He Got 50 Clients From THIS Cold Calling Script transcript

What is the best way to get clients? >> All day. I got my first 50 clients and I did not I did not contact more than businesses. >> What are you at now in in monthly revenue? >> Last 30 days, probably 20,000. I'm probably 90% profit on the 20,000. >> Yeah, I think I've only ever lost like five clients since I started. >> How come you haven't run paid ads? Because you said you're getting everything from cold calls. >> For me, cold calling just works.

[music] Um like there was a there was a day probably a month ago where I called seven businesses and I booked six of them. Yesterday, I made three cold calls. I booked all three. >> How do you call them? [music] Like, how do you tactically approach them? What do you say in the first 5, 10, 15 seconds? >> Whoever's watching this, if this is the only part that you watch, this is the most important thing you're going to hear all year.

So, [music] get ready. I'll ask permission and say, "Next thing you know, credit cards out. We're getting a deal done." Like, closed. I think I've closed five other people on the very first call. Like, on the first live [music] cold call. Uh, got paid on the call. Deal done. I could go cold call five businesses and get, you know, $350 in recurring monthly revenue. >> So, James, what is the best way to get clients? >> Cold calling all day. >> Okay, tell me about that. >> All right.

Well, what I would say is if you're new, your first three clients should be a friend, a neighbor, and a referral, somebody that you know personally, and you should probably do it for free or half price. That should be your first three clients. hands down so that you can get confidence and become semicompetent. And then your next 10 to 20 should be cold calls. >> Interesting. And you mentioned to me just before we jumped on here, so you got all of your clients from cold calling. >> About 90% of them.

Uh some referrals, some some were like friends, people that I knew, but uh yeah, 80 to 90% are cold calls and then some referrals. >> Okay, great. And what are you at now in in monthly revenue? Uh you know, how much did you make in the last 30 days or last month up to you? And then how much of that is MR, monthly recurring revenue? >> Yeah, last 30 days probably 20,000. Last uh last month was 16K. And again, 80 85% of that is monthly recurring.

So the the other amount is setup fees. >> That's awesome. So literally, if you sign no new clients, you'll be making 16,000 a month. Uh probably probably a little less. So monthly recurring is probably around 13 and a half and when I you know I get a few new clients each month and that adds some of these like upfront setup fees that raises that up a little bit. But I'm on track this month to have my best month yet. So yeah, >> that's awesome.

I love that. And what's your offer currently? >> Websites and automations. >> Awesome. So basically what that is well there's a little more to it but website and typically I focus on a single automation to add value be behind the review request. So mostly focusing on the Google review request automation and then I tag onto the end of that a referral request and a reactivation sequence that's just a couple messages that go out over the next year. >> I see.

So when you're doing the sales call, what do you actually pitch them on that sales call and what is your price point for that? >> Yeah, good question. So the the main way that I I never lead with websites, leads or AI, uh because I'm working with contractors, so home service guys, and most of them are tired of hearing about that stuff. And so what I do is like assuming that I've built a good relationship and built some trust, which is the key, then I say, "Hey, like I would like to help you level up your business and I'm not like everybody else that's just going to slap whatever you've got on a web website template and just like hope for the best.

I want to help you have your brand look really good and upgrade your online presence." And that's like what what else does my offer include? So, the website, I also help them just do a really quick design of their Facebook page because most of these home service contractors are on Facebook. And I do like a formal design brand package, which is just logos, and I have a VA that does it for me, and it's a huge value ad.

And then I typically will use the uh the highle QR code and get them like branded QR codes. I make them some quick little business cards and and then I do their website and then I do their Google business profile optimization and a review reactivation and uh kickstart their Google reviews. And so it's it's there's more to it. And the reason I started doing that was because it's a like when you make somebody a website they they think even if you tell them otherwise that oh I'm going to start getting leads from my website.

So, I'm very clear with people. Hey, I'm helping your online presence look 10 times better than it is today, but that doesn't mean you're going to just magically get leads coming in. So, my sales presentation is kind of teaching them about online marketing fundamentals. And what I tell them is I'm going to help you level up your fundamentals and get you some tools and a great online presence that eventually will bring in organic leads if you're getting good Google reviews.

