayra de Frío Total. Hace un año le cambiamos el motor del aire. Estamos dando mantenimientos esta semana y tenemos el jueves libre. ¿Le aparto la hora? EN: Hi Mr. Díaz, this is Mayra from Frío Total. We replaced your AC motor a year ago. We are doing tune-ups this week and have Thursday open. Want us to hold the time?
Text only people who gave you their number for a job and never said stop. Their permission to be texted is yours to keep, and the texting rules page explains what that means. Send it in daylight. Stop for anyone who answers no.
Which reviews did you never ask for?
Look at your Google profile. Count the reviews. Then count the jobs you did last year. Most companies find the second number is far bigger, because nobody asked. A quiet week is the time to ask the happy ones you remember, and everyone you finished with recently.
Ask everyone the same way, in their language, with the direct link. Do not pick only the ones you think will be kind, and do not offer anything for a review. Google does not allow either.
What should you fix on the listing?
- Hours that match when you really answer, including holidays.
- The phone number customers should call, the same one on your trucks and your site.
- The jobs you do, listed one by one, not just the trade name.
- Recent photos of real work, real trucks and real people.
- A line in Spanish, so a Spanish speaker sees you speak it.
Search your company name on your phone, the way a customer would. Read the listing as if you had never heard of yourself. Fix what you find. It is free, and it takes an afternoon.
Where does the product fit?
In the first two, and only when the list is long. Texting two hundred past customers by hand is a week of evenings. On the Crew plan, the past customer texts go out in both languages, at daytime hours, and stop on a reply or a STOP. Every plan sends a review request after each finished job, in the customer’s language, so next year the gap is smaller. The listing is yours to fix by hand.
If your list is small and you know every customer by name, do it all by hand. You do not need us for a quiet week.
Related
Want to count your list together?
Bring last year’s job list to a 30-minute call. We count the past customers and the reviews with you, write the first text in both languages, and look at your Google listing on the screen. If the list is small, we will tell you to send it by hand.
