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Local trades and home servicesClaude

Review requests automated: 34 reviews in two months and #1 locally after 3 hours of setup

Picked and checked by Olga Pearson, host of The Practical AI Show · Published

Result

as reported

Over three mornings, about 3 hours total, a boat hull cleaner was shown how to use Claude. Automated review requests got him 34 reviews in two months, plus a CRM, a new website and weekly content. The friend who helped says he is now #1 locally.

Bobby Shell has done small business marketing since 2013. His buddy dives under boats to clean hulls and had no Google Business Profile, no review system and no real website. They met at a coffee shop on three mornings, starting at 6:30 AM on day one, about 3 hours total. Bobby set up the accounts and showed him how to talk to Claude like an employee. They automated asking every customer for a review (34 two months later), set up a CRM so every follow up happens, and built a new website. Now the owner writes his own content every week.

Who did it

Bobby Shell (@iBobbyShell)Boat hull cleaning business (a friend's)Bobby Shell on X · Oct 26, 2026

Try it now

  1. Set up a Google Business Profile with real photos and services.
  2. Have the AI write a short, friendly review request and send it after every finished job.
  3. Keep every customer in a simple CRM so follow ups happen without you remembering.
  4. Build a basic website that links to your reviews.
  5. Have the AI help you write one short post a week about a real job.
Copy-paste prompt
I clean boat hulls. After every finished job, write a short, friendly text asking the customer for a Google review, with my review link [link]. Keep it under 40 words and use their first name and their boat's name. Show me the first 3 before anything is sent.

Make it run every week

A play works once. Turn it into a routine in three small steps:

  1. Run it once and check the result yourself.
  2. Give your AI a schedule. Tell it when to run this play (every week, or every month) and to message you with what it found before you act.
  3. Keep a log. One line per run: what was checked, anything flagged, what you did.

See how owners turn plays into systems →

What to watch out for

As reported by the friend who set it up, not the owner, and the business isn't named. Ask every customer the same way; never offer rewards for reviews or only ask happy customers, which breaks Google's rules. Build it with Page: a simple website with your services, photos and a link to your reviews.

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