Every fix in this column since August has an expiration date. It’s the week nobody looks at it.
We started with your Google Business Profile. Since then: a customer list, an honest email to it, Google reviews, a shoulder- season offer, gift cards, two photos a week, a 15-second phone test, and your facts cleaned up for the AI tools travelers now ask for first.
Each of those works alone. Together, they’re a system, and each piece feeds the next. The review you ask for makes the next customer trust you. The list you built gets the offer. The photos give the email something to show.
But a system nobody owns drifts. Hours go stale the first time the schedule changes, and winter hours are about to change for most of us. The review asking stops after a busy week. The list sits. Nothing breaks loudly. It just quietly stops working, and you don’t notice until a slow month makes you wonder why.
A law firm I work with in town shows the other side. The owner asks every happy client for a Google review, every time, not once in a while. That listing now sits at 66 reviews and 4.9 stars.
No ad budget did that. A habit with an owner did.
The difference isn’t time or talent. It’s one number someone looks at, and one hour on the calendar that doesn’t move.
Winter is the right time to start. It’s slow for most of us, and a habit built in the quiet months runs on its own by the time the summer crowd shows up.
This week: pick one number and write it down. If you’re not sure which, use your Google review count. Search your business on Google Maps, and the number sits right under your name.
For a club or nonprofit, use your member count or the size of your email list. Write today’s date next to it.
Then block one hour a week, same day, same time, and put it on the calendar like a customer appointment. Mine is Wednesday morning, the day I look at my own numbers. Pick a slow hour you can protect, not whatever’s left over. No calendar? Set a repeating alarm on your phone.
In that hour, write down this week’s number next to last week’s. Ask for reviews, or check that whoever works your counter, front desk or outfitting shop is asking. Post two photos or send one short email to your list. If your hours or prices changed, fix them on Google first.
After a month, read your number. Going up means the habit is working, so keep it. Flat means something stopped, usually the asking. Find out where it stopped and start it again there.
If someone on your staff or board can own that hour, even better. Hand it over by name.
“Everybody” is not an owner.
Richard Stuart builds websites and revenue systems for owner-operated businesses from his home in Ely. Have a question you’d like answered in a future column? Send it to [email protected]. If something’s quietly costing you customers, let’s talk: richardstuart.me.