And then if you want to pay for active marketing, then we can talk about SEO or Google ads, but that's not a priority yet. Like let's get your online presence leveled up first. And that's where I start. So I try to take the time to like educate these guys a little bit on what they actually need to build trust with their, you know, potential prospects. And that's where I start. So um I don't promise anything. I just say I guarantee you I will do a better job than anybody else who will do this part for you and you will see a a big difference and I transform the whole online presence in two weeks. >> Okay, great.

And you do all of this inside of GoHigh Level. >> Well, the website and automations, yes, I use AI Studio for the website. Um, using the obviously I get an A2P number for the client and I get them to give me a list of past customers. I do a Google review reactivation. I've actually started helping clients take the Google reviews and also ask the the client to take the same review and put it as a Facebook review. It's just an easy thing to ask for that adds a little more value.

And then uh I turned on the native feature in High Level that takes the Google review and uses AI to repost it on social media. And that's just like something that blows people's minds. And it's like you turn it on and brand it and you're good to go. And it's a cool little value ad. So yeah, all that stuff's in high level. >> Okay, great. And what's your price point for these services? You mentioned you have a price upfront as a setup fee and then you have a monthly price. >> Yeah.

So I struggled with this for a long time. Like my first six months, I used to just do like custom proposals and I was I was sitting there realizing like I'm doing so I'm a very detailed person. I like to help my clients as if it was my own business. Like if this was my business, what would I do? For example, I had a guy who he already had a domain name and I was like, "Dude, your domain name is terrible. Like, let's let's get you the actual domain name for your business." And instead ofpro, let's get you.com.

Right? And so, like I like, for better or for worse, it's it's a it's a strength and a weakness. I'm very like perfectionist and detailed. And so, I tell my clients, hey, that's what you get when you work with me is very detailed work. And so I used to do these custom proposals like, okay, I'm going to set up your website. I'm going to get your domain. I'm going to I'm going to set up your Google Workspace and brand your email for you.

I'm going to do your business cards. Like, I'm going to help you in all these different ways. And so I would like make this proposal and then I would sort of package it and discount it. And you know, it was okay, but there's a lot of uh unnecessary sort of custom proposal work. So, what I ended up landing on about nine months ago was a package where I do all that work. So, it's it's a lot of upfront work and I did it for $1,000 setup fee.

So, basically month one $9.99 in two payments, half today, half in two weeks and then 30 days from start date is $ 350 a month. So, that was what I did for like the last nine months. About a month ago, I doubled my setup fee to $2,000. >> Nice. Okay, great. So, majority of these clients paid 1,000 upfront and now they're paying 350 a month. Now, you increase that to 2K. How many clients have you signed up on the 2K upfront so far? >> The last five or so. >> Okay, great.

So, clients are paying. >> They're paying. Yeah. And I finally just got to the point where I was like, hey, a lot of the clients that I'm working with are smaller businesses and they're owner operators and I speak fluent Spanish, so a lot of them are Hispanic contractors, right? And and a lot of them are new. And so I can always I can always sort of downgrade that plan and I can leave stuff off and just cut that upfront work a little bit.

So there's been a h like my most recent client uh this is a fun story. One of my remodel clients got a lead on his website and I get notified every time any client gets a lead and I saw the lead come in and it was a local interior designer reaching out to network with my contractor remodel client. So I called her and I was like, "Hey, uh funny story. Actually this this just went up on YouTube last week. I published it on YouTube. you can go watch this call.

Uh it's uh I called her. I was like, "Hey, I saw that you reached out to my client. I saw that you know you need some help and she's my she I closed her as a client and uh so I was saying that because in her case I ended up um lowering the monthly a little bit because there was a handful of features we weren't going to set up and so I was like yeah I'll work with you on the budget like no problem." And um so yeah, upfront and then monthly was a little lower.

