The owner who has no time for marketing is not lazy; they are booked. The trouble is that marketing done only in slow months costs more and works worse. This guide gives you a two-hour weekly routine that keeps the essentials running through busy season, built for someone who spends the day on site and the evening quoting.
The five tasks that matter
Answer first: five tasks, done every week, cover most of what a small trades business needs. Everything else can wait until these are routine.
- Ask for reviews on every finished job. (about 15 minutes a week in total, mostly in the moment)
- Chase open quotes older than five days. (about 20 minutes)
- Return missed calls and messages the same day, and set up an automatic reply for the ones you can't. (spread through the week; set-up once)
- Update your Google Business Profile with a few job photos and one short post. (about 20 minutes)
- Look at the numbers once a week: enquiries, answered, quotes, wins. (about 15 minutes)
That leaves around 50 minutes of slack for the week's surprises, replies to reviews and one small improvement.
What isn't on the list: daily social posts, blog writing, redesigning the website, trying a new ad platform. Those may matter later. They are not where a time-poor owner should start.
The weekly schedule
Answer first: tie each task to a moment you already have, so the routine doesn't depend on willpower.
| When | Task | Time |
|---|---|---|
| End of each job | Ask for the review in person; send the link by text | 2–3 minutes per job |
| Monday morning, coffee | Return anything missed over the weekend; check the call log | 15 minutes |
| Tuesday evening | Chase quotes older than five days | 20 minutes |
| Thursday lunch | Upload photos from the week and write one post on your Google profile | 20 minutes |
| Friday end of day | Fill in the week's numbers; reply to any new reviews | 20 minutes |
Adjust the days to your week. The point is that each task has a fixed slot.
The review ask, in practice
Ask the customer in person as you finish: "Would you mind leaving us a quick Google review? I'll text you the link." Then send it before you leave the driveway. Use the direct review link from your Google profile. Get permission to text when the job is booked, and make sure your messages identify your business; Canada's anti-spam rules are explained on ISED's consent page. The no-reviews fix covers the full routine.
The quote chase
Make one list of every open quote with the date sent. On Tuesday, call or text anyone past five days: "Hi [First name], just checking whether you had any questions on the [job type] quote." One follow-up often recovers work that would have gone to whoever called back first.
The Google profile update
Upload three to five photos from real jobs: before and after, the finished install, the crew at work (with permission). Write one post: what you did this week, in a sentence or two, with the area served. Check your hours and services are still right.
Automate these first
Answer first: automation is how a two-hour routine survives a 60-hour week, so set up these three before anything else.
- Missed-call text-back. When a call goes unanswered, the caller gets an automatic text: "Sorry we missed you, this is [Business name]. We're on a job; reply here or we'll call back within [time]." This alone can recover a share of callers who would otherwise phone a competitor. Services like the ones described on CallText.chat do this.
- Automatic review request. If your scheduling or job software can send a message when a job is marked complete, set it to send the review link. You still ask in person; the automatic message is the backup.
- Quote reminders. Most job-management tools can remind you, or the customer, when a quote has been open for a set number of days.
Each takes an afternoon to set up once and saves time every week after.
What to hand to the office
Answer first: anything that doesn't need your judgment or your photos can move to an office manager, a family member who does the books, or a part-time coordinator.
Usually safe to hand off:
- Returning routine missed calls and booking estimates
- Chasing open quotes, using a script you approve
- Filling in the weekly numbers
- Posting the photos you send to the Google profile
- Replying to positive reviews
Keep with the owner:
- Prices, minimums and discounts
- Which jobs and areas to push or drop
- Replies to serious complaints
- Anything that changes what the business promises
Signs two hours is no longer enough
Answer first: the routine is a floor, not a ceiling. Move beyond it when the basics are steady and the numbers point to a bigger problem.
- Reviews and quote follow-up are routine, but enquiries are still too few for your capacity: you likely need a lead-volume fix, which takes more than two hours a week.
- You are paying for ads and can't find time to check search terms: that is a lead-quality risk.
- The routine keeps slipping in busy months: that is the signal to hand it off entirely, which is what the no-time fix is for.
Mistakes that break the routine
- Starting with everything at once. Begin with reviews and quote follow-up only. Add one task per week.
- Saving it all for Sunday night. A two-hour block at the end of the week is the first thing to go. Short slots tied to existing moments survive.
- No numbers. Without the Friday numbers, you can't tell whether any of this is working.
- Perfectionism on posts. A clear photo and one honest sentence beat a polished post that never gets written.
What to do next
Pick a start date and do just the review ask and the quote chase for two weeks. Then add the Google profile update, then the numbers. After a month, run the self-diagnosis guide to see what has changed. If you would rather someone ran the whole routine for you, call, text or email and we'll show you what a hand-off looks like on the pricing page.
Frequently asked questions
What if I can only spare one hour?
Keep the review requests and the quote follow-up, and drop the rest. Those two tasks are closest to money in the bank.
Can my office person do this routine?
Most of it, yes. The parts that need the owner are photos from the job, approval of anything that changes prices or promises, and replies to serious complaints.
Do I need to post on social media every day?
No. For most trades, a well-kept Google Business Profile matters more than daily social posts. If you post anywhere, start there.
How do I know the routine is working?
Check the four numbers monthly: enquiries, enquiries answered, quotes and jobs won. Also watch your review count and the date of your last review.