The Agency Playbook, Part 4: Getting Reviews Flowing. Who to Ask, When, and What to Say.

The client's review count has been stuck at 31 since spring. The owner says everyone loves the work. The owner is probably right. Happy customers just don't volunteer to open Google on a Tuesday night, so the number doesn't move.

Welcome to the part of the job clients actually notice. This is Part 4 of The Agency Playbook, a seven-part series for people new to running reviews and local listings for local service businesses. Part 1 covered what the job is, Part 2 covered onboarding, and Part 3 laid out the rules that get profiles suspended. This part builds the ask system inside those rules: who to ask, when, how, and what to say.

The short answer: ask everyone, ask once, ask when the job is done

Google's help page on getting more reviews says to remind customers to leave reviews and suggests a Google link or QR code. Its link and QR code page lists the places to put it: receipts, thank-you emails, the end of a chat, a printed code in the store. It also repeats the warning from Part 3: reviews must reflect a genuine experience, and offering anything in exchange is "strictly prohibited."

That's the whole system in one paragraph. Everything below is just making it happen reliably, for a business whose owner is up a ladder.

Step 1: Pick one moment per client

An ask system fails when it depends on someone remembering. Pick a trigger that already exists in the client's workflow, and ask at that moment for every customer:

• Job marked complete in the scheduling or invoicing tool. Best for contractors, cleaners, landscapers, and anyone with a work order.
• Invoice paid. Good when the job closes at the door and the receipt is the last touchpoint.
• Appointment ended. For salons, clinics, studios, and shops: the next-morning message works well because nobody is standing there feeling watched.

Whichever you choose, use the same one for everybody. A consistent trigger is also your best defense against the selective-solicitation rule. It's hard to be accused of cherry-picking when the software asks every customer the same way.

Step 2: Time it for when the result is still obvious

The best moment is when the customer can still see what you did: the repaired fence, the clean carpet, the new haircut. For on-site jobs, same day or the next morning is the sweet spot. For anything with a long wait afterward (a quote, a permit, a delivery), ask after the work is actually done, not after the deposit. The longer the gap, the more the customer's memory turns into "yeah, they were fine."

For more on why that moment beats a quarterly blast, see ask for reviews when the job is done.

Two timing rules to write into every client's process:

• One ask, one gentle reminder at most. A single nudge three or four days later is plenty. A fourth text is how a happy customer becomes a complaint.
• No dumping the old customer list. The exception is a small, steady drip of past customers, not 800 people on one afternoon. Part 3 mentioned that Google can pause reviews after a spike, and Google's updated policy language now specifically flags "unusual volumes or patterns" of review contributions.

Step 3: Make the ask easy, and keep it plain

Every extra tap loses people. Send the direct Google review link, not "search for us on Google and scroll down." Generate it from the client's Business Profile (Google's help page says the QR code can currently only be generated from a computer browser), then make sure it opens straight to the review box on a phone.

Channels that work for local service businesses:

• Text message right after the job. Quick, and it's where customers already are.
• Email with the receipt or invoice. Slower, but fine for B2B or higher-ticket jobs.
• QR code on the invoice, the van, the counter card, or the leave-behind. Good as backup, but not the main plan. A QR code on a truck door is a nice thought that nobody scans at 45 mph.
• In person, with a light touch. Google's policy says merchants shouldn't "require or pressure" customers to review while on the premises, so the tech can mention the link is coming, not stand there watching a customer type.

Skip Yelp in the ask. Part 1 explained why: Yelp discourages solicited reviews, so it's a Google and Facebook ask, and Yelp gets to happen on its own.

Scripts you can hand to a client today

Short, specific, no steering. These are all fine under Google's rules because they ask for an honest review and don't request stars, wording, or staff names.

The after-the-job text:

Hi Dana, this is Northside Electric. Thanks for having us out today. If you have a minute, an honest review helps neighbors find us: [link]. Thanks, and call us if anything seems off.

The next-morning email (appointment businesses):

Subject: How did we do?
Hi Marcus, thanks for coming in yesterday. If you're up for it, you can leave an honest review of your visit here: [link]. It takes about a minute and tells other people what to expect.

The gentle reminder (three or four days later, only if no review yet):

Hi Dana, just one last note from us. If you'd like to share how the work went, here's the link: [link]. Either way, thanks for choosing us.

The in-person line (for the tech or front desk):

You'll get a text from us with a review link in a bit. No pressure at all, but it helps a small business like ours.

What to leave out of the script

• "Five stars" or "a great review." Google says not to try to influence the rating or the content.
• "Mention Jake." Naming a staff member is specifically called out as off limits.
• "As a thank you, here's 10% off." That's an incentive. The discount is the problem, not the amount.
• "How did we do? Tap 1-5." If only the high scores get the Google link, that's gating, covered in Part 3.

Asking for private feedback is fine. Just put the Google link in the same message for everyone, and let the customer choose.

Making it run without you

A manual process works for one client. By client five, somebody forgets, and the review count flatlines until the owner asks about it on a call. The fix is automation tied to the trigger from Step 1. Done right, nobody on the agency side hand-sends anything.

That's where a tool earns its fee. More Good Reviews sends review requests after each completed job, lets you cap and adjust request volume per client, and keeps every client's activity in one agency account. The Agency plan is $99 a month and includes 5 locations, with additional locations at $12 each. Compare that with the hours spent hand-sending requests across several accounts, which is the problem automated review requests exist to solve. (The tool is only half of it, though. The trigger and the script matter more.) Whatever tool you use, check its defaults against Part 3 first: every customer gets the same ask, and every rating gets the same path to Google.

What to report back to the client

Clients ask "how many reviews did we get this month?" A better answer covers three numbers:

• Requests sent and reviews received (the ratio shows whether the system is working or the message needs a rewrite).
• Pace: reviews per month, trending steady rather than spiky. See review velocity for why that matters.
• Replies posted and how fast.

If the ratio is low, fix the message, the moment, or the link before blaming customers. Most of the time the problem is a link that takes three taps to find or a text that arrives the following Thursday.

The bottom line

Getting reviews flowing is a process, not a campaign. Pick one trigger per client, ask every customer at the end of the job, make the link one tap, keep the script plain, and let software do the sending. No incentives, no screening, no quotas. The reward is a steady line on the chart instead of a spike followed by a suspension notice.

Next in The Agency Playbook

Part 5 covers monitoring and responding: what to do when a client's listing changes overnight, how customers can now suggest edits by chatting with Maps and why the owner may have only four days to respond, and reply scripts for the reviews nobody wants to answer. Bring coffee. Some of the one-star reviews are going to be creative.