Field manuals

Long-form guides for operators who run real businesses.

These aren't listicles. Each one is a full operator's manual on a specific high-leverage topic — copy-ready scripts, citations to FTC + Google policy, and sidebars from running a real plumbing business for five years.

4 guides published201 numbered tacticsFTC + Google compliant throughout

Pillar guide · 101 tactics

101 ways to get more Google reviews

The operator's field guide to collecting Google reviews — accurately, responsibly, at scale.

101 numbered tactics across 8 chapters covering verbal scripts, email + SMS templates, physical placements, QR design, workflow integration, industry-specific plays, and FTC + Google compliance. Copy-ready scripts, founder sidebars, and citations to primary sources throughout.

Google reviewsField guideComplianceAll industries

101 tactics · 8 chapters42 minUpdated May 6, 2026

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Pillar guide · 50 tactics

How to respond to bad Google reviews

The public-reply playbook — what to do in the first 30 minutes, the next 7 days, and the rest of the relationship.

50 tactics across 6 chapters on responding to negative reviews without making them worse. Triage, public reply structure, private follow-up scripts, recognizing extortion and competitor sabotage, and the recovery patterns that turn 1-stars into 4s. With copy-ready reply templates for every star tier.

Bad reviewsResponseRecoveryCompliance

50 tactics · 6 chapters28 minUpdated May 6, 2026

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Pillar guide · 50 tactics

The review-collection system at scale

From 10 reviews/month to 1,000 — the operations playbook for multi-location and high-volume operators.

50 tactics across 6 chapters on building review collection as a system, not a project. Data plumbing, multi-location routing, team training, reporting and KPIs, and the patterns that hold up past 1,000 customers per month. For operators graduating from the manual-ask habit into something repeatable.

OperationsMulti-locationAutomationReporting

50 tactics · 6 chapters26 minUpdated May 6, 2026

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Compliance reference

The compliance reference: review gating, the FTC rule, and Google's policy

Why review gating is illegal, what's allowed instead, and how SignalRoute is built to comply with both regimes.

A line-by-line walkthrough of the FTC's October 2024 Consumer Reviews and Testimonials Rule (16 CFR § 465) and Google's user-generated content policy. Explains review gating in plain English, what 'review routing' means legally, and how to design a review-collection system that holds up under regulator audit.

ComplianceFTCGoogle policyReference

0 tactics · 7 chapters18 minUpdated May 6, 2026

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On the runway

More guides on the way

Field manuals on responding to bad reviews, designing a multi-location review system, and the local-SEO playbook are in progress. Subscribe to the changelog to see new ones land.

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