The New-Customer Follow-Up Timeline

This is the whole follow-up system from manual page 4.2 on one printable page. Run it once a week, 15 minutes, same day every week. Every message passes one test before it goes out: would I be glad to get this from my plumber? If the honest answer is no, don’t send it.

Same day (job done, invoice sent)

• Send a short thank-you that names something specific about the job — “glad we got the panel sorted before the freeze,” not “thanks for your business”
• If the customer praised you unprompted, ask for the review now, with the direct link
• If they didn’t, skip the review ask — same-day asks without praise read as a transaction
• Log the job date and type wherever you track customers, even if that’s a spreadsheet

Day 7

• Send a useful check-in: is everything still working, here’s the one thing to watch for, here’s the maintenance step that matters
• No upsell. The message has to be worth getting on its own
• If something’s wrong, you want to hear it now — from them, not from a review

Day 30

• If the work held up and the relationship is warm, this is the quiet referral moment: “if you know anyone wrestling with the same thing, I have room on the schedule”
• One sentence, once. If it doesn’t fit the relationship, skip it without guilt
• If you didn’t ask for the review on day one, and they’ve said something nice since, ask now

Season or cycle

• Set a calendar recurrence for when this customer will plausibly need you again — then the reminder does the remembering

Business type	Reasonable recurrence
HVAC, chimney, gutters	Each season change
Accountant, bookkeeper	Quarterly, plus January
Cleaner, landscaper	Per their service gap
Photographer	Annually, near the event date
Auto repair	Six months, or by mileage habit

• When the date fires, send the seasonal note: what’s coming, what to check, when to book

6+ months silent

• Send one reactivation note: a real update (new service, earlier hours, a useful heads-up) plus an easy way to book
• One message, not a sequence. If they’re done, they’re done — leave the door open and the inbox alone

The weekly 15 minutes

• Pick the same day each week and list who hit each stage
• Send the messages — most weeks that’s three to six, written in your own words
• Anything that bounced or went quiet, mark it and move on