How to get your first 10 Google reviews from jobs you’ve already done

Why 10 reviews changes the maths

Customers trust other customers more than they trust anything you say about yourself. Google knows this. Within the Map 3-pack (see the companion post on why your listing is the real reason the phone’s dead), the customer’s eye goes straight to two numbers: the star rating and the review count.

Going from 2 reviews to 10 doesn’t double your credibility. It multiplies it by roughly 10. Below 5 reviews you look new or suspicious. Above 10 you look legitimate. Above 30 you look like the obvious choice.

Here’s the thing nobody tells you: you’ve already earned the reviews. You’ve done the jobs. You’ve left customers happy. You just never asked them. This post is about asking, in a way that doesn’t feel weird.

Get your Google review link (5 min)

This is the one link that sends a customer straight to the “leave a review” form for your business. No clicking through menus. One tap, five stars, done.

How to find it:

1. Sign in to your Google Business Profile on your phone (search your business name in Google, tap “Edit profile”. You need to be signed in as the owner).
2. Tap “Ask for reviews” or “Get more reviews” (the label varies).
3. Copy the short link Google generates. It’ll look like g.page/r/XXXXXXXXX/review.
4. Save it as a contact note on your phone so you never hunt for it again.

If you can’t find that button, the cause is usually an unverified profile. Run the verification flow first and come back.

Bonus: turn it into a QR code

Paste the review link into any free QR generator. Print the QR onto your invoices, your business cards, a little sticker on the back of the van. Makes asking in person feel effortless. “If you’ve got 30 seconds, point your phone at this.”

The one-line WhatsApp that works

Most “please leave a review” messages fail because they sound like marketing. This one doesn’t, because it’s not.

Morning [name], hope the [thing you fixed] is still behaving. Small favour if you’ve got 30 seconds. I’m trying to help more local people find me, and a quick Google review makes a massive difference. Here’s the direct link: [your link]. No stress if you’d rather not. Cheers, [you].

Why it works:

• Personal opener (“hope the fuseboard is still behaving”) proves it’s you, not a bot.
• “Small favour” invites a yes because it’s framed as genuine ask, not a campaign.
• “Help more local people find me” tells them why it matters to you. Customers like helping people they already liked.
• “No stress if you’d rather not” kills the pressure. Ironically bumps response rate because it feels optional.
• Direct link means one tap. No searching for you on Google, getting distracted, closing the tab.

The 2-week review sprint

Start on a Monday. End 14 days later with 10+ reviews. Here’s the plan:

Monday	Get your review link. Save as phone contact.
Tuesday	Open WhatsApp. Scroll your chat list. Write down the 15 most recent happy customers.
Wednesday	Send the message above to the first 5. Space them out so the replies don’t overwhelm you.
Thursday	Send to the next 5. Don’t batch. Personal opener each time.
Friday	Send to the last 5. You’ve now messaged 15 people. Expect 6–10 to leave a review over the next 7 days.
Week 2	Reply to every review within 24 hrs. “Cheers [name], glad the EV charger’s sorted. Give us a shout if anything needs a tweak” is enough.

Realistic conversion rate from a WhatsApp to an actual posted review for a happy customer: 40–60%. Reach out to 15, get 6–9. Reach out to 20, get 8–12. That’s the maths.

Make it a habit after every job

After the sprint, keep the engine running:

• Job finished, final bill paid, send the WhatsApp same day.
• Reply to every review. Google reads replies as a freshness signal.
• Once a month, pick 3 older customers who didn’t review and send a soft follow-up.

If you do one EICR a week and message every customer, that’s 50 asks a year. At a 40% response rate that’s 20 new reviews. Over 12 months that’s enough to move you from third to first in the 3-pack for most Mid Sussex sparky terms.

What NOT to do

• Don’t buy reviews. Google detects them faster than you’d think and suspends profiles. One-way trip.
• Don’t offer a discount for a review. Against Google’s policy, and even if it slips through, the customer writes a different review than they would have.
• Don’t send a 400-word email. Keep it WhatsApp-short. Emails get ignored by builders and sparkies in the same way yours do.
• Don’t write the review for them and ask them to post it. Customers can smell this a mile off and you’ll lose more than you gain.
• Don’t chase a 3-star review. Reply politely, fix what you can. A 3-star with a “to be fair they came back and sorted it” customer reply is more persuasive than any 5-star you’ve got.