Twelve questions, asked before anybody rings you
Thirteen kinds of business · 26 October 2026
Somebody asks an assistant for a business like yours. It answers with one name, and it picks the one whose page already said the thing that was asked.
There are twelve things that get asked. Not ninety, not a strategy — twelve, and you already know every answer. What you have almost certainly not done is write them down where a machine can read them.
- 1. FindabilityWhether a stranger can tell what you sell and what it costs.
- 2. QualifiabilityWhether they can work out that you can take them.
- 3. BookabilityWhether they can actually get in, without you.
- 4. PredictabilityWhether they know what happens once they say yes.
- 5. VisibilityWhether they can see the work while it is happening.
- 6. AutomabilityWhether the job moves on without somebody remembering.
- 7. MemoryWhether you hold what you already know about them.
- 8. ContinuityWhether the next visit starts where the last one ended.
- 9. ReachabilityWhether you come back to them at the right moment.
- 10. CountabilityWhether every job is recorded the same way.
- 11. AnswerabilityWhether you can ask your own business a question.
- 12. LearnabilityWhether the business gets better from its own record.
Said at your kind of business
The twelve are the same everywhere. What is not the same is the moment the customer decides, and what we found when we went looking, trade by trade, at what businesses like yours actually publish. Each of the 13 kinds of business below is twelve pages, one per question, written for that trade and not flavoured from a template.
- for your practiceTwelve questions, written. Waiting on a word. — A business owner has decided she needs a bookkeeper. She does not know one, so she describes her business to an assistant and asks who to call. One practice gets named. It is the one whose page carried a figure for a monthly close.
- for your shopTwelve questions, written. Waiting on a word. — A driver has a timing belt due and no shop she trusts. She tells an assistant what the car is and asks who could fit it in this week. One shop gets named: the one that printed an hourly rate.
- for your salonTwelve questions, written. Waiting on a word. — Friday evening. Somebody wants balayage before a wedding and does not have a salon. She says so to an assistant and asks where to go. One salon is handed back: whichever one printed a price.
- for your practiceTwelve questions, written. Waiting on a word. — One practice we read publishes the exact question how much does a root canal cost? on its own page, and answers it: the cost will vary for each patient.
- for your gymTwelve questions, written. Waiting on a word. — It is the second of January. Somebody has decided this is the year, does not know a gym, and asks an assistant where to start lifting nearby. One name comes back — the gym that printed what it costs.
- for your restaurantTwelve questions, written. Waiting on a word. — Six people want dinner on Friday. Nobody has a restaurant in mind, so one of them asks an assistant where to go. A single place gets named, and it is the one whose menu was readable.
- for your firmTwelve questions, written. Waiting on a word. — Somebody's mother has died and there is a will to administer. He has never needed a lawyer. He does not have a name to look up, so he sets out the situation to an assistant and asks it to suggest somebody. A single firm comes back. It is the firm whose page carried a fixed figure.
- for your shopTwelve questions, written. Waiting on a word. — Somebody wants a handmade thing for a baby shower in three weeks. She does not know a maker, so she describes what she is after and asks an assistant who could do it. A single shop comes back, having put a price and a turnaround on a page where they could be read.
- for your clinicTwelve questions, written. Waiting on a word. — A patient's knee hurts when they run. They do not type the name of a clinic, because they do not know one; they describe the knee and ask their assistant who to see. Something answers with a name, and the name belongs to whichever clinic's page said what a session costs.
- for your agencyTwelve questions, one page each — A homeowner has decided to sell and does not know which agency to ring. She sets the house out to an assistant and asks which firm to list with. A single agency comes back, and it published a percentage.
- for your propertyTwelve questions, written. No word we are willing to recommend. — A weekend in March, two people and a dog. Nobody has a place in mind, so the question goes to an assistant: where should we stay. Back comes one property — whichever one carried a rate, a pet line and a check-in time together on a single page.
- for your businessTwelve questions, written. Waiting on a word. — A furnace has died in February. The householder does not have anybody, so she tells an assistant what has happened and asks who to try. Back comes one firm — whichever one had a call-out charge on its page.
- for your practiceTwelve questions, written. Waiting on a word. — A dog is limping on a Sunday evening. His owner does not have a vet, or has one whose number she cannot find, and she asks an assistant where to take him. A single practice comes back — the one that printed a consult fee.
What is published, counted
156 of these pages are written. 12 are published at an address, and 144 are written and have nowhere to go yet. The reason is one word per trade, and nothing else: we have 1 of the 13 words so far, and the one we have is the argument in miniature — our own filing cabinet says property and no customer has ever said that, so the pages are at real estate and nothing is published at the first word. 11 are researched and waiting on a decision, and 1 has no single word we are willing to recommend.
We would rather tell you that than put up 144 guesses.