The companion to the book
Searches To Sales
How local service businesses get found, earn trust, and turn inquiries into booked work.
The worksheets, tools and step-by-step guides for the book, chapter by chapter. Start with Chapter 3. Free, no sign-up.
Choose where to start.
You do not have to read the book in order. You have to read it in the order of what is costing you work. These three tell you where that is.
Take the 9 PM Test
Search for your trade and town the way a stranger would, on your phone, signed out. Score the five stops. The scorecard tells you which chapter to open first.
Open the test → Chapter 2, a few minutesWhich part is costing you work?
Five yes-or-no questions about last month. Each no points at a chapter. Answer them once yourself and once with whoever answers your phone.
Answer the five → Free Chrome extension, for a computerCheck any page in plain English
Elevated Page Check scores the page you are on out of 100 and lists the fixes that matter most, the way a stranger and a search engine see it. Turn on the book setting and each result links to its chapter here. Nothing it reads leaves your computer.
How it works and where to get it →Find your chapter.
Each chapter page has the same five parts: the principle, the step-by-step with screenshots we update when Google changes something, the worksheet, how to check it took, and when to hand it off and what proof to ask for.
Find the chapter number from your book. Chapter 1 is the story and has no page; every other chapter has one.
Part 1: The View From Inside
How I Made Bank Selling Cars, And Why I Walked Away
The story behind the method. It lives in the book; there is no page for it.
Which Part Is Costing You Work?
Five yes-or-no questions that send you to the right chapter first. Worksheet: Which part is costing you work?
Open the page →Part 2: The Local Lead Path
03The 9 PM Test
Fifteen minutes on your phone, scored. The heat map how-to and the free report. Worksheet: The 9 PM Test scorecard.
Open the page →Your Google Profile Is Your Real Homepage
Category, services, photos, and the same business details everywhere. Worksheet: Category, Services, Proof; Same Business Everywhere.
Open the page →Search Has Changed, And So Has “Ranking”
Answer First for your ten questions, and an indexing checklist for whoever runs your site.
Open the page →Reviews Are The New Word Of Mouth
Your review link, a QR code for the invoice, and the Review Loop. Worksheet: The Review Loop.
Open the page →The Five-Second Front Door
The first screen, measured the same way each time. Worksheet: The Front Door Checklist.
Open the page →Make It Easy To Say Yes
The Thumb Test, with quote-form questions by industry. Worksheet: The Thumb Test.
Open the page →The First Five Minutes
The test-inquiry procedure and the missed-call text-back. Worksheet: Follow the Lead.
Open the page →From Inquiry To Booked Work
Two calendars: one for urgent repairs, one for considered purchases. Worksheet: The Next-Step Calendar.
Open the page →Part 3: Behind The Counter
11Count The Right Thing
Bring your Lead Log. Fill in the One-Page Lead Map. Worksheet: The Lead Log and One-Page Lead Map.
Open the page →Ads, Only After The Path Is Sealed
The ads health checklist, one Saturday long.
Open the page →One Question, One Useful Page
How we write a post, and how to shoot a phone video of a job. Worksheet: One Question, One Useful Page.
Open the page →Whose Name Is On The Account?
The Ownership Audit, row by row. Worksheet: The Ownership Audit.
Open the page →Worksheets.
Each one fills in on your phone, saves on your own device and prints clean. Nothing you type is sent to us, and none of them asks for an email address.
The tools the book points to.
The tools under Free Tools work in any browser and ask for no email. The extension installs in Chrome on a computer. The free report is the one thing here that asks for an email, so we can send it to you.
Elevated Page Check
Click it on any page for a score out of 100, the fixes to make first, and eight tabs: Overview, Headings, Links, Images, Schema, Local, Social and Quick Links. Save your index card as its business card and the Local tab checks every page and every directory listing against it. Chapters 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9 and 13.
How it works →Add to Chrome →
Free online presence report
Your listing, your business details, your reviews, your site speed and a heat map of where you show up around your town. The outside view of the Found and Trusted stops. Chapters 3 and 15.
Get the report →Review link and QR code
Turn your Google listing into a direct review link, then into a QR code for the invoice or the counter.
Review link generator →QR code generator →
Schema and UTM builders
The business details a search engine reads, and tagged links so your counts say where each inquiry came from.
Schema markup generator →UTM link builder →
The full set is under Free Tools.
Want company along the way?
Chapter 15 lays the whole book out as four weekends and then ten minutes on the first of every month. If you would rather be sent one weekend at a time, with the steps and the worksheets for that weekend, the sign-up is on the Chapter 15 page. It is by email, it is free, and it is optional.
The book is the half you do. The report is the half we do.
Some of the 9 PM Test can be checked from the outside by somebody who is not you. The free online presence report scores your listing, your business details, your reviews, your site speed and where you show up on the map.
Prefer to talk? Call or text (217) 724-8153 or email ryan@elevatedideas.com.