Running the Business · Part 2
Google Business Profile, reviews, and referrals: the only marketing that matters in year one, and the two laws that govern reviews
In year one, the marketing that produces customers is a complete Google Business Profile with real photos, a steady stream of honest reviews from the first hundred customers, and a referral habit that sends work back to the people who sent it. Paid ads, lead-selling platforms, and social media come later, if ever. This lesson is the profile setup that gets a plumber shown, the review system that runs itself, the referral loop, and the two laws that make it dangerous to get creative with reviews: California's ban on penalizing customers for what they say, and the federal rule that makes a bought or fake review a per-violation penalty.
What the full lesson covers
- The Google Business Profile is the single highest-return asset a new plumber owns. Fill every field, verify the address or service area, use the exact licensed business name, put the license number in the description, and add real photos of real work every week.
- Ask every satisfied customer for a review, the same day, with a direct link, in person and then by text. Do not offer anything for it, do not ask only the happy ones through a filter, and do not write or buy any.
- Respond to every review, good and bad, in a sentence or two, without arguing, and never in a way that reveals the customer's job details.
- Civil Code 1670.8: a contract clause that penalizes or forbids customer reviews is void and costs $2,500 the first time. The FTC review rule: fake, bought, incentive-conditioned, or undisclosed insider reviews carry per-violation federal penalties.
- Referrals are a loop, not a request. Send work back: to the realtor, the remodeler, the electrician, the supply house. The plumber who refers gets referred.
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More lessons in Getting Work
- 1Where the first ten jobs actually come from
- 2Supply-house relationships and credit: the account, the terms, the personal guarantee, and the notice your supplier sends your customer
- 3Subbing to general contractors: how to get on the list, what they check, and the four clauses in the subcontract that matter
- 4Property managers, home-warranty companies, and realtors: volume vs. margin, and the paperwork each one lives on
- 5Google Business Profile, reviews, and referrals: the only marketing that matters in year one, and the two laws that govern reviewsYou are here
- 6Advertising law for a licensed contractor: the number on every ad and the van, the word you can never use, and what a misleading ad costs
- 7Pricing models: hourly vs. a flat-rate price book, the service fee, and good/better/best, inside the rules for service calls
- 8Estimating as a method: takeoff, labor units, materials, overhead recovery, markup vs. margin, and contingency
- 9Estimate vs. quote vs. bid: the legal difference, and the moment a number becomes a contract
- 10Public works: DIR registration, prevailing wage, certified payroll, and apprentices. A separate world; know it before you bid
- 11Template: the estimate worksheet, blank and worked
- 12Template: the price-book starter. Forty service tasks, each with the line that builds its price
- 13Template: the first-90-days marketing plan. Thirteen weeks, one page, nothing paid