Welcome — this is your one-time orientation. Read it once cover-to-cover. After that you live in the Sales sheet tab for daily reference (pricing, add-ons, objection scripts, discovery questions, commission math, monthly earnings).
What you're actually selling
You are not selling a website. You're selling a 24/7 customer-getting machine.
A website is the package the value comes in. The real product is:
- Phone calls and quote requests that come in while the owner is asleep, on a job, or with another customer.
- Higher Google rankings — more people find them when they search "HVAC near me" or "roofer 78216."
- Trust. When someone Googles a business and sees a clean, modern site, they call. When they see nothing or a 2014 GeoCities mess, they call the next guy.
- Time back — instead of explaining services 50 times a week on the phone, the site explains it before the customer even calls.
When a prospect asks "why do I need a website?", translate the answer into their business: more service calls, more roofing jobs, more lawn contracts. Never say "you need responsive design and schema markup." Nobody buys those things.
Who you're selling to
Owner-operators of local San Antonio service businesses. Mostly:
- HVAC, plumbing, roofing, lawn care, pool, fencing, auto body, contractors
- 1 to 15 employees, often family-run
- The owner answers the phone (and would answer website inquiries themselves)
- They have customers, trucks, equipment — they're already running a real business; they just don't have a great online presence
- Either no website, a Wix site from 2017, or something their nephew built and abandoned
These people are NOT tech founders, marketing execs, or design snobs. They want clear value, clear pricing, and to get back to running their business.
Why they need it (pick the angle that fits)
- No website at all: "Every competitor of yours has one. When someone searches your service in your zip and you don't show up, they call someone else."
- Old or dated site: "Sites from before 2020 get penalized by Google's mobile-first rankings. You're basically invisible on phones — and 70% of local searches happen on phones."
- Wix or Squarespace: "DIY templates look like 200 other businesses on the same builder. Custom design builds trust, and trust closes."
- Just Google Business Profile, no site: "GBP listings need a matching website to rank highest. No site = ceiling on how high you show up in Maps."
What we are vs. the alternatives
| Us | Wix / Squarespace | Big agency |
|---|
| Cost | $500 to $2000+ one-time | $30/mo forever (≈$2,160 over 6 years) | $5,000 to $25,000 |
| Ownership | Client owns everything | Platform owns the site | Client owns it |
| Look | Custom, branded | Template (looks generic) | Custom, branded |
| Launch | 5 to 10 days | DIY takes weeks or months | 6 to 12 weeks |
Battle card: if they push back on price, anchor against the $25k agency to make $1000 feel like a steal. If they bring up Wix, lean into ownership and look — DIY rentals don't compete with custom builds.
Terms you'll hear (recognize, don't memorize)
- Domain — the address (yourbusiness.com). Client owns it, pays ~$15/year to keep it.
- Hosting — where the site files live. Free Cloudflare hosting by default; premium + monthly care is +$50/mo.
- SSL / HTTPS — the padlock icon in the browser. Standard, free, included.
- Mobile-responsive — looks good on phones. Standard on every site we build.
- SEO — making the site rank higher on Google. Basic SEO included; advanced SEO is a future upsell.
- CTA (Call-to-Action) — a button that says "Call Now" or "Get a Quote." Every page has at least one.
- CMS — letting the client edit the site themselves. Most of our builds are static (they call us for updates); +$50/mo for self-edit.
If a client asks something you don't know: "Good question — Ian handles the technical side. Let me write that down and get back to you today." Then text Ian. Never make up an answer.
Your job vs. Ian's job
You: find leads (dashboard), call them, run discovery, quote, close, collect deposit, hand off to Ian. Then check in with the client during the build to keep them excited, and ask for referrals after launch.
Ian: builds the site, handles hosting, deals with all technical stuff. You never touch HTML, design tools, or hosting.
You sell. Ian builds. Clean handoff.
The full process — from cold call to launch
- Pull a lead from the Leads dashboard. Filter by score, sort high-to-low. Top of the list = lowest-friction yeses.
- Run discovery + pitch on the call. Use the questions and objection scripts in the Sales sheet tab.