So there is some variability on sometimes I'll adjust that upfront or the monthly even a little bit just depending on the business. >> I see. That's great. And what niche are you in? Because you mentioned a remodeler client then you mentioned a interior designer. So are you working with multiple niches? Is it just contractors? >> Yeah, home services. Uh so I've got electric electricians, plumbers, HVAC, stucco, painting, landscaping, plumbing, um HVAC.

Like I've got a bunch of different home service contractor clients. And then I've got a few random ones here and there. Like uh I've got one that's a business coach that my uh one client introduced me to. I've got one that does party backyard party rentals and then interior designer. But like it's only a minor adjustment on the implementation. So I'm fine with it. >> Yeah. Because you have all the backend systems set up and everything is there.

That's that's the cool thing about home services is that they're all they all service customers at their home. So really it's making slight adjustments, slight shifts, and then you can you can pivot into into into that industry. So that's great. And how come you haven't run paid ads? Because you said you're getting everything from cold calls. >> Yeah. Yeah. It's just one of those things that like So for me, cold calling just works.

Um, like there was a there was a day probably a month ago where I called seven businesses and I booked six of them. Uh, and they didn't all show up, but uh, yesterday I made three cold calls. I booked all three and that like that's not every day, but it's just too easy. And so I'm like, well, do I want to run ads and get like higher churn and lower quality? I I don't know. So like at some point I will probably start running ads trying to focus on local.

So, all my clients are local in my city or surrounding towns, right? And uh I think I will eventually. I'm trying to dial in my onboarding process a little bit first and get a front-facing VA so that I'm not handling every single onboarding call, but I'm working on that. And uh about two months ago, I started kind of upping my own game with my own website, my own sort of Google reviews, Facebook presence. For the first year, I had one of the template websites.

I didn't touch it. It was terrible. It was the most embarrassing thing ever, but I never worried about it. I was like, I don't have time for this. I got to go close deals. And uh about a few months ago, I finally like leveled up my my own online presence. So now I'm finally ready to try to like get out there more publicly. So >> great. So you mentioned that cold calling is crushing for you. I have two questions. One, the first question is how do you actually get these leads?

Because you know booking three meetings out of three cold calls is insane. So where are you finding these people? Where are you cold calling people from? And then the second thing is how do you call them? Like how do you tactically approach them? What do you say in the first 5, 10, 15 seconds? >> Whoever's watching this, if this is the only part that you watch, this is the most important thing you're going to hear all year.

So get ready. What a lot of people do is they go scrape leads. They go to outs scraper. They go like pull a bunch of databases of stuff. And then you do all this work to like build your your offer. You build your automations, build your outreach, cold cold DMs, cold SMS, whatever. And you you did all that work, so you expect results and then when you don't get them, it hurts, right? So high like a lot of upfront work and then when you get shafted or like you book, let's say you do a thousand DMs, you get a book an appointment booked, they don't show up, you're just like devastated because you put all this work in upfront.

So what I try to do is keep the upfront work super simple and I don't scrape leads. Uh, all I do is like number one, you stay local. If you're new at this and you're in the US, there's no reason you should be going anywhere for your first 50 clients except the town or the city that you're in. So, I get all my leads from local Facebook groups. So, I go on I go on Facebook and I look around. I join a bunch of groups. At least where I live, a lot of contractors are in these groups and homeowners are posting, contractors are posting, and they're saying, "Hey, I'm looking for this." And guess what? 70 people respond saying, "Hey, I could do that for you." Like I'm an electrician or whatever the whatever the post is about.

So I just like I have unlimited local leads because I've saved hundreds of Facebook posts that I don't even have time to get to. I anytime I want to harvest a 10 people to call, I just go in there and like find a post and like all right, add them to my little spreadsheet, call them up. And I do have like a a tracker that I use. I don't put any leads into High Level. I have a spreadsheet where I just put name, number, business, and if they're a good prospect based on a few indicators that I look for, and I can get as many as I want.

