Sample report · Accountancy firm

Demo business — real audit patterns, anonymized

Clients on a deadline are left waiting a day at a time.

A full demonstration report. The business is fictional; every pattern in it is one we have measured in real audits.

The inquiry form is quick and accurate. But the phone line took 1d 1h, the email quote didn’t match the accountancy firm’s own published prices, the WhatsApp went unanswered — and ID and bank statements were requested to a personal email address.

Business
Example & Co Accountants (demo)
Market
Denver, CO (demo)
Audit period
Aug – Sep 2026
Channels shopped
5 of 5 · 7 days each
Revenue at risk

Revenue at risk on three of five channels

The WhatsApp never replied, the email quote was $30/mo under the published price, and ID and bank statements were requested to a personal email.

  • Inquiry form · 70/100
  • Email inquiry · 52/100
  • Live chat · 49/100
  • WhatsApp · 0/100 · Not scored — no reply in 7 days
  • Phone call · 63/100
Slowest first reply
1d 1h

On the phone line. Benchmark for an accountancy firm: call-back within a day.

Biggest price gap
$30/mo

Quoted $120/mo on the email vs. “packages from $150 per month” on the accountancy firm’s own website.

Red flags found
1

ID and bank statements requested to a personal Gmail address.

What you're looking at

A demonstration report for a fictional accountancy firm, built from anonymized patterns we see in real audits.

One score, nine criteria

Speed, accuracy, personalization, qualification, follow-up, close, tone, red flags.

Evidence on every finding

Timestamps, transcripts, screenshots and recordings attached in the full report.

Fixes ranked by revenue

What to change this week, in order of money at stake.

01 — Per-channel scorecard

How each channel treated a real prospect

ChannelFirst replyQuoted vs listed priceFollow-upsCourtesyScore
Inquiry form3h 10m✓ $150/mo · matches your website2 in 7 daysFormal · 7470/ 100
Email inquiry5h 48m — Wed 15:02✗ $120/mo quoted · from $150/mo according to your website0 in 7 daysFormal · 7052/ 100
Live chat2 minTook details; the promised callback never came0 in 7 daysPolite · 7849/ 100
WhatsAppNo reply in 7 days— nothing to compare0 in 7 days—0/ 100

Not scored — no reply in 7 days

Phone callRed flagDocuments requested to a personal email addressVoicemail; callback 1d 1h✓ $150/mo · matches your website1 in 7 daysReassuring · 9063/ 100

First reply, price accuracy, follow-up and courtesy are four of the nine criteria. A channel with no reply in 7 days scores 0 — there is nothing to judge, so it gets no partial credit. Listed price = what you publish on your website or social profiles. A quote at or above a “from” price counts as consistent; where nothing is listed we show “No listed price to compare” instead of a score. The overall score is the weighted total across the nine criteria.

02 — Criterion scores

Nine criteria, scored across every channel

Response time38/100
weakest: phone call

Inquiry form 3h 10m, email 5h 48m, live chat 2 min and phone line to voicemail, callback after 1d 1h. The WhatsApp never replied. The slowest reply took 1d 1h. Benchmark for an accountancy firm: call-back within a day.

Answered at all80/100
weakest: WhatsApp

Four of five channels replied. The WhatsApp number on the website never answered in seven days.

Price accuracy vs listed price62/100
weakest: email inquiry

The website says “packages from $150 per month”. The inquiry form and phone line quotes are at or above that, so they count as consistent. The email quoted $120/mo — $30/mo below the published “from” price.

Listed price = what you publish on your website or social profiles.

Personalization58/100
weakest: live chat

The inquiry form reply used our name and picked up what we’d asked about. The live chat reply was a template that could have gone to any client.

Qualification questions69/100
weakest: live chat

Good questions on the inquiry form: the details of our situation, the deadline, and who else was involved. The live chat asked nothing before pushing for a booking.

Follow-up cadence44/100
weakest: email inquiry

The inquiry form followed up twice and the phone line followed up once. The email and live chat never followed up. The WhatsApp never replied at all.

Close attempt / next step47/100
weakest: live chat

The inquiry form offered a call-back at a specific time. The live chat ended “let us know if you’d like to go ahead” — no time offered.

Tone & professionalism88/100

Clear, calm and professional; the inquiry form explained the next steps without jargon.

Red-flag screen55/100
weakest: phone call

One flag raised — see below. Also noted: no fixed monthly fee, only a vague hourly estimate.

03 — Red flags, in plain English

What the shopper found first

Red flag

ID and bank statements requested to a personal email

On the phone line, a member of staff asked us to email ID and bank statements to a personal Gmail address “because the secure upload is slow”. That puts client documents outside the accountancy firm’s systems. We report what the evidence shows; we make no claim about intent.