- Quote and close. Open at $1000. Get a verbal yes + commit to payment.
- Client pays 50% deposit via Venmo / Zelle / Stripe link to Ian.
- Collect content from the client: logo (or flag +$200 add-on if they don't have one), 3-5 photos, 2-3 sentences about the business, list of services, contact info.
- Hand off to Ian with a summary text or email. What they bought, what they want, content attached.
- Ian builds the site in 5 to 10 business days.
- Client reviews. They get 1 round of revisions included.
- Site launches. Client pays the remaining 50%.
- Your commission lands — calculated when the deposit cleared, paid via Venmo/Zelle within 5 business days.
- Client refers a friend. Best lead source you'll ever have.
Confidence reset
You don't need to know how to build websites to sell them. You need to know:
- The product — read every section of this onboarding once, then the Sales sheet cover-to-cover
- The price — memorize: $500 base · $1000 standard quote · $500 floor
- The pitch — the 8 objections and 8 discovery questions on the Sales sheet
- That you have someone behind you (Ian) who actually builds the thing
A great salesperson with this sheet beats a mediocre web designer with no sheet, every single time. Your value isn't tech — it's translating tech into "this'll get you more customers." That's the whole game.
What works (and what kills deals instantly)
Pulled from cold-call psychology research, B2B sales studies (SPIN, Cialdini), blue-collar contractor sales playbooks, and real web design case studies. Filtered down to what actually applies when selling websites to local SA service businesses.
What closes deals
Build connection in the first 30 seconds.
Not a close — a connection. Calm, confident voice. Use their name. Mention something specific you noticed about their business. Personalized openers reply at 15-25% — generic ones at 3-5%.
Lead with their pain, not your product.
"I noticed you don't have a website yet — most HVAC guys in 78216 are losing maybe 40% of their search traffic to competitors who do" beats "I sell websites for $500." Frame around their world.
Ask better questions, don't pitch harder.
SPIN selling research (35,000 sales calls analyzed by Neil Rackham): top reps don't talk more — they ask in a specific sequence. Situation → Problem → Implication → Need-payoff. The 8 discovery questions in the Sales sheet are built on this.
Surface the cost of NOT acting (loss aversion).
Cialdini and decades of behavioral research: people are roughly 2× more motivated to avoid loss than to chase gain. "How many leads a month do you think you're losing without a site?" hits way harder than "you'll get more leads with a site."
Show, don't tell.
When a prospect asks for a sample, the seller who texts a demo link in the next 60 seconds closes way more than the one who says "I'll email you something." Always have the relevant demo URL ready in your texts.
Get micro-commitments.
You're rarely closing on a cold call. Aim for a smaller yes that builds momentum: "Can I text you 2 examples right now?" "Can we hop on 10 min Tuesday at 2?" Each small yes makes the big yes easier — Cialdini's commitment principle.
Apply social proof to their world.
"Three roofing companies in your zip already use us" beats generic stats. People look to similar others when they're unsure. Cialdini study: hotel signs saying "75% of guests reuse towels" raised reuse 26%. Specificity wins.
Actually ask for the business.
The single most consistent finding in web design sales literature: most sellers backpedal at the close. They hint instead of asking. "Want to lock this in today, or do you need 24 hours?" closes way more than "let me know what you think."
Use scarcity honestly.
"The $1000 quote is good for 7 days, then it goes back to standard" — real, defensible scarcity. Not fake "act now or lose forever" pressure that immediately destroys trust.
Sit with them, line by line.
Blue-collar contractor sales research is unanimous: walking through the proposal in person or live over the phone closes way better than emailing a quote and waiting. They appreciate direct, personal communication.
What kills deals instantly
Talking price too early.
Discussing dollars before emotional buy-in lures them into their analytical brain. They start calculating instead of imagining the result. Get the picture clear first — service calls coming in, customers calling them — THEN drop the number.
Overpromising.
"We'll get you on page 1 of Google" is a deal killer the moment they Google themselves and you're not there. Better: "We set up the SEO right; over time, you'll move up as more people find you." Trust > short-term wins.
