LeadGenie guides for small business

SMS is a text-only message of up to 160 characters, or 70 with an emoji; a longer text is split into parts and billed as more than one. MMS, the multimedia messaging service, adds a picture, video or audio. From business software, SMS costs less and suits reminders and replies. Use MMS when the picture matters.

A Net Promoter Score survey asks one question: how likely are you to recommend us to a friend or colleague, from 0 to 10. Scores of 9 or 10 are promoters, 7 or 8 are passives and 0 to 6 are detractors. Your score is the percentage of promoters minus the percentage of detractors. Copy the free templates below.

Follow up a quote the day after you send it, add something useful around day three, check in honestly at day seven, then send one last message to close the loop at about day 14. Keep every message short, about their job and signed with your business name. Below are nine texts and emails to copy.

Click-to-text suits visitors on phones who’d rather text and read the reply later. Web chat suits people still on your site, on any device. Many businesses offer both. With LeadGenie, web chat starts at A$89 a month ex GST and you reply; AI replies from Starter at A$199, and texting from Growth at A$499.

A virtual assistant is a person paid by the hour: Australian VAs average A$32 an hour, up to A$50 plus GST at an agency, and managed VAs in the Philippines start from A$8. An AI employee answers, books and follows up enquiries at any hour, from A$199 a month plus A$999 set-up, ex GST. Many businesses use both.

To get more Google reviews without chasing, ask every customer once, as the job finishes, with a direct link that opens straight onto Google’s review box. Send it by email or text the same day, or hand over a QR code, reply to the reviews that arrive, and never offer anything in return.

Your Google Business Profile has no login of its own. Sign in to the Google Account that manages it, then search Google for your business name or “my business”, tap Business in the Google Maps app, or go to business.google.com. If the edit options don’t appear, you’re probably in the wrong account or the profile isn’t verified yet.

No single CRM suits every small business in Australia. HubSpot, Zoho CRM and Capsule have free plans for a solo owner happy to set things up, Pipedrive and Zoho CRM show AUD per-user prices for small teams, and LeadGenie’s Get Organised is a flat A$59 a month ex GST, set up for you, for trades chasing quotes.

A CRM is one list of every customer, enquiry and quote, so you can see who to ring back and which quotes have gone quiet. CRM is short for customer relationship management. For a tradie, it’s a record for each customer plus a board of open quotes. LeadGenie’s Get Organised is A$59 a month ex GST.

No single AI receptionist in Australia suits every business. Hey Jodie and Johnni.ai are low-cost tools you set up yourself, Sophiie and Chime Labs list job software such as ServiceM8, and Valory and LeadGenie build and run it for you. LeadGenie Growth is A$499 a month plus A$1,999 set-up, ex GST.

A business can’t delete a customer’s Google review. You can report one that breaks Google’s policies, such as a fake, abusive or off-topic review, and Google decides. If the report fails, you can appeal once. A review you wrote yourself, you can delete from your Maps profile at any time.

To leave a Google review on your phone, open Google Maps, find the business, tap its name, tap Reviews, choose a star rating, add a few words if you like and tap Post. On a computer, search for the place in Google Maps and click Write a review. You need to be signed in to a Google Account.