Stage 1 · Intro 1-3 min, settled. Specific to HIM, never weather
"So we got about 30 minutes. My plan is just ask you a few questions about how things run day to day, see where the leaks are, and if it makes sense I'll show you exactly what I'd do about it. Sound good?"
Stage 2 · Commitment gate early, casual, almost throwaway
"Before I dive in — if what you see today makes sense, is there anything, budget, timing, a partner, the wife, that would stop you from moving on it? ... Is this a you-decide thing, or does somebody else need to sign off?"
Park what surfaces — that's your pre-handled objection list. Real partner named → reschedule with both. "No, I'd move forward" = license to assume the close.
Stage 3 · Discovery 80-90% of the call — the deal is won HERE
Five things, any order: current state · tried before · goal · problem · urgency. Specifics, never averages:
"Last month specifically, how many jobs did you actually close?" (owners inflate ~300% — walk it back month by month)
Bridges: "If referrals are working that well, why not just double down on that?" — his answer is the real reason he's here.
Efforts: "What have you tried? What worked, what didn't? ... And how LONG you been at this?" · Escape: "If nothing changes, where is this in a year?"
Mirror one word back and shut up ("...stressed?"). Three pain levels: surface → financial → emotional. Don't accept vague.
Talk the trade drop ONE early · ask + mirror, never perform
"What are you running — is it high-flow?" · "Drum or disc?" · "Carbide or knives — how's the rock treating 'em?" · "Grubbing and dirt work too, or straight mulching?" · "Half-day jobs, or two-day minimum?" Then use HIS iron in the pitch: "you can't run a Bull Hog and answer the phone at the same time." Asked what you run: "I run the phones and the ads — you run the iron."
Stage 4 · Name the pain flat, diagnostic, his words
"So what I'm hearing is: leads come in, but by the time anybody follows up it's been a day or two, and a chunk of them already called somebody else. So the real issue isn't lead volume. It's that follow-up falls through the cracks because there's no system. That right?"
Stage 5 · Quantify HIS math, never yours · then urgency
"So if you're losing four or five leads a week to slow follow-up, and your average job's worth what you said — what's that costing you a month?" SHUT UP.
"You've been at this level a couple years — why is fixing it a priority NOW?" · If it's not: "Then I'm genuinely curious, why are we on this call?"
Stage 6 · Assume the close the ONE place energy belongs
Recap mapped to pains HE named. Future-state only: "once this is running" — never "if you go with this." Transition: summarize his words → "this is exactly what we do" → ask permission to pitch. Pitch = 3 callbacks: PLUG (leaks he named) → RECOVER (his quote pile) → POUR (his volume goal).
"What questions you got?" (never "any questions?") · "One to ten — where you at?" · "Why a seven and not a six?" Want 8+ before the number.
Objections 4-step, close doors one at a time
1 Reassure: "Okay, that's not a problem" — NEVER "that makes sense". 2 Tie down: "Do you feel 100% confident this gets you to your number?" 3 Isolate: "So is it mainly just the investment?" 4 Close the door.
Money: "Is it that the cash isn't there right now, or that you've never done something like this and it feels risky?"
Talk SLOWER during objections. Be the rock. Real objections are logistical; "I need to think about it" is a smokescreen — never buy it.
Stage 7 · The number ad spend first · one sentence · SILENCE
"Two parts. First is ad spend — that goes straight to Facebook, I don't touch a dollar of it."
Then flat, no vocal shift: "two grand a month" · MO/IL: "fifteen hundred" — never "two thousand dollars." The number ONCE, then silence, minimum 8 seconds. Next to speak is at a disadvantage. It will not be you.
Guarantee: "That number is my KPI — I make my money when you stay, so I'm built to deliver it. If I miss, you choose: money back and we shake hands, or I keep working free until you've got all ten."
Investment wrap: value stack → ROI → the number → back to ROI. Both guarantees carry the landing: 10 estimates in 30 days or you don't pay · live in 10 days or first month free.
Stage 7b · The collection ask §3e ladder, top-down · cash before work
1 · Full-pay — OPEN HERE, every call: "Most guys just knock out the whole ninety days — six grand [MO/IL: forty-five hundred], one and done, you never see a bill from me again."
2 · 2-pay (on pushback): "Half now, half at day forty-five — and that second half only comes after your ten estimates are already sitting on your calendar."
3 · Monthly — rescue ONLY, never volunteered: loop 1 → 2 again first. "Card goes on file, it runs automatic, you never think about it."
| Rung | Intro | MO/IL | UF cash |
|---|
| 1 full-pay | $6,000 | $4,500 | 100% |
| 2 2-pay (day 0/45) | $3,000 + $3,000 | $2,250 + $2,250 | 50% |
| 3 monthly + card on file | $2,000 ×3 | $1,500 ×3 | 33% |
Day 0 = signed + paid. No payment, no build. Payment link in the chat ON the call — sit through the awkward. The ask is allowed to feel big; rung 2 still collects Kai's 40-50% UF-cash KPI. Your job is to MAKE the ask.
Blocked, not dead deal-holders, not payment rungs
Deposit ladder: $500 refundable / $300 spouse / $200 serious-buyer — credits toward Day 0.
"If we touch base in three or four hours and you feel the same way, are you 100% good to go?" — never a week. Book the exact time before hanging up. Always book a meeting from the meeting.
The drill · Stage 7b reps role-play until it's boring
The sequence: the number → 8 seconds of silence → full-pay ask → silence → 2-pay fallback. Same flat tone on the number as on rapport — no vocal shift, no justifying.
Personas to rotate: skeptical · been burned by an agency · spouse signs off · "send me some info" · cash-is-tight. Treat all deals equally — no big-deal nerves, no autopilot.
Review every rep: which block did the deal die in? Usually discovery, never the close. Record everything.
Client's-choice remedy §5b-1 — SAY it at close · he CHOOSES only on a day-30 miss
Triggers ONLY if we miss (fewer than 10 booked estimates by day 30) — at close you're just stating the insurance policy, never offering options. On a miss HE picks: (a) every dollar of Canova fees back, we walk — ad spend not refundable, it went to Meta · (b) billing stops, I keep working free until the 10th lands. Booked estimate = qualified lead + confirmed time that shows or reschedules; ghosts don't count. His SLA delays extend the clock day for day.