How to use this. Go section by section. For each question, answer yes or no honestly — not how you wish it worked. At the end of each section, the "fix" line tells you what to do if you have two or more "no"s. If you want the printable version, grab the PDF up top.
section 01
Website & first impression
The single most expensive thing a small service business does badly is the first 10 seconds a stranger spends on the website.
- 01.1Does the homepage tell a stranger, in under 5 seconds, what you do and where you do it?
- 01.2Is there a phone number, booking link, or quote button visible without scrolling?
- 01.3Does the site load in under 2 seconds on a phone — including images?
- 01.4Are reviews / star ratings / before-and-afters visible on the homepage?
The fix: If you answered 'no' to two or more: your homepage is leaking qualified traffic. The fix is usually a rewrite of the hero plus moving the primary action above the fold — not a redesign.
section 02
Booking & intake
If someone has to call you, email you, or DM you to book — you're losing the 60% of people who won't do that.
- 02.1Can a new customer book online without calling?
- 02.2Does the booking flow show real availability, not 'we'll get back to you'?
- 02.3Do you collect what you need to know (intake form, insurance, vehicle info, scope) before the visit?
- 02.4Is a deposit or card-on-file required when the stakes warrant it?
The fix: Deposit-required online booking is the single biggest no-show killer. If you can only fix one thing this year, fix this.
section 03
Follow-up & reminders
Follow-up is where most small businesses bleed revenue invisibly. Nobody notices, because the lost money never showed up.
- 03.1Does every booked customer get an SMS reminder 24h and 2h before the appointment?
- 03.2Does a no-show automatically get a follow-up text to rebook?
- 03.3Do past customers get a nudge at the right interval (4 weeks, 6 weeks, 6 months — whatever your service interval is)?
- 03.4Does every completed job trigger a request for a Google review?
The fix: Each unanswered question above is a recurring leak — fix them once and the revenue compounds every month.
section 04
Payments & quoting
Friction between 'yes, I want this' and 'here is my money' is where deals die.
- 04.1Can a customer pay online without you sending an invoice manually?
- 04.2For larger jobs, is there a quote-to-deposit flow they can accept on their phone?
- 04.3Are recurring services (retainers, memberships, maintenance plans) on auto-billing?
- 04.4Do customers get a clean receipt automatically — without you typing one?
The fix: Verbal quotes and emailed PDFs lose to one-click accept-and-pay flows. Always.
section 05
Visibility & analytics
You can't fix what you can't see. Most small businesses are flying blind because the data lives in five places.
- 05.1Do you know — without doing math — how many leads came in last week?
- 05.2Do you know which marketing channel is producing the most profitable customers?
- 05.3Do you know your current no-show rate?
- 05.4Do you know which service is your highest-margin offering?
- 05.5Is there one screen, anywhere, that shows revenue, bookings, and source channel?
The fix: If you said 'no' to three or more: build a basic dashboard before you spend another dollar on marketing. You're optimizing in the dark.
where to go next
Industry-specific playbooks
The same audit, applied to the way your industry actually runs: