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?"
You, in 2 sentences, then hand it back: "Quick on me — I come from blue collar work, that's most of why I started this. I'm not a marketing guy who found contractors, I'm the other way around." → "How'd you get into clearing?"
★ NOTES + FIT FRAME — one breath, say it ONCE, then let it show: "I'm gonna take notes while you talk — not being rude, I just want to make sure this is actually a fit before I tell you anything about what we do. Honestly the main thing I gotta figure out today is whether you could even handle ten more estimates a month. I don't get paid unless they land, so booking a guy who can't get to 'em costs us both."
Why it works and isn't a trick: refund-backed guarantee = you genuinely lose money on a bad fit. You're the only one on his radar who does. Your 4 real criteria: can he SERVICE 10 more · does he SHOW UP · does he CLOSE or email-and-pray · is the ad budget real. Say it once. Never repeat it. Twice = careful, three times = posturing. And mean it — if backlog comes back 10+ weeks, say out loud you'd sort that before turning ads on. Being willing to say no is the whole frame.
Founder story = a credential, not a chapter. Longer version only AFTER he buys. If he brought numbers: acknowledge, don't open on them — "I see you got your numbers there, good, we'll get into those."
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 · he talks, you don't
ROUGH ARC (a shape, not a script — follow him, but this is the order that works):
current state → trade question (early) → problem / peel layers → what he's tried → ★ GOAL → his numbers → why NOW. Goal sits ~2/3 through: you can't ask where he wants to go until he's said where he is. Goal creates the GAP — which is what Stage 5 quantifies and what "why now" bites on.
OPEN BROAD, PRESENT TENSE — always the same first question:
"So walk me through how the work comes in right now."
Then a trade question inside the first 2 minutes (credibility — it buys the right to ask blunt questions): "What are you running — is it high-flow?" · "Drum or disc?" · "Carbide or knives — how's the rock treating 'em?" Ask + mirror, never perform. Asked what YOU run: "I run the phones and the ads — you run the iron."
THE MECHANIC (this is the whole skill):
1 · Follow what he emphasizes. Repeats it, slows down, says it louder = that's the thread. Pull it, drop your list. "Busy but inconsistent" → "Inconsistent how?"
2 · Mirror ONE word, then shut up. "It's frustrating keeping the crew busy" → "Frustrating?" — stop. What comes out second is always more honest. Highest-leverage move on the call.
3 · "What do you mean by that?" Never sounds dumb. Sounds like listening.
4 · Peel 3 layers: surface ("leads go quiet") → money ("what's that costing you a month?") → feeling ("when it's slow, what's that like?"). Most stop at surface. The deal lives in layer 3.
REACT BEFORE YOU ASK AGAIN — "Yeah, that's most guys." / "Huh." / "How long's that been going on?" Question-question-question with no reaction = deposition. You're not landing points. You're asking the question that makes him hear himself — he believes his own words, never yours.
PULL HIS NUMBERS MID-DISCOVERY (he brought them — collect here, SPEND them at Stage 5 + 7): average job · roughly last year · past customers + dead quotes · what the crew can take on in 60 days · "last month specifically, how many jobs did you actually close?" (owners inflate ~300% — walk it back month by month) · close rate on someone who knew him vs found him cold.
★ THE GOAL QUESTION — do not skip, this IS the POUR callback: "You mentioned you've been thinking about expanding — what's that actually look like in your head?" → then get a number: "So what's a good month look like? How many jobs, or what number are you trying to hit?"
Without a goal number, POUR is generic ("more work"). With it: "You said you want to be at [his number] — that's the pour." Also loads Stage 5 (at X, wants Y — what's the gap worth?) and the crew-capacity check.
Bridges: "If referrals work that well, why not just double down on that?" — his answer is the real reason he's on this call. · Efforts: "What have you tried? What worked, what didn't? How LONG you been at this?" · Escape: "If nothing changes, where's this in a year?"
Discovery → done? tick 5, then transition — not before
☐ Current state (where work comes from now) · ☐ Tried before (what he's done, what failed) · ☐ Goal (what he wants, in his words) · ☐ Problem (what's in the way) · ☐ Urgency (why now, not last year) · ☐ His numbers
GREEN LIGHTS to move on: he starts repeating himself · you can say the problem better than he can · you have a dollar figure for what it costs him · he asks what you do AFTER naming his problem.
⚠ "So what do you actually do?" — EARLY vs LATE are opposites. Late (5 ticks done) = permission, take it. Early (before he's named a problem) = curiosity or screening, NOT a green light — you'd have nothing to map the pitch onto and it comes out generic, which is what every agency before you sounded like. Answer in ONE sentence, then take the ball back:
"Short version: we run your ads, and we answer and book every lead that comes in, 24/7. But honestly I can't tell you if that's even worth your money 'til I know a couple things — how's the work coming in right now?"
Refusing to pitch early IS the trust move with a hard bargain — you're screening, not selling. (Joey already asked this on the cold call; short answer was the right call.)
If you're not sure — stay in discovery. Deals die from pitching too early, never from asking one more question.
Your pre-found leaks Stage 0 gave you these — make HIM name them
Don't save them to tell him. Turn each into a question in discovery so he arrives at it himself — then it's his leak, not your criticism, and there's nothing to defend.