Evidence: The recording or thread, and the address, are attached in the full report.

Fix → Documents only through the secure upload; remind everyone who handles inquiries in writing this week.

Price mismatch

The email quote undercut the published price

The website says “packages from $150 per month”. The email quoted $120/mo for the same inquiry — $30/mo below the accountancy firm’s own starting price. Either the website puts clients off with a figure the team doesn’t charge, or the team is quoting work below what it costs.

Fix → Replies pull the published price; nobody types a fee by hand.

Also noted

No fixed monthly fee, only a vague hourly estimate

On the live chat: no fixed monthly fee, only a vague hourly estimate. Not a red flag on its own — but it is the kind of gap that sends a client to whoever spelled it out.

Fix → Write down how the team handles this, and check it in next month’s audit.

04 — Reply A vs Reply B

The reply you sent, next to the reply that wins the job

Left: the reply the business actually sent. Right: what a best-in-class reply to the same inquiry looks like — the name, the exact question answered, the price from the business’s own list, the timeline, what happens next, something to keep, a concrete time to talk, and a real person to call.

What Tom asked · Email inquiry · Wed 09:14
“Hi, I run a small limited company and want to switch accountants. What would a monthly package cost?”
Reply A — what the business sent45/100

From the audit record: the reply the business actually sent.

The team, shared inbox 5h 48m after the inquiry

Dear Tom, thank you for your inquiry. Our fee for a monthly package would be $120/mo. Please let us know if you wish to go ahead.
Speed
45
Answered
100
Price
30
Personal
25
Questions
10
Follow-up
10
Next step
30
Tone
70
Red flags
100
Reply B — the reply that wins the job96/100

What a best-in-class reply looks like — the standard your competitors are measured against

A named person at the accountancy firm, same email 15 min after the inquiry

Hi Tom, Thanks for getting in touch — yes, we can help, and here is everything you asked. Price: our website says “packages from $150 per month”. That’s the figure we work from; the exact price depends on the details. Timing: call-back within a day, as standard. What happens next: a call-back, then the exact figure in writing within 24 hours. One question so I can be exact: is there a date you need this sorted by? I’ve attached “Example & Co Accountants — prices and what’s included” (PDF), so you have it all in writing. Can I call you Thursday between 5 and 7 pm to arrange a call-back? If another time suits, reply with it and I’ll hold it. If I don’t hear back, I’ll check in on Friday morning.

Example & Co Accountants — prices and what’s included (PDF)

Daniel Reid
New inquiries, Example & Co Accountants
Direct line: (303) 555-0147

Speed
95
Answered
100
Price
100
Personal
95
Questions
90
Follow-up
90
Next step
100
Tone
95
Red flags
100

The difference · 51 points

Same inquiry, same business, same facts.

  • Answered in 15 minutes, not 5h 48m.
  • Quotes the published price (“packages from $150 per month”) instead of $120/mo.
  • Greets Tom by name and answers the question that was asked.
  • Says what happens next and when: call-back within a day.
  • Asks one question that moves the booking forward.
  • Attaches a fact sheet the client can keep.
  • Offers a specific call — Thursday, 5–7 pm — instead of an open “let us know”.
  • Signed by a named person with a direct line, and a dated check-in if nobody replies.

Reply B is written by us from the facts the business already had — its own published price, its own next step — so the gap is the reply, not the offer. It is the standard, not a named rival: this sample is fictional. In a live audit this panel is built from your own replies, and on SalesWitness Watch Pro the quarterly competitor benchmark shops two real competitors and scores their replies the same way. Follow-up on Reply B is scored on the dated check-in it commits to.

05 — Review snapshot and monitoring

What prospects read before they inquire

Rating
4.4

167 reviews on Google

Negative reviews
9

1–3★ in the last 90 days

Negatives unanswered
6 of 9

No owner reply on the profile

Oldest unanswered
112 days

Still waiting for an owner reply

What it means Five of the six unanswered reviews say “no updates” — the same follow-up gap the shop found.

On SalesWitness Watch, the next one never waits 112 days

The audit reads every profile once. Watch keeps reading them every day — and when a negative review lands, you hear about it within hours, with the reply already drafted.

  1. 01Watched daily

    Google, Yelp, BBB, Angi, Houzz, Facebook, Trustpilot and any other review site we find. Every negative review in each profile’s full history is captured on the first sweep.

  2. 02Alert within hours

    A new 1–3★ review triggers an alert, with the review quoted in full and the profile it is on.

  3. 03A drafted reply

    Empathetic, de-escalating, no admission of fault — marked “review before use”, ready to paste.

