The Quarterly Surface Check (40 Minutes)

Four times a year, walk every surface where your business appears and fix what drifted. Set a timer — the time boxes are the point. Done loosely this swallows a morning; done on the clock it’s 40 minutes. Have your business fact sheet in front of you before you start.

Minutes 0–10: the six listings vs. the fact sheet

• Open Google Business Profile — compare name, phone, hours, category against the fact sheet
• Open Apple Business Connect — same comparison
• Open Bing Places — same comparison
• Open Yelp — same comparison, especially the phone number
• Open Facebook — same comparison
• Open your vertical directory — same comparison
• Fix any mismatch on the spot; if it changed in real life, fix the fact sheet first

Minutes 10–20: reviews

• Check each surface for reviews you haven’t responded to
• Reply to anything unanswered — short and human beats long and corporate
• Look at the date of your most recent review on each surface
• If the trickle stopped (nothing in 60+ days), pick two recent happy customers and ask them this week

Minutes 20–30: website

• Load your homepage on your phone, on cellular, not wifi
• First-screen test: without scrolling, can a stranger tell what you do, where, and how to reach you?
• Check the footer facts — phone, address or service area, hours — against the fact sheet
• Check that any prices shown are current
• Click your own contact link or button and confirm it works

Minutes 30–40: the three AI lookups

Run these three prompts in whichever AI assistant you have handy — phrased exactly, with your real business name, category, and town:

1. “What does [business] in [town] do?”
2. “Who’s a good [category] near [town]?”
3. “Is [business] in [town] any good?”

Then:

• Write down anything wrong in the answers — old hours, wrong services, a competitor where you should be
• Trace each wrong fact back to its source surface (it’s almost always one of the six listings, a stale review, or your own website)
• Fix the source, not the answer — assistants re-read; they don’t take corrections

Before you stand up

• Put the next quarterly check on the calendar, right now, before you stand up