I got off a call last week with a restoration company owner in California. Good guy. Solid work. Been in business for 11 years. And he was frustrated because his phone had gone quiet.
"We used to get 15 to 20 calls a week," he told me. "Now we're lucky to get 8. I don't know what happened."
So I did what I always do. I pulled up his Google Business Profile and started counting.
His last review was from September. It was now December. His competitor down the street had 47 reviews in the last 90 days. My guy had 3.
There was his problem. Right there on the screen.
Here's what most business owners don't understand about reviews. It's not just about having them. It's about getting them consistently. Frequently. Week after week after week.
And that's exactly why I'm challenging every service business owner reading this to commit to what I call the 104 Review Challenge.
Two reviews a week. Every week. For all of 2026.
Sounds simple. Almost too simple. But I promise you, if you commit to this system and follow through, you'll look back at the end of next year wondering why you didn't do this sooner.
Why Most Businesses Get This Wrong
Let me tell you what usually happens with reviews.
A business owner reads an article like this one. Gets fired up. Asks a bunch of customers for reviews over the next two weeks. Gets maybe 10 or 15 of them. Feels good about it.
Then life happens. They get busy. The asking stops. Six months later, they're wondering why their call volume dropped again.
I see this pattern constantly. The burst of activity followed by months of nothing. And here's what nobody tells you: Google notices.
Google's algorithm doesn't just count your total reviews. It pays attention to when you got them. A business with 50 reviews that got 30 of them last month looks way more trustworthy than a business with 100 reviews where the most recent one is from six months ago.
This is called review velocity. And it matters more than most people realize.
Think about it from Google's perspective. Their job is to recommend businesses that are actively serving customers and doing good work. A steady stream of recent reviews signals exactly that. Radio silence signals the opposite.
So when you ask for reviews in bursts and then go dark, you're training Google to think of you as inconsistent. Which means when someone searches for "water damage restoration near me" at 2 AM with a flooded basement, your listing might not show up first. Even if you have more total reviews than your competitors.
The Math That Changes Everything
Let me break down what the 104 Review Challenge actually looks like.
Two reviews a week doesn't sound like much. And honestly, for most active service businesses, it shouldn't be hard to get. If you're doing 5 to 10 jobs per week, asking two customers to leave a review is completely reasonable.
But here's where it gets interesting.
Two reviews a week for 52 weeks is 104 reviews. That's 104 new pieces of social proof with recent dates, real names, and specific details about the work you did.
Now let's say your competitor adds maybe 20 reviews next year because they ask sporadically. At the end of 2026, you haven't just gained 104 reviews. You've opened up an 84-review gap. And that gap compounds over time.
Google sees your consistent activity. Homeowners scrolling through options see recent dates on your reviews. Your phone rings more. More jobs means more opportunities to ask for reviews. The flywheel starts spinning.
This is what I mean when I say a simple system can transform your business. It's not magic. It's just math and consistency applied over time.
The Real Reason You're Not Asking
I know what some of you are thinking. "I already ask for reviews and people don't leave them."
Fair enough. But let me ask you something.
When do you ask? How do you ask? Do you make it easy?
Most businesses fail at reviews not because customers don't want to help, but because the process is broken.
Here's what I see all the time. A technician finishes a job, the customer is happy, and the technician says something like, "Hey, if you get a chance, we'd really appreciate a review on Google." Then they leave.
What happens next? The customer goes back to their life. They deal with the insurance company. They clean up the remaining mess. They forget.
The window closes. The opportunity is gone.
Compare that to this approach. The technician finishes the job, makes sure the customer is satisfied, and then says, "We really appreciate you trusting us with this. Would you mind taking 30 seconds to leave us a quick review? I can text you the link right now so you don't have to search for it."
Then they send the link immediately. While the customer still has their phone in their hand. While the relief is still fresh.
Night and day difference.
The ask matters. The timing matters. Making it easy matters. If you're not getting reviews consistently, I'd bet money one of those three things is broken.
Building the System That Runs Itself
Here's where most people overcomplicate things.
You don't need fancy software. You don't need an elaborate customer journey map. You don't need to hire a review management consultant.
You need a simple system that your team actually follows.
Start with creating a direct link to your Google review page. If you don't know how to do this, just search "how to create Google review link" and you'll find instructions in about 10 seconds. Save this link somewhere everyone on your team can access it.
Next, decide when in your process you're going to ask. For most service businesses, the right moment is at job completion, right after you've confirmed the customer is satisfied. Not the next day. Not a week later. Right there, face to face or voice to voice.