Stumbling on a basic product question.
When they ask "do you do mobile?" or "is hosting included?" and you fumble, confidence dies. "Good question — Ian handles that, let me get the answer today" works once. Twice and you sound like you don't know what you're selling.
Pushing past a clear no.
Once they say no firmly, stop. Pursuing them tanks your reputation in a small market — SA business owners talk. Walk politely. They might come back. Pushy sellers never get the second chance.
The email-and-hope trap.
"I'll send the proposal" alone = order taker. "I'll send the proposal AND call you Friday at 10 to walk through it" = closer. Active follow-up is the line between $1k/month and $5k/month for the same calls.
Generic openers.
"Hi, I'm calling from [company]" gets hung up on instantly. "Hey [name], I was looking at your site and noticed [specific thing] — got 60 seconds?" gets the conversation going. Personalization is 5-7× more effective at getting past hello.
Disrespecting their time.
Long monologues, rambling pitches, dancing around the point. Owner-operators are running a business while talking to you — get them to value fast or get hung up on. 90 seconds to "is this worth more of my time?" is the bar.
Acting like a vendor instead of an advisor.
"Want to buy a website?" → click. "I help businesses like yours get more service calls — can I show you what's costing you customers right now?" → they listen. Same conversation, totally different framing.
Skipping discovery and quoting blind.
Quoting before you understand their situation = wrong-fit deals OR underpriced deals you regret. Even 2 minutes of discovery beats zero. The discovery questions exist for a reason — use them on every call.
The 4 psychological levers (research-backed)
| Lever | What it means | How to use it |
|---|
| Loss aversion | Pain of losing > pleasure of gaining (≈2×) | "Every day without a site = leads going to competitors" |
| Social proof | People copy what similar others do | "3 HVAC guys in 78216 already use us" |
| Reciprocity | Free favor creates pull to give back | Send a free demo / mockup, then ask for the meeting |
| Scarcity | Less available = more wanted | "This $1000 quote is good for 7 days only" |
Patterns from real web-design sellers
- Warrior Forum case: One seller closed 14 sites in 4 days at $499 each ($6,986/week). Method: 100 calls/day + emailed mockups whenever prospects asked for samples. The mockups closed it.
- Vandelay Design: Their #1 stated mistake: web designers don't ask for the business. Most lose deals because they hint instead of asking directly.
- BlackHatWorld case: $9,900 in 40 days. Method: scraped sites for outdated copyright years, then called. This is exactly how our scoring works — leads with old or stale builds score higher in the dashboard.
- Mike Flynn (blue-collar sales): "The contractor who calls and says 'I'd like to sit with you and go over this line by line' wins more jobs than the one who emails and waits, every single time."
The net rule
Calm, confident, curious. Get them talking about their pain. Translate everything into "more customers / more revenue / less headache." Always ask for the next step. Never push past no. Never overpromise. Never email-and-hope.
You're ready. Switch to the Sales sheet tab — that's your call-time reference. Memorize the numbers and the 8 objection scripts, then start dialing.
New to selling websites? Hit the First time selling tab first. Otherwise this is your call-time reference.
The 30-second version
- Open every quote at $1000. Floor is $500. Never go below.
- If they push back: drop scope, then drop price — never the other way around.
- 50% deposit to start, 50% on launch. 5 to 10 business day delivery standard.
- Biggest closer: show them their site looks dated next to a competitor's.
- Always run the 8 discovery questions before quoting — half open up upsells.
Pricing strategy
Anchor and drop
Always lead with $1000 confidently. If the lead bites, great. If they hesitate, drop to $750 — but cut something at the same time so you're not negotiating against yourself.
- $1000 → $750: drop the second revision round, drop logo touchups, or drop rush delivery.
- $750 → $500: drop down to 3 pages instead of 5, drop the SEO setup, or drop the contact form integration.
- Never below $500. That's the cost line. If they can't do $500, walk politely.