Like, I'm in a I'm in a big city. And uh so there's endless home service contractors. And people ask me, "Why is your pickup rate so good?" Well, because I'm not calling some database of like outdated contacts. I'm calling phone numbers of guys who yesterday posted their business card on Facebook saying, "Call me to help you with this service." So, they pick up the phone. The other thing why people pick up my calls is because I call from my personal cell phone.

My name often shows up as caller ID when I call. So, they think I'm a c a customer, right? Um I don't call from my my A2P number for my for my agency. So, uh also I try to call at the right time of day. If you're calling home home service contractors and you're calling them at 9:30 in the morning, you already are behind because guess what that guy's doing at 9:30 in the morning? He's under a sink. He's on a roof. Like, don't interrupt that guy during his prime working hours.

So, call at the right time of day. Um, so that's like the front end of getting the leads. And >> which is which is when when's the most optimal time to call them? >> Time of day. I mean, the best time to call is is right now. Like any time is good, but the the better time is for me typically like after 3 p.m. >> Definitely. And what do you say when you call them? >> This is the key. So again, we'll start with what most people do.

Now, we're going to we're going to do a the controversial take here u to set the stage. Is this market saturated? People ask this question all the time. And the answer is like I I have maybe a different answer than some. Um, it depends what you mean by saturated. But what I would say is the market, like we're talking about the market of selling websites and AI to local businesses. Is it saturated? The market is saturated with people that could benefit from this service.

There's meaning there's tons of people who need this. The market is also saturated with people doing really poor outreach, offering this stuff. So, what do you get? You get a lot of small businesses that are sick and tired of getting calls and emails and lead forms filled out offering voice AI, offering leads, offering whatever else. Like what I find people that I call, they're sick and tired of getting these calls. Okay.

So, what does that mean? There are people that still need this and there are tons of people offering it and there's this disconnect. So that is the opportunity and that's what I realized kind of early on doing this. And so when someone calls you know Joe the roofer and they say hey Joe uh my name is James with with lead master like I want to help you uh with some AI you have already lost the opportunity. Okay this this like quick pitch.

Oh, you know Joe the roofer is busy. I'm going to quickly get my pitch out there so he knows what I do. Or maybe I'll be creative and say hey it's a cold call. do you want to hang up now or do you want to hear me out? Like I don't do any of that. And that is why I've been successful to to the to the degree that I have, right? Because these guys are sick of it. They're so tired of it. And so what does Joe the roofer want?

I mean, look, maybe maybe he wants more more leads. Maybe he wants to grow. Maybe not. You better find out before you try to pitch him something he doesn't need. But the first thing that I try to do is build trust. I I don't call anybody pitching anything. Um, so usually what my call looks like is, "Hey, is this Joe?" Yeah. Yeah. What's going on? Hey Joe, my name is James. I live in this area. And I shut up and I let Joe respond.

And based on his response, I can tell, is he on a roof? Can I hear noise in the background? Is he driving? Is he like and I'll ask hey are you driving right now and I have a key question that I a phrase that I use a lot which is are you busy right now or do you have a few minutes and if he says yes that's that's good doors open if he says no uh that works too right are you busy no I'm not busy right now like either way yes or no is good okay so then I just say hey like uh I noticed that you you do roofing or you do in this area.

Do you work here in town? Like, and I establish a very quick local connection before he knows why I'm calling. And I'm genuinely interested in like meeting this guy and understanding a little bit about his business to decide if I even want to try to sell him anything. Right now, before I call, I usually do a little bit of research. 60 seconds. Does he have a Gmail account or a domain based email? Does he have a website?

How bad is it? Does he have Google reviews? How many? Does he have a Facebook presence? How bad is his branding? That alone tells me, is he a good prospect for me? And then establish a local connection. Now, depending on his response to that question, I can tell if he's a grumpy guy who's just ticked off and doesn't want to talk to me, uh, or I can tell if he's friendly, right? And based on his tone and response, I'll pivot a little bit.

