Sample report · Translation agency

Demo business — real audit patterns, anonymised

Urgent visa jobs are slipping off the books on WhatsApp.

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

The upload form and the phone line are quick and helpful. But the email rate doesn’t match the agency’s own Instagram, the live chat drops messages, and one translator offered to do the certified job privately for less.

Business
Example Language Services (demo)
Market
Abu Dhabi, UAE
Audit period
Aug – Sep 2026
Channels shopped
5 of 5 · 7 days each
Revenue at risk

Revenue at risk on three of five channels

Live chat never replied, email quoted above the Instagram price, and a WhatsApp reply offered the job privately at a cut rate.

  • Enquiry form · 81/100
  • Email enquiry · 52/100
  • Live chat · 0/100 · Not scored — no reply in 7 days
  • WhatsApp · 35/100
  • Phone call · 84/100
Slowest first reply
4h 15m

Email asking for a licence and birth-certificate translation, sent Monday morning.

Biggest price gap
$36/page

$95 a page quoted by email vs. $59 for standard documents on the agency’s Instagram.

Red flags found
1

A translator offered the certified job privately, off the agency’s books.

What you're looking at

A demonstration report for a fictional legal translation agency, built from anonymised patterns we see in real audits.

One score, nine criteria

Speed, accuracy, personalisation, 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
Enquiry form46 min✓ $69/page quoted · at or above “from $69/page” according to your website1 in 7 daysHelpful · 8481/ 100
Email enquiry4h 15m — Mon 13:40✗ $95/page quoted · $59/page according to your Instagram0 in 7 daysBrief · 6252/ 100
Live chatNo reply in 7 days— nothing to compare0 in 7 days—0/ 100

Not scored — no reply in 7 days

WhatsAppRed flagOffered the job privately, below the published price9 min — translator’s own number✗ $40/page privately quoted · from $69/page according to your website2 in 7 daysFriendly · 9035/ 100
Phone callAnswered in 2 rings$120 interpreting, 90 min quoted · No listed price to compare1 in 7 daysWarm · 9284/ 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 time61/100
weakest: email enquiry

Phone answered in two rings, WhatsApp in 9 minutes, form in 46 minutes. The email took 4h 15m and live chat never answered.

Answered at all80/100
weakest: live chat

Four of five channels replied. The chat widget accepted our message and it was never answered in seven days.

Price accuracy vs listed price44/100
weakest: email enquiry

The website says certified translation “from $69 per page”; the agency’s Instagram advertises $59 for standard documents. The form quote of $69/page is consistent. Email quoted $95/page — $36 above the Instagram price. Interpreting rates aren’t published, so the phone quote has no listed price to compare.

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

Personalisation69/100
weakest: email enquiry

The phone call picked up the visa deadline. The email answered the translation question and ignored the interpreter request entirely.

Qualification questions57/100
weakest: email enquiry

Only the phone asked which visa type and whether the licence was double-sided. No channel asked the deadline in writing.

Follow-up cadence49/100
weakest: email enquiry

The form sent one reminder; the WhatsApp follow-ups came from the translator’s own number. Email never followed up.

Close attempt / next step63/100
weakest: email enquiry

Form and phone both sent a payment-and-upload link. The email said “send the files when ready”.

Tone & professionalism86/100

Warm, patient and clear — especially on the phone about how MOJ certification works.

Red-flag screen50/100
weakest: WhatsApp

One flag raised — see below.

03 — Red flags, in plain English

What the shopper found first

Red flag

The certified job, offered privately

Our WhatsApp to the agency number was answered from a translator’s personal number, offering to do the job “privately” for $40 a page “with the same certification stamp” — below the agency’s published price. We report what the evidence shows; we make no claim about intent.

Evidence: Thread screenshots and the sending number are attached in the full report.

Fix → All jobs are issued and invoiced by the office; restate this in every contractor agreement.

Price mismatch

Instagram and email disagree by $36 a page

The Instagram post says $59 for standard documents; the email quoted $95. The person who saw the post and then got the email assumes a bait-and-switch.

