What happens if they flag a problem?

Everything stops. No review ask, no referral ask, nothing automated goes out. A person rings them within 24 hours, the fix gets scheduled, and only once it is sorted does the sequence start again. Fix first, then ask. That order is the whole point.

What if they don't reply at all?

Send one gentle nudge a couple of days later. If it is still quiet, leave it: move them to a softer review ask rather than chasing. No reply is not the same as a problem, and pestering a quiet customer costs you the goodwill you are trying to build.

Won't checking in just invite complaints I wouldn't have heard about?

Those complaints exist whether you ask or not. The only question is where they land: in a private text where you can fix them, or in a public one-star where you can't. A problem you fix fast often earns a stronger review than a job that went smooth, because recovery is the thing people trust.

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The Check: Catch the Problem Before It Becomes a Review

Q: What do I send for the check, and when?

One message, a day or two after you finish, once they have lived with the work. Ask plainly: is everything as it should be? A yes opens the door to the review ask. Anything that raises an issue stops the asks and starts a phone call. Keep it to one question, no sell.

A message a day or two after the job: is everything as it should be? Catch the problem in a private text, before it becomes a public review.

By Antony Loomans
16 June 2026 · 6 min read

The short version: a day or two after the job, send one message: is everything as it should be? A yes opens the door to the review and referral asks. A problem stops everything, puts you on the phone within 24 hours, and gets fixed before any ask goes out. Fix first, then ask. This one check is the gate the whole follow-up runs through.

Most trade businesses never check in. The work is done, the invoice is sent, and the next thing they hear, if anything, is a problem that has already gone public. By then it is a one-star, not a text, and the customer has told the neighbour before they told you.

“Tried to follow up and he ignored me and ghosted me, as their solution didn’t fix my pest problem.” Homeowner, pest control

Read that again. The customer tried to reach the operator. The silence is what turned a fixable problem into a review that warns off the next ten buyers. The check is how you make sure that message reaches you first, while it is still cheap to fix.

This is touch two of the Aftercare Engine, and it is the gate every later ask runs through. You never ask a customer for a review or a referral until this check comes back clear.

Why the gate matters

That one question does three jobs at once.

It catches the problem in private. A reply to your text costs you a callback. A public one-star costs you the next ten jobs. Same problem, two very different prices.
It puts every later ask on a happy customer. The review ask only fires after a yes, so it lands on someone who has just told you they are pleased. Your hit rate goes up because you stopped asking the wrong people.
It turns a save into your strongest proof. A customer whose problem you fixed fast often reviews harder than one whose job simply went smooth. Recovery is the thing people trust. The check is what gives you the chance to earn it.

Skip the check and you are asking blind: some of those review requests land on annoyed customers and hand them a megaphone. The gate is what stops that.

The four moves

The check. One message, a day or two after the job.
The yes. All good. The review ask is now allowed to fire.
The problem. Stop everything. A person calls within 24 hours and fixes it.
The quiet. No reply. One nudge, then a softer path. Never chase.

Here are the scripts.

The scripts

Save these and swap every [bracket] for the real details. Say them the way you would say them to a customer you want to keep, because that is exactly who is reading.

THE CHECK   (send a day or two after the job)
"Hi [NAME], quick check from [BUSINESS]. Now you've lived with the [JOB]
for a day or two, is everything as it should be? Reply YES if all good,
or tell us what's not right and we'll get onto it."

THE NUDGE   (only if there's no reply after a couple of days)
"Hi [NAME], just making sure the last message reached you. All good with
the [JOB]? A quick YES is all we need, or let us know if anything needs
a look."

THE SAVE CALL   (a problem was flagged: ring, don't text)
"[NAME], it's [YOUR NAME] from [BUSINESS]. You flagged [the issue] on the
[JOB], and I wanted to ring you myself rather than text. Talk me through
what's not right and I'll get someone back to sort it. What time suits you?"

THE SAVE FOLLOW-UP   (two days after the fix)
"Hi [NAME], [YOUR NAME] here. Wanted to make sure the fix on the [JOB]
has held up. All sorted now? Reply YES or let me know."

A yes to that last one puts the customer back at the front of the review ask, and a saved customer asks for nothing better than to tell people you made it right.

Make the 24-hour call a rule, not a maybe

When a problem is flagged, a person rings the customer within 24 hours. Not a text, not “we’ll get to it”, not the apprentice. The owner or the person who ran the job, on the phone, the same day or the next. That single habit is the difference between a save and a one-star. Put it in writing so it holds when you’re flat out.

The one line you do not cross

Never ask before the check is clear

No review ask, referral ask, or upsell goes to a customer whose check has not come back positive. Asking a customer with an open problem to review you is how you manufacture the exact one-star you were trying to avoid. The gate is the rule the whole engine depends on: fix first, then ask. Under the Australian Consumer Law, a minor problem is meant to be remedied within a reasonable time, so the fast call is good practice and good service. Confirm the specifics for your trade and state.

A worked example

A bathroom renovator used to finish, invoice, and go quiet. Twice in a year a small silicone issue he would have fixed in ten minutes turned into a public review, because the customer could not get a reply and vented instead.

He added one message two days after every job: is everything as it should be? Most replied yes, and those went on to the review ask. The handful who flagged something got a call from him that afternoon and a fix that week. Not one of those became a bad review. Two of them became his best ones, because they wrote about how he handled the problem, not that there was one.

He did not get better at silicone. He got a gate.

What if it doesn’t fit your trade

Emergency or high-stakes work. Check sooner, within the day, and lead with the call rather than the text. The faster the work has to hold, the faster the check.
Big commercial jobs. The check is a documented sign-off conversation with the contact who signed the order, not a one-line SMS. Same gate, more formality.
You’re a solo operator. Then the call is you, which is the whole advantage. “When you ring, you get the person who did the job” is a trust feature the big mobs can’t match.

The check is the cheapest insurance in the business and the gate the rest of the Aftercare Engine depends on. Put one question, two days after the job, on every job you finish. Or have the whole engine built for you, gate and all: book a call.