Guide · Professional firms
A referral still Googles you
A happy client gives a friend your name. That's the best lead a firm can get. Then the friend does one more thing before they call: they look you up.
Referrals start the trust. Search finishes it.
A referral is a friend saying, "I trust them." The search is the friend checking. They want to see that other people say the same thing. If they find a handful of recent reviews in plain words, the referral holds. If they find two old ones, they slow down.
Before they hire you, 8 in 10 clients look up your firm online. (Hinge Research Institute, 2014 — independent research, not our product numbers.) A referred client is still one of them.
Reviews help strangers. Referrals bring friends.
A review helps the person who has never met you. A referral brings someone who already trusts the person who sent them. Most firms need both — and most firms ask for neither, or only one.
Read how CPA firms get Google reviews.
Why "the old way" still works
Some review tools call one-to-one referrals old-fashioned. For a firm, they're the business. One client tells one friend, and that friend may stay for years. What's new is making it easy: a short link the client can forward, or a place to type in a name.
Curious what more referrals are worth? See what more referrals are worth →
Ask for both — at the finish line
The best time for either ask is the same: when the client can feel the work is done.
- Accountants: return filed, books closed.
- Builders and remodelers: walkthrough done, keys handed over.
- Architects: design signed off, permit in hand, or the final punch walk.
- Advisors: plan delivered, annual review done.
- Consultants: final readout, or a milestone the client can feel.
One short note can ask for a review, a referral, or both. You choose before it sends.
More on timing: when to ask a client for a referral.
What a "both" note looks like
Sample note — not a real client. Not a promise of a review or a referral.
Hi Jordan —
Thanks again for trusting us with your return this year.
If you have a minute, would you leave a short Google review for the firm? Here’s the link:
Review link
If someone you know needs an accountant, here’s a short link you can send them — or fill in their name yourself:
Referral link
— Alex at Harbor Lane CPAs
Keep it fair, keep it once
Ask every client you'd ask the same way — not only the ones you think will rave. Never pay or offer a gift for a review. One note per job. If they refer someone, thank them by hand.
The relief part
Most owners know they should ask. Few have time to be the one who asks, every time, after every job. That's the job Good Work Reviews does: it drafts the note after the work is done, you approve it, and it goes out. Nothing reaches a client until you say yes. Automation is optional and unlocks after you've approved and sent five notes yourself.
Like having a professional on staff whose only job is asking for reviews and referrals — without a full-time hire.
Steady follow-through for firms that grow on trust — reviews and referrals, without day-one autopilot.