Fix → One price for standard documents on the website, Instagram and the email template.

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 enquiry 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 Mei asked · Email enquiry · Mon 09:25
“Hi, I need my Chinese driver’s licence and birth certificate translated for a visa, legal (MOJ-certified). How much and how fast?”
Reply A — what the business sent42/100

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

Office inbox 4h 15m after the enquiry

Hi, it would be $95 per page. Let us know if you want to proceed.
Speed
45
Answered
100
Price
30
Personal
10
Questions
10
Follow-up
10
Next step
25
Tone
62
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

Client services, her own office address 10 min after the enquiry

Hi Mei, Yes — we do legal (MOJ-certified) translations from Chinese for visa applications every week. Price: $59 per page, the price on our Instagram, so $118 for the licence and the birth certificate if each is one page. Timing: standard turnaround is two business days. If your visa deadline is sooner, tell me the date and I’ll confirm what we can do before you pay anything. What happens next: reply with clear photos or scans of both documents, and I’ll confirm the total and the delivery date within the hour. I’ve attached our visa translation checklist (PDF) — what the visa office accepts and how the certified copies reach you. Can I call you Thursday between 5 and 7 pm to confirm everything? 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.

Visa translation checklist (PDF)

Lena Park
Client services, Example Language Services
Direct line: +971 50 000 0147

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

The difference · 54 points

Same enquiry, same business, same facts.

  • Answered in 10 minutes, not 4h 15m.
  • Quotes $59 per page as published, not $95, and adds it up: $118.
  • Answers “how fast” — the half of the question the reply skipped.
  • Uses Mei’s name and her details: Chinese, MOJ, a visa.
  • Says exactly what to send and when she’ll hear back.
  • Attaches a checklist she can keep.
  • Offers a specific call — Thursday, 5–7 pm.
  • 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 enquire

Rating
4.7

133 reviews on Google

Negative reviews
4

1–3★ in the last 90 days

Negatives unanswered
2 of 4

No owner reply on the profile

Oldest unanswered
27 days

Still waiting for an owner reply

What it means Both unanswered reviews are about turnaround on urgent visa jobs — answer them with the express option.

On SalesWitness Watch, the next one never waits 27 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, Facebook, Trustpilot, Instagram comments 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 2 unanswered reviews above, as the alert would arrive

Review alert · Google

Sent within hours
J. C.
“Needed a certified translation urgently for a visa. Nobody told us how long it would take.”

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

Drafted replyReview before use

Hi J., thank you for letting us know, and I’m sorry the timing wasn’t clear when you needed it most. For urgent visa work we can quote an express option up front. I’d like to hear what happened — please call me directly on +971 50 000 0147.

— Lena, Example Language Services

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 enquiry 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 enquiry, two replies

One enquiry. Two replies.

Our enquiry · email enquiry

📨 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 enquiry was answered from an address not on the authorised 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 enquiry receiving two separate replies — one official, one from a personal phone

07 — Evidence excerpt

The WhatsApp thread

[Tue 10:02] Auditor → Hi, I need my Chinese driver’s licence and birth certificate translated for a visa, legal (MOJ-certified). How much and how fast?

[Tue 10:11] Other number → Hi Mei, I’m one of the translators. I can do both privately for $40 a page, same certification stamp, ready tomorrow. Cheaper than the office.

[— the agency’s WhatsApp number itself never replied —]

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

    One price, everywhere

    Align the website, the Instagram post and the email template on the standard-document rate.

    20 minOwner
  2. 02

    Work only through the office

    Remind every contractor in writing: jobs are issued and invoiced by the office, never privately.

    30 minOwner
  3. 03

    Fix the chat inbox

    Route chat messages to the shared inbox with an auto-acknowledgement; test it weekly.

    15 minOffice admin

Before → after

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

  • Standard-document prices

    2 different1 everywhere

    via One price, everywhere

  • Live chat

    no replywithin 1 h

    via Fix the chat inbox

  • Jobs offered privately

    10

    via Work only through the office

Confidential. Prepared under the written authorisation 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.

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

See yours.

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

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