And uh we can get into more of like what I where I go next, but the the whole point is build local trust and connection and be interested in the person like genuinely, not just for fun, not just to try to like get the deal, but and I have some other unique ways that I try to offer value first before anything else. Um but that's the key. and Joe the roofer does not want to buy some lead service from some guy out of state or out of out of the country.

Like, I'm sorry. Like, the chances of being successful with that are very slim. So, I got my first 50 clients and I did not I did not contact more than 700 businesses. So, my close rate is I guess you might say like higher than average, I think. Like I don't know what I don't know what normal is for other people but like >> it is it is for sure >> calling thousands of businesses. I've never done that. Like I don't have time to do that.

And uh and I would say do I get hung up on? Yeah. Like maybe once a month. Um I get way more booked appointments than I do rude hang-ups because I just call as James the neighbor in in the same city and hey wanted to connect about business and got a couple questions for you. Is that cool? And then I get permission and then I start talking and uh local connection and building trust is everything. >> Definitely. That's great, man.

My first 4 to 5,000 a month in my agency as well was local and I think it's super super slept on because if you can just open and differentiate yourself with, hey, I'm here or hey, I just saw your truck on the road or hey, I drove by your business. Love the sign you have. Love XYZ. Not every contractor has has a storefront, but a good amount of them actually do, right? The bigger companies that you probably want to work with do.

So, that's awesome. How do you actually pivot the cold call then from that initial, oh, hey, don't don't hang up on me, I'm local to then presenting your services and transitioning into, hey, I'm I'm here to sell you something. >> Yeah. So, a lot of this is reciprocity. It's like assuming that they're friendly, I've now gotten them to talk for a few minutes telling me about what they do. Oh, do you do this service? Do you do it in this area?

How long you been doing this? Like genuine interested questions? Now I say, hey, like, thanks for sharing that with me. Is it cool if I tell you what I do? And they are going to say yes because they just spend five minutes telling me what they do. So like, I've earned the opportunity to start talking. The worst thing that salespeople and teachers and anybody in like an instructive profession do is talk too much. Like, oh, I got to I got to pitch my thing.

Like, no. get permission first after you've built trust and open like let them open the door to invite you in. So if I ask somebody, hey, now could I tell you what I do? And they say yes, great, doors open. I'm going to use that carefully and like judge how much I feel like I can talk before they're going to get tired of it. But I'll ask permission and say, "Awesome." And I just tell them the truth. Hey, I started my own business about a year and a half ago and I work with X number of local businesses and I help them with XYZ and I noticed this about your business.

I'd love to like share a couple ideas with you on what I could do to help you out. And you know, I I may ask a couple like validation questions before that. Like, are you are you busy and booked out? Are you trying to still grow? Do you have room to take on more jobs? You know, where do you get most of your leads from right now? um do you did you make the GoDaddy Arrow website yourself? Have you thought about doing this?

And just ask a couple more questions. And then typically what I'll do is just say, "Hey, like I started helping a guy um which is another client of mine. We did this, this, this, and this. Here's what it's been doing for him. If you'd like, I'd be happy to show it to you." >> Nice. And then you and then you pivot into into the booked call. >> Yeah. When do you have time this week? Can we meet on Friday or Thursday or Friday?

Better in the morning or afternoon? What works for you? >> Yeah. And are you meeting them on Zoom or is this in person? >> Google Meet typically I have met a handful of people in person. So one time I cold called a guy. This is a fun one. Uh I had seen this guy on Facebook and I had added him to my list and I just got busy and never called him and like three days later I saw this guy post on somebody else's like you know handraised post saying hey I do this for businesses and he like commented like yeah I'm interested.

I was like crap I gotta call this guy. So, I called him and I was like, "Hey, I saw that you're looking for help with your your website and uh and I was like, I was on this, you know, Facebook post and saw you and and he's like, "Yeah, I talked to this guy and long story short, the guy was charging way too much." And I said, "Well, um, this guy didn't live in my same town, but I was like, why don't you uh here's what I could do for you.