Read the room before you quote
| Lead type | Open at | Why |
|---|
| No website | $1000 | Already convinced. Stay confident, don't pre-discount. |
| FB only | $1000 | Same — they took the call, they know FB isn't enough. |
| Has dated site | $1500 | Needs more selling. Anchor higher to give drop room. |
| Referral | $1000 | Trust is built. Standard quote, no over-anchor needed. |
Payment & terms
- 50% deposit to start, 50% on launch (Venmo, Zelle, or Stripe).
- 1 round of revisions included. Extra rounds: $50 each.
- Client owns the domain, hosting account, and site.
- Refund: full if work hasn't started, partial if in progress.
What the $500 base includes
- Up to 5 pages: Home, About, Services, Gallery, Contact
- Mobile-responsive design (looks good on every device)
- Click-to-call hero button on every page
- Contact form (sends to their email)
- SEO setup: meta tags, sitemap, schema, alt text
- Free SSL (https) certificate
- Google Business Profile integration
- 1 round of revisions
- 5 to 10 business day delivery
- Hosting setup (client owns the accounts)
Add-ons (drives the price up)
Use these to justify quoting above $500, OR upsell after they say yes to base.
Universal (any business)
| Add-on | Price |
|---|
| Bilingual site (English + Spanish) | +$300 |
| Logo design (3 concepts, 2 revisions) | +$200 |
| Online payment integration (Stripe) | +$300 |
| Booking / scheduling integration | +$250 |
| Rush delivery (faster than 5 business days) | +$250 |
| Blog / news section | +$150 |
| Custom photography coordination | +$100 |
| Email setup on their domain | +$100 |
| Custom domain registration help | +$75 |
| Extra pages beyond 5 | +$75 each |
| Premium hosting + monthly care | +$50/mo |
Industry-specific
HVAC · Plumbing · Electrical
| Emergency 24/7 CTA banner | +$50 |
| Service area map | +$100 |
| Financing widget integration | +$150 |
| Recurring maintenance plan signup | +$150 |
Roofing · Auto Body
| Before/after photo gallery (interactive slider) | +$200 |
| Insurance claim info section | +$100 |
| Storm damage / hail emergency landing page | +$150 |
Lawn Care · Pool Service · Pest Control
| Square footage quote calculator | +$200 |
| Recurring service signup form | +$150 |
| Service plan tiers display | +$100 |
Fencing · Landscaping · Specialty Contractors
| Portfolio gallery with categories | +$200 |
| Material / style comparison page | +$150 |
| Free estimate request form (with file upload) | +$100 |
Med Spa · Dental · Chiro · Cosmetic
| Online appointment booking | +$300 |
| Service menu with pricing | +$100 |
| Patient testimonial slider | +$100 |
| HIPAA-compliant intake form | +$200 |
Closer move: If an add-on under $200 will close the deal, throw it in for $50. Don't fight over scraps when the relationship is worth more.
Pitch tips by objection
"I already have a website."
"That's exactly why we should talk. When was the last time you got a customer FROM your website? Most local sites haven't been touched since 2019. That's costing you in Google rank, mobile users, and trust. New customers Google you before they call — what they see is what they think your business is."
"Wix or Squarespace is cheaper."
"Sure — $30 a month rents you a template forever. We're talking about owning your site once. No monthly fees that compound, no platform lock-in. And every Wix template looks like 200 other businesses on the same builder. You want to stand out, not blend in."
"My customers find me on Google Maps, I don't need a website."
"Google Maps is great until a competitor pops up next to you. The number one ranking factor in local Maps is having a website with matching info. No site = ceiling on how high you can rank. Plus when someone clicks your phone number, they're 10 times more likely to call if they JUST checked your site first."
"Can you do it for less?"
"I can — but I'd have to cut [X]. The $500 package is a clean professional site. Anything below that and you're getting a template, not a website."
"How long will it take?"
"5 to 10 business days from when you give me your content. If you need it faster than 5 days, rush delivery is +$250."
"I don't have any content / photos / copy."
"Easy. 30-minute call, I write your copy from what you tell me, source 5-10 stock photos that match your industry. Your time spent: 30 minutes total."
"Send me a portfolio first."