  4. 04A removal path, when the rules allow

    If the review breaks the platform’s own policy, you get the rule it breaks and the exact appeal route.

One of the 6 unanswered reviews above, as the alert would arrive

Review alert · Google

Sent within hours
A. P.
“Had to chase for every single update.”

Policy check: a genuine customer experience — not removable. Reply publicly, and fix the cause.

Drafted replyReview before use

Hi A., thank you for taking the time to tell us, and I’m sorry this wasn’t the experience you expected. That isn’t how we want anyone to be treated. I’d like to understand what happened and put it right — please call me directly on (303) 555-0147.

— Daniel, Example & Co Accountants

When a review breaks the rules · Google

  1. 1Check the review against Google’s “Prohibited and restricted content” policy — e.g. not based on a real experience, a conflict of interest, personal information.
  2. 2Gather the evidence: most often, no matching booking, order or inquiry on your records.
  3. 3Report it: Business Profile → Read reviews → Report, or Google’s Reviews Management Tool. Google says decisions typically take several days.
  4. 4If it’s refused: one appeal through the same tool, with the case ID and the evidence. That decision is final.

SalesWitness Watch: the appeal drafted for you, citing the rule — you file it.SalesWitness Watch Pro: we file the appeal for you.

Platforms remove policy breaches, not bad opinions. We never file a false report, and we never post or solicit reviews — the public reply goes up either way, because it is the part prospects actually read. Every platform we read has its own route; the same checks apply.

06 — The tape: one inquiry, two replies

One inquiry. Two replies.

Our inquiry · email inquiry

📨 Prospect emails hello@abc-company.com asking for a quote.

✅ Reply 1 — from the company

sales@abc-company.com · quotes list price · books a call

🚩 Reply 2 — from a rep, personally

j.smith.freelance@gmail.com · “I can do it cheaper directly” · asks to move to WhatsApp

What the report says“The inquiry was answered from an address not on the authorized staff list, with an offer to transact off-channel (evidence attached).” Evidence-led, defamation-safe — and the kind of leak that costs more than a year of SalesWitness.
One customer inquiry receiving two separate replies — one official, one from a personal phone

07 — Evidence excerpt

The email thread

[Wed 09:14] Auditor → Hi, I run a small limited company and want to switch accountants. What would a monthly package cost?

[Wed 15:02] Team → Dear Tom, thank you for your inquiry. Our fee for a monthly package would be $120/mo. Please let us know if you wish to go ahead.

[— no further contact on the email during the 7-day window —]

08 — Case closed: what changes next month

Three fixes, under two hours

None of this needs new software or a new hire. In order of revenue impact.

  1. 01

    Quote from the published prices, every time

    Email replies pull the published price automatically; nobody types a fee by hand.

    30 minPractice manager
  2. 02

    Documents only through the secure upload

    Written reminder to everyone: client documents never go to personal email, whatever the reason.

    20 minCompliance lead
  3. 03

    Staff or retire the WhatsApp

    Office-hours cover plus an after-hours auto-reply, or take the WhatsApp off the website.

    15 minMarketing

Before → after

Illustrative — what the three fixes typically change within 30 days.

  • Slowest reply

    1d 1hunder 2 h

    via Staff or retire the WhatsApp

  • Quotes on the published price

    2 of 3every quote

    via Quote from the published prices, every time

  • Documents outside the secure upload

    1 request0

    via Documents only through the secure upload

Confidential. Prepared under the written authorization of the business owner. Findings reflect the audit record only and are phrased to describe evidence, not intent. Not legal advice. The business and every figure above are illustrative, not a guarantee.

09 — What this costs

What slow and missed inquiries cost a business like this

Inquiries a month
45

Typical for an accountancy firm

Close rate
4 in 10

40% · lost to slow or missed replies: 2 in 10 of those

Lifetime value of one client
$2,400

What one client is worth

Lost a month
$8,640

$103,680 a year

45 inquiries × 40% close rate × 20% lost to slow or missed replies = 3.6 clients lost × $2,400 = $8,640 a month

One recovered sale ($2,400) pays for a whole year of SalesWitness Watch ($990, 2 months free) — 2 times over.

Typical figures for this kind of business, not a benchmark and not a promise. A lost inquiry isn’t a lost sale, so only the share you’d normally close counts. Put your own numbers into the calculator for your figure.

Your report looks like this — with your channels, your prices, your evidence

See yours.

One SalesWitness Audit shops every channel you offer — inquiry form, email inquiry, live chat, WhatsApp, phone call — twice, 15 days apart, scores them against your own fact sheet and lands in your portal. Owner-authorized, evidence-led.

Audit my sales channels — $299See what one lost sale costs you
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