Uh, let's meet up." And I was like, "Are you ever in this part of the town, this part of the city?" And he's like, "Actually, I'm on my way through there right now." So, this guy is a a custom home framer. So, I was like, "Come over, like, meet me in my home office." I invited the guy to my house and uh sat down with him, showed him everything in my office, literally right here. And um he was like, "Yeah, this sounds great.

Like, I really want to do it, but like I got to talk to my wife." Like, and I was like, "All right, cool, man. What's she gonna say?" Um like, "How does she help you with the business? and tell me more about that. Like, just keep talking, right? Next thing you know, credit cards out, we're getting the deal done. Like, closed. Um, that was one. I think I've closed five other people on the very first call, like on the first live cold call.

Uh, got paid on the call, deal done. >> Wow. >> Closed them on the cold call. >> Yeah. Yeah. Only like four or five times. Um, but usually it's like, yeah, set up the appointment and every once in a while, well, I've closed people as fast as the first call and also as long as like eight months out. So, my best, one of my very best clients reached out to him uh, eight months later, I closed the deal with them. And so, you have to understand, a lot of times it's about timing.

And if the timing is right, go for it. And sometimes you got to nurture that that prospect a little bit and just be there when they're ready. So, >> absolutely. And after you onboard that client, how long does usually take you to set up their account? And how many hours would you say is like the the ongoing work? >> Uh, well, my whole goal with this business has been to make it as passive as possible once it's running.

Right. So, most of my clients, I don't touch anything. And once they're up and running, they're off and running. They're good. And sometimes there's a little bit of support, a little bit of troubleshooting, a little bit of fixing things here and there, but I do everything in under two weeks. So, website, Google business, branding, Facebook design, business cards. Sometimes I help them get verified on Google. I do their like vehicle magnets to slap on their truck.

Um, >> nice. That's very unique. I don't I don't hear many people doing that. >> Yeah, it's uh it's easy, dude. Like, I got a local print shop. I just like design something in Canva, throw the custom QR codes on there, send it to the print shop, the print shop charges me 60 bucks, I upsell it for like 120 and I have the magnets delivered to the to the doorstep of the contractor. I'm like, "Hey, I got you vehicle branding for 120 bucks to your doorstep." And they're like, "Oh, thank you, man.

That's awesome." And the reason I started doing that is because a lot of these guys to get verified on Google, they need vehicle branding. It's like, "All right, I got to find I'm gonna freaking solve this problem for them. I'm not going to wait for them to get verified on Google. Are you kidding me?" like I've helped five people get unsuspended Google business profiles. Like I know how to do this way faster. And if I can get him on Google, then I can do his Google review reactivation and actually add value, not waiting for him to figure this out.

So that's why I started doing that. Um yeah, find a local print partner, get it done, like add value to these people and you'll have uh more opportunity. So all of that typically is two weeks if the client is like responsive and giving me what I need. And then uh my V I have I have a full-time VA who's doing all of the website SEO, keyword research, like getting the website up and running, taking my snapshots, customizing the automations.

Um I do some of the I probably still do too much of the work because I'm like a perfectionist. I'm like I want to make sure that this client is like well taken care of, but that's why my churn has probably been really low. I think I've only ever lost like five clients since I started. Um >> wow. um just because it just wasn't a good fit, you know, like they weren't they just weren't getting enough value because they weren't the right size or one of my clients shut down his business.

Different different things, but my churn is very low. And uh I think that part of that is because I take really good care of people myself and I'm trying to kind of move away from my me doing everything. So, I'm getting there, but it's been worth it so far. >> Yeah, absolutely. I I love that magnet edition cuz it makes you unique and it makes you stand out. That's something I mentioned in my community too where I say, "Look guys, here's the framework.

Here's how you should do this, but make it unique, right? Make it make it fit you." And uh you mentioned when when you first joined, you weren't even like a a very technical person, right? Because I think we had uh we had my team set up your your your go high level, right? Which is something we do we do for free. So you jumped on and and they set that stuff up. But were you always like more on the sales side and not very technical or would you say you were more technical and then you had to learn the sales?

