Read this before the first one
- Work top down. Don’t skip about. This is sorted by review count, highest first, because review count is the only footfall proxy you have. The batch on 22 Sep went out to nine businesses of which eight had no review count at all — that batch cannot test the economics. The ones at the top of this list can.
- 9 a day, spread out. Weekdays, 10–12 or 2–4. Not in one burst. That’s about 13 working days for this list.
- No link in the first message. Ever. It suppresses delivery from an account they don’t follow and it reads as spam. The £250 appears on message two, the site on message three.
- Amber badge means no review count. Check followers and last-post date in the app before sending — if the grid is dead or under ~500 followers, skip it rather than burn the handle.
- Lost your place? Hit Sent up to here on the last one you sent and everything above ticks at once.
- Follow-ups: +5 days once, then the trailer at +12, then stop. A third chase in a DM inbox gets you reported, not replied to.
Why these read the way they do. Each names you in the first line, gives a real street, asks one question you genuinely don’t know the answer to, and stops. No “hey”, no exclamation marks, no sign-off. Contractions stay — stripping them is what makes a message sound like a template.
The streets are auto-filled from the Google Maps address. Glance at it before you send. If a row says something odd, fix the line rather than sending it — a wrong street is worse than no street.
114in queue
85with reviews
29need a check
~13days at 9/day
When they reply — what to send back
What to expect, honestly
- This is an objection-gathering run, not a conversion test. At a 1.5% close rate, even 50 DMs has an expected yield of 0.75 clients — you cannot measure a rate whose expected count is below one. Conversion needs 200+.
- From 114 sends, expect roughly 9–18 replies, a handful of real conversations, and 1–2 trials if it goes well.
- About one in four has an auto-responder — 4 of the first 17 did. That is not a reply. Log it separately and let it run to the +5. It is also the best opening you have: they already bought automated first-reply, just on the cheaper channel.
- “We’re not busy enough to miss calls” is a correct disqualification, not an objection. Thank them and leave. Selling to a salon that cannot reach ROI is how you buy churn.
- The recurring objection is worth more than the client. Write down every reply verbatim, including the nos.