"Happy to. I'll text you 3 examples right now. While you're looking, give me the URL of one competitor of yours that you actually respect — I'll show you exactly what I'd build to put you above them."
"Let me think about it."
"Fair. While you do, two things: (1) every day without a working site is leads going to a competitor, (2) the $1000 quote is good for 7 days, then it goes back to standard. What's the one piece of info you need to make the call by Friday?"
Discovery questions to ask
Run these BEFORE you quote. Half open up an upsell.
- Do you currently have a website? If yes — get the URL, look at it before quoting. If no — they're already a hot lead.
- Do you have a logo? If no, +$200 add-on right there.
- How do most of your customers find you today? Tells you which pitch angle to lean into.
- What's your busiest season? Creates urgency — get launched BEFORE peak.
- Are you bilingual / serving Spanish-speaking customers? Opens the +$300 bilingual upsell. Real differentiator in SA.
- Do you take online appointments or bookings now? If no, +$250 booking integration is a clear value-add.
- What's a competitor's website you actually like? Useful design intel + tells you their bar.
- What's the ONE thing you wish your current site or online presence did? Pure gold. Whatever they say, that's your pitch back.
Numbers to memorize
- Base: $500 · Standard quote: $1000 · Floor: $500
- Delivery: 5 to 10 business days standard, faster with rush (+$250)
- Deposit: 50% upfront, 50% on launch
- Bilingual upsell: +$300 · Logo: +$200 · Booking: +$250
- Closer: any add-on under $200 → throw in for $50 to close
Commission structure
35% on every deal up to $1000. 40% on every deal over $1000.
Whole-deal rate, not marginal. The second a deal crosses $1000, the rate jumps to 40% on the entire amount — that's the cliff. Selling at $1001 instead of $1000 puts an extra $50 in your pocket for the same conversation. Always push for one add-on, even a small one.
Per-deal earnings
| Deal total | What it could be | Rate | You make |
|---|
| $500 | Floor / starter | 35% | $175 |
| $750 | Target close | 35% | $262.50 |
| $1000 | Standard quote, no add-ons | 35% | $350 |
| $1001 | One $1 push past the line | 40% | $400.40 |
| $1200 | Base + logo | 40% | $480 |
| $1300 | Base + bilingual | 40% | $520 |
| $1500 | Base + bilingual + logo | 40% | $600 |
| $1750 | Base + booking + logo + bilingual | 40% | $700 |
| $2000 | Loaded build (4-5 add-ons) | 40% | $800 |
| $2500 | Premium (med spa or full e-comm) | 40% | $1,000 |
The cliff is your friend. Closing at $1000 vs $1001 = $50 difference for one extra dollar of scope. Closing at $1500 vs $1000 = $250 more for the same conversation. Always pitch at least one add-on.
Monthly earnings — if you only sell $500 starter deals
| Deals closed / month | What that pace looks like | Your take-home |
|---|
| 4 | 1 per week | $700 |
| 8 | 2 per week | $1,400 |
| 12 | 3 per week | $2,100 |
| 16 | 4 per week | $2,800 |
| 20 | 1 per business day | $3,500 |
Monthly earnings — if you push to $1000 average
| Deals closed / month | Your take-home |
|---|
| 4 | $1,400 |
| 8 | $2,800 |
| 12 | $4,200 |
| 16 | $5,600 |
| 20 | $7,000 |
Monthly earnings — if you push to $1500 average (bilingual + logo on most)
| Deals closed / month | Your take-home |
|---|
| 4 | $2,400 |
| 8 | $4,800 |
| 12 | $7,200 |
| 16 | $9,600 |
| 20 | $12,000 |
The takeaway: 8 deals/month at $500 = $1,400. 8 deals/month at $1500 average = $4,800. Same number of conversations, 3.4× the income. Upselling isn't optional — it's the entire job.
Payment terms
- Paid when the client's 50% deposit clears — not when the site launches.
- Sent via Venmo or Zelle within 5 business days of the deposit hitting my account.
- If a client cancels before launch and gets a partial refund, your commission is recalculated on the kept amount.
- No commission on refunded or chargeback'd deals.