Where were you in in in regards to that? >> Yeah, I'm I'm a millennial. Like I'm very fine using technology, but I'm not technical. I didn't I don't have a programming background. I don't have a web design background. I am artistic. I'm very like designoriented. I'm really good at design. Uh but I immediately got very overwhelmed with high level as a platform. Uh, I was like, "Oh my gosh, I'm definitely an overinker.

I overanalyze things. I get uh like I binged I binged through the course and I got overwhelmed." And so, yeah, like the having uh your team come in and just like help me set up the account, right? Get my agency account set up and connect DNS records. I didn't know anything about DNS records or anything like that. I think I'd maybe done it done some DNS records one time before helping my parents with their business, but uh anyway.

Yeah. So having the account get set up quickly really nice um really really helpful because yeah I'd say like I am much more on the like operations and sales side. I'm not technical uh per se. So yeah. >> Nice. Yeah. That's that's that's great. And you said you've only really been in this space for a year, a year and a half, which is which is insane because last 30 days you made around 20,000. And you have one VA. Is that it?

So your profit margins must be must be really high. >> Yeah, I've got a few luxury expenses, but um I'm probably 90% profit. My VA is a killer. He's amazing. >> 20,000. >> Yeah. Yeah. I'm on the agency pro plan, so 4.97 a month because I'm setting up refilling for clients. And then um my VA, shout out to Brian, he's awesome. And uh yeah, I've got a couple, like I said, luxury expenses, but yeah, overall probably 90% profit margin and I 14 14 and a half months in. >> Yeah, that's awesome.

Yeah, you were you're following basically like my model almost to the tea. That's exactly what I did. I was I had actually two VAS though. I had one that did uh helped me with outreach and I wasn't quite as area specific as you cuz after about 5K I ended up uh branching out to to all the US and I was running ads and so that's how I was growing and scaling. So I needed a VA to help me manage those leads and follow up with people and call them and uh confirm my appointments and all that and then I had a technical VA that did all the backend stuff.

Um, but that's the exactly the best way that I think is this business should be run because I know people that are making a 100k a month for example and they have a full team and their profit margin is about 30 maybe 40% on a 100,000 per month, right? And so they're looking at 30,000 in profit or maybe even 40,000 in profit, but they're also managing a bunch of people. So, they're doing Zoom calls all day with these people.

And maybe they even have a business partner. This is very common as well. And sometimes they're a silent business partner. And then you take that profit and divide that in half again, which means they're basically making 15 20k a month anyways. Except you have a much better business, you know, for the lifestyle because it is way more off hands. You have super low churn. Uh you have way less clients to deal with. But if you look at profit at the end of each month, at the end of each year, you're roughly at the same level at at some of these guys that are making 100K a month.

That's kind of why I like the the SAS model and and building it this way. But I will say, man, you can you're definitely beyond the point that you should be running ads. Like if if you did want to scale up, I think, man, if you you have an a kick-ass VA, which is great, but I think if you had a customer success person and you could hire someone in Latin America, this is what I've seen work best in the contractor space because a lot of them like you can also speak Spanish.

And a lot of contractors are used to that Spanish kind of like English, you know, mix and accent. So, they're just okay with it. And a lot of times they they like the fact that that they speak Spanish because they do the onboarding call in Spanish, right? they can talk to them in Spanish and the and the client check-in calls, which a lot of times is is their first language. So, they don't mind that. And it's it's it's pretty easy to get that off off hands.

Um, and the next thing is you can certainly start running ads, man. And if you don't want to go outside of your local area, like, dude, you can run very cheap, maybe $20 a day ads, $30 a day ads. I mean, that's about $1,000 a month just in your local area. Just make the radius really big. Uh, don't do any interest targeting. Don't do any of that. and just launch your offer. And you what you should also do, this is what I tested when I was in uh when I was living in Vegas, is take a photo of a place that's kind of like a monument to where you currently live, so they know that you're in that city.

