Guides and playbooks to learn from
Guides, playbooks and checklists
Step-by-step guides your team can follow today, from setting up a Google Business Profile to building follow-up that runs on its own.
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Weekly team meeting agenda for a service business: a step-by-step guide
A good weekly team meeting agenda for a service business has five fixed blocks: last week's numbers, wins and customer feedback, problems to solve, this week's schedule and capacity, and a recap of decisions with owners. Keep it to 30 to 45 minutes, send the numbers before the meeting and end with every action written down next to a name and a date.
Guide · Oct 29, 2026
Google Ads for service businesses: a setup guide
Google Ads for service businesses works best as Search campaigns organized by service, targeted to the area you actually serve, with tightly themed keywords, a solid negative keyword list and conversion tracking for calls, forms and bookings in place before launch. Set a daily budget you can sustain, send each ad group to a matching service page, and review the search terms report every week to cut waste.
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Guide · Oct 26, 2026
What a website plan should include for a service business
A website plan for a service business should cover hosting, security updates, backups, speed and accessibility checks, content changes, and a short monthly report. It should also state in writing who owns the domain, the site files and the data, and how fast changes and fixes are handled.
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Education · OperationsWeekly team meeting agenda for a service business: a step-by-step guideA good weekly team meeting agenda for a service business has five fixed blocks: last week's numbers, wins and customer feedback, problems to solve, this week's schedule and capacity, and a recap of decisions with owners. Keep it to 30 to 45 minutes, send the numbers before the meeting and end with every action written down next to a name and a date.Nov 2, 20269 min readEducation · MarketingGoogle Ads for service businesses: a setup guideGoogle Ads for service businesses works best as Search campaigns organized by service, targeted to the area you actually serve, with tightly themed keywords, a solid negative keyword list and conversion tracking for calls, forms and bookings in place before launch. Set a daily budget you can sustain, send each ad group to a matching service page, and review the search terms report every week to cut waste.Oct 29, 202611 min readEducation · DevelopmentWhat a website plan should include for a service businessA website plan for a service business should cover hosting, security updates, backups, speed and accessibility checks, content changes, and a short monthly report. It should also state in writing who owns the domain, the site files and the data, and how fast changes and fixes are handled.Oct 26, 20265 min readEducation · MarketingWhat do AI assistants look at when they recommend a local business?AI assistants such as ChatGPT and Google's AI Mode recommend local businesses by running web searches, then reading business websites, listings, directories and reviews to build an answer. A business that has clear, crawlable pages about its services and area, an accurate Google Business Profile, and a steady record of reviews gives those assistants the material they need to name it.Oct 26, 20267 min readEducation · DevelopmentWhat to ask before hiring a web design companyBefore hiring a web design company, ask who will own the domain, content and files, what the timeline and process are, and how the site will be measured for speed, accessibility and results. Then ask what happens after launch: who updates and secures the site, how changes are handled, and how you would move the site if you ever needed to.Oct 26, 20265 min readEducation · MarketingHow to build a referral program for a service businessA referral program for a service business is a simple, repeatable way to ask happy customers to recommend you, make it easy for them to do it, track who referred whom and thank them in a way your industry allows. Ask at moments of real satisfaction, give referrers a link or card to share, record the referral source in your CRM and check your professional rules before offering cash or gifts, especially in law, healthcare, insurance and real estate.Oct 20, 202610 min readEducation · Data + ReportingGoogle Analytics 4 setup for small businesses: a step-by-step guideGA4 setup for a small business takes six steps: create the property and web data stream, install the tag, track phone clicks, form submissions and bookings as key events, filter out your own team's traffic, link Search Console and Google Ads, and set data retention to 14 months. Then use three reports (traffic acquisition, landing pages and key events by channel) to see what drives leads.Oct 17, 202611 min readEducation · AutomationService reminder program for auto shops: a setup guideAn auto repair service reminder program sends each customer a timely message when their vehicle is due for service, based on estimated mileage and time since the last visit. A complete program also follows up on declined work, texts status updates during the visit, asks for a review afterward and tracks how many reminded customers come back.Oct 16, 202610 min readEducation · CommunicationsTenant and owner communication plan for property managersA tenant communication plan sets out which messages residents and owners get, through which channels, how fast and from whom. It covers routine notices, maintenance request intake and status updates, emergency protocols and owner reports. Written down with templates and response targets, it cuts repeat calls, keeps residents longer and gives owners confidence in your work.Oct 9, 202610 min readEducation · DevelopmentWebsite accessibility checklist for service businessesA website accessibility checklist for a service business starts with the errors found most often: low-contrast text, missing image alt text, unlabeled form fields, empty links and buttons, and a missing page language. Then check that forms, booking widgets, menus and video work with a keyboard and a screen reader, and test with free tools plus a manual pass. Aim for WCAG 2.2 Level AA.Oct 8, 202610 min readEducation · CommunicationsCustomer retention playbook for service businessesThe customer retention strategies that work best for service businesses are measuring your repeat rate, setting a clear service interval for each customer, automating reminders and check-ins around that interval, resolving complaints quickly and running a win-back program for customers who lapse. Retention pays because, as Harvard Business Review summarized, acquiring a new customer can cost five to 25 times more than keeping one.Oct 7, 202610 min readEducation · Data + ReportingHow to build a business dashboard your team will checkTo build a business dashboard your team will check, pick 8 to 12 metrics tied to decisions, assign an owner to each, connect data from your CRM, booking, phone and accounting systems, and lay it out in the order your weekly meeting runs. Add data quality checks so people trust the numbers, and remove any metric nobody acts on.Oct 6, 202610 min read
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