Then decide how you're going to send the link. A text message works better than email. People are more likely to tap a link in a text than to open an email, find the link, and click it. Use whatever texting system you already have. Don't overthink this.
Finally, track it. Just a simple count. How many reviews did we get this week? If you're hitting two per week, you're on pace. If you're not, something in the system needs adjustment.
That's the whole system. Ask at the right moment. Send the link immediately. Track the results weekly.
Simple doesn't mean easy. You still have to do it. But at least you're not making it harder than it needs to be.
What to Do When the Reviews Come In
Getting reviews is only half the equation. What you do after matters just as much.
Every review deserves a response. Every single one. And I don't mean a generic "Thanks for your feedback!" copied and pasted for the hundredth time.
I mean a real response that acknowledges what the customer said and uses some keywords naturally.
Here's an example. Let's say someone leaves a review that says, "Great job cleaning up after our basement flooded. The team was professional and fast."
A lazy response: "Thank you for the kind words!"
A smart response: "Thank you for trusting us with your basement water damage cleanup. Our team works hard to respond quickly because we know every hour matters when you're dealing with flooding. We appreciate you taking the time to share your experience."
See the difference? The second response includes "basement water damage cleanup," "respond quickly," and "flooding." Those are keywords Google associates with local searches. You're reinforcing your relevance while also being genuinely appreciative.
This takes an extra 60 seconds per review. Maybe 90 seconds if you're thoughtful about it. For the SEO benefit and the human touch, it's worth every second.
Handling Negative Reviews the Right Way
Nobody wants to talk about this, but we need to.
If you commit to the 104 Review Challenge and you're actively growing your review count, you will eventually get a negative review. Maybe it's fair. Maybe it's not. Either way, you need a plan.
First, don't panic. One negative review in a sea of positive ones doesn't tank your business. What tanks your business is responding defensively or, worse, not responding at all.
When you get a negative review, take a breath. Wait at least an hour before responding. Let the initial sting fade.
Then write a response that accomplishes three things. Acknowledge the customer's frustration. Apologize for their experience without admitting fault or getting into specifics. And invite them to contact you directly to resolve the issue.
Something like: "We're sorry to hear this wasn't the experience you expected. We take every customer's feedback seriously and would like to learn more about what happened. Please give us a call at [number] so we can make this right."
That response isn't for the person who left the review. It's for everyone else reading it. It shows that you handle problems professionally. That you care about customer satisfaction. That you're a real business with real people who take ownership.
And here's the interesting thing. Sometimes when you reach out to an unhappy customer and genuinely try to resolve their issue, they'll update or remove their negative review. Not always. But sometimes. And that's worth the effort.
The Compound Effect Nobody Talks About
Most people think about reviews in terms of individual transactions. Customer A leaves a review. Customer B leaves a review. Simple addition.
But that's not how this works in the real world.
Reviews create momentum. When you have 104 new reviews with recent dates, your Google Business Profile starts performing differently. You show up higher in the map pack. You get more visibility. More people click on your listing.
That increased visibility leads to more calls. More calls mean more jobs. More jobs mean more opportunities to get reviews. And the cycle continues.
I've watched businesses double their inbound call volume over 12 months without changing anything about their advertising. They just got serious about review velocity.
There's also a psychological effect that happens with your team. When you're tracking reviews weekly and celebrating hitting the two-per-week target, it creates accountability. It reinforces the importance of customer service. Technicians know that their work might end up as a public review, so they bring their best.
This stuff compounds in ways you can't predict at the beginning. But you can only unlock it if you commit to the system and stick with it.
The 2026 Challenge Starts Now
Let me be direct with you.
You can read this article, think "that makes sense," and then go back to whatever you were doing. That's what most people do. And most people's businesses stay exactly where they are.
Or you can actually do something about it.
Set up the system this week. Create your direct review link. Train your team on when and how to ask. Set up weekly tracking. And commit to two reviews per week for all of 2026.
104 reviews from now, you'll have a fundamentally different online presence. Your Google profile will be stacked with recent, specific, positive feedback. Your competitors will still be wondering why their phone stopped ringing.
The businesses that win aren't the ones with the fanciest websites or the biggest ad budgets. They're the ones that do simple things consistently over long periods of time.
Two reviews a week. Every week. That's it.
The question isn't whether this works. The question is whether you'll actually do it.
Ready to get started? If you want help building a review system that actually works for your specific business, let's talk. Schedule a call and let's map out your 104 Review Challenge game plan together.
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