"Your Google listing says open 24 hours — who answers at 9pm?" → he names it
"How's that ad doing — what happens when someone messages you?" → he names it
"When you walk a property, they get the number right there or after?" → he names it
Whatever's LEFT goes in Stage 6, max TWO, framed as looking not judging: "Couple things I noticed when I went through your setup before we talked…" · On anything he's proud of (a new ad): ask permission first — "Can I tell you the one thing I'd change before you put another dollar behind it?" Nearly impossible to say no to, turns a critique into a favor.
⚠ Tie every added leak to something HE said — "you're on the machine all day, that's why the 24-hour thing matters." Free-floating = attack. Tied to his words = diagnosis. A 15-min teardown of a business he's proud of loses the deal.
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.
The demo bridge only for the TRUST objection · never volunteered
Deploy ONLY when he isolates to "I don't know you / I can't see it." Not for price. Not early. The demo is proof, never the product — it answers one sentence he just said, then you get straight back on the ladder.
Setup (this is what makes the return smooth): "That's fair — you shouldn't hand money to a guy you met yesterday for something you can't see. So let's not do that. What's your cell? I'm gonna have your system call you right now. Pick up like you're a customer who just filled out a form. Then you tell me what you think."
Giving him a job — "then you tell me what you think" — is the return ticket. It pre-books the next moment as yours.
While it runs: say nothing. Don't narrate, don't sell over it. When it hangs up, SHUT UP first. Let him speak. He will.
The bridge — 3 beats, then straight to the ask:
1 · Callback: "So — that's the thing you couldn't see."
2 · Move trust off you, onto it: "You don't gotta trust me, Joey. You just watched it work. That's what's answering your phone at seven at night when you're on the mulcher."
3 · Close the isolated door: "So it's not really about the fifteen hundred anymore — it's whether you want that running for you or not." → then go straight to Stage 7b, rung 1.
NEVER ask "so what do you think?" after the demo — that reopens the whole sale and invites a fresh objection. Ask only about the demo: "what'd you think of it?" Narrow question, narrow answer.
Do not restart the pitch. Don't re-explain the offer, don't re-stack value. He already heard it. The demo replaced the explanation.
If the agent flubs: don't apologize or scramble. "That one I built off a cold call and a website. Yours gets built off your actual service area, your job types, your questions." Then bridge anyway — the point was that it rings and it books, not that it's polished.
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 7 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% |
THE RULE THAT GOVERNS THE WHOLE LADDER: never concede a rung for free. Every step down is paired with a tie-down in the same breath — "if I do it that way, is that you in? Are we starting today?" → then silence. A concession without a commitment question just teaches him pushing works, and he'll push again.
Hold once before you drop. The first "nah" is reflex, not decision: "Most guys say that first. I lead with it because it's the only one where you're actually done — no card on file, no second charge, nothing to think about again." Then isolate: "Is it that the forty-five hundred isn't there this week, or that you don't want it all on day one?" — cash answer → rung 2 as timing. Day-one answer → rung 2 as risk.
NEVER answer "what's the least I can start at." That question lands you on rung 3 and gives away two-thirds of your upfront cash. Reframe: "Least isn't how I'd pick it — least is the one that costs you the most attention. Let me tell you how I'd do it if I were you."
Rung 2 is risk-reduction, not charity. Sell the ordering: the second half doesn't hit until his ten estimates are already on the calendar. That makes rung 2 safer than rung 1 — which is exactly why it closes.
Rung 3 is a rescue, and you say so. Loop back to rung 2 once first. Then flat, not apologetic: "Last option, and it's the one I like least for you — fifteen hundred a month, card on file. I don't love it because you end up thinking about money three times instead of once." Tie down again.
Never let him fund the deal by cutting ad spend. That's the fuel — cutting it puts the ten-in-thirty at risk, and you're the one on the hook for it. "That part's not mine to discount, it goes to Facebook. And it's what makes the guarantee work."
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.
Stage 8 · Lock it he said yes · do NOT celebrate, go to logistics
The second he agrees, stop selling. No "awesome man, you're gonna love it." Enthusiasm after a yes reads as relief and relief reads as risk. Drop straight into flat, boring operator voice — you've done this a hundred times.
The narration close (never ask, narrate): "Alright. Two things while we're on. I'm dropping the payment link in the chat — that's Stripe, goes straight to them, I never see your card. Right under it is the agreement. Takes you about ninety seconds. Tell me when the link's up on your end."
Order: card first, paper second. Money is the commitment; the agreement is the receipt. Paper first invites him to read, find a clause, and stall. But never fight the order — if he says "let me see the contract first," say "yep" and flip it. Arguing about sequence loses deals that were already closed.
While he's typing the card: SHUT UP. Do not fill the silence. Do not re-explain the guarantee. Do not say "no rush." Count. The only allowed words: "take your time, I'm here."
On confirmation: "Got it — that's you paid through [date]. Only email you'll get from me about money is that Stripe receipt, that's it." (Kills the surprise-charge fear before it forms.)
Then set the clock out loud — forward momentum, no room for remorse: "Seven-day clock starts today. Last thing on this call: I'm sending you one intake form, ten minutes, do it tonight if you can — that's the only thing that can slow us down. Then you'll get a short video from me within the hour that walks you through what happens next."
Book the next meeting from this meeting: "Same time next week, fifteen minutes, I'll show you it live in your account." — never hang up without a calendar entry.
"Hard bargain" / discount ask: there is no discount rung — $1,500×3 and $4,500 are the same money. Never trade price. Trade risk: "I don't have a lower number, the price is the price for everybody. What I can do is make it so you're not carrying the risk — that's what the ten-in-thirty is for."