And if you just take it could be a restaurant, it could be uh I don't know, just something in the background, right? It could be like a bridge, something a a building that everybody knows. take even a selfie of just you standing in front of it and make it look super organic like it's a native post and even if you just do a lead form you don't have to do anything fancy and then you just have in the ad copy just kind of introducing yourself and talking a little bit about your services I mean dude the people that apply to that um you can do a two-step verification as well so they have to confirm their phone number on the lead form but just running that man you will get inbound leads and these these will not be higher churn customers because you can still take that personal touch and that personal element that you have and apply it to those leads because they see that you're local.

So, it does the exact same thing. And and these are also people that are raising their hand. And I think it's definitely a good test. I mean, you're making, you know, high profits. Um, and I think this is absolutely worth your time to look into. Uh, you probably will need the CSM though, and the CSM when uh, you know, you're not really onboarding a crazy amount of clients right now, so they can double that role of being your appointment setter and the CSM.

So every lead, even if you don't want to cold call them, you can have the CSM go in and actually call them since at 20 $30 a day, you won't be getting that many leads re, you know, realistically a couple a day. And because it is super local, your ads will look much different than like somebody like like my agency where, you know, we work with home services, too. That's why I I don't think saturation is is really a big thing at all because there's so much room for everybody, right? there's so much room and everyone has their own unique angle and the way that you get clients is completely different than the way I get clients and so forth.

Um, that's the biggest thing. Also, get client testimonials if you don't have any of of like actual videos of your clients raving about you, which sounds like it's going to be super easy for you cuz you're so hands-on with the clients. And dude, I think that test would absolutely crush you. Run ads just local. And then if you analyze which one of your niches, which maybe you already have this, which which niche do you feel like you can crush the most in? just like if you know if you see this industry you're like dude you have to work with me because you just are so confident in what you can deliver. >> Yeah, it's interesting.

I have that that's all great and that's the path I'm on. I've got to set some things up to get there and I do need to go hire a bilingual CSM. Uh that is the next that's the next hire I got to make. But I'd say uh land like I've got a handful of landscapers that do landscape hardscape and I've got a handful of painters uh and I've got a handful of like remodeling guys and those are probably the best ones. >> Yeah. So even calling out those people like I would say you can run some images right now.

Videos is working best for our agency when it comes for cost per appointment all that stuff. And again I don't even recommend you optimize for appointments. like literally just get leads in because you're going to be so much more targeted than than what we do which is across the whole US. And if you just have a video of you just introducing yourself and in the background is again that like kind of iconic spot I think that that'll crush and you'll be very impressed with the lead quality and I don't think your turn will be will be higher because you still have that local touch in what you're doing.

In fact, typically cold outreach and cold calling will have much higher turn than than uh than the ad leads. I I do know you have this unique flavor and this unique way that you're doing it which is which is awesome and you can definitely take that and and imp implement it and integrate it in what you're currently doing and absolutely you know crush and by the way hiring people is also super easy because you can run ads to Latin America just South America, Central America and just do the ad as a video of you speaking English and just telling people what you're looking for like hey this is a customer success position XYZ it'll cost you 2,000 a month. um you know to actually get this person hired and I mean dude when we run we're getting like 30 cent application submits.

So I mean you spend you know $20 you get 30 applications 20 bucks a day and you know just have people submit a loom a video of themselves so you can analyze their English and just you know get a general vibe of of what they put and yeah just look for people for experience man and I think you'd be you'd be very happy with what you find. Yeah, that's next on the list is uh getting some some good applicants um bilingual G, you know, familiar with high level and uh just good people skills and then I can hand off kind of client onboarding and success for sure.

So, no, that's all that's the next chapter right there is uh CSM plus some some ads for sure. >> That's awesome, man. So, what what even made you like want to start this business in the first place? >> Yeah. Um, it's a long story, but the short version is I uh I was ready to walk away from my full-time job and love love what I was doing, but was I needed growth. Like, I needed to earn more, learn more. And so, I I walked away and I looked at a bunch of different businesses that I wanted to start.

And funny enough, like I was already cold calling local businesses before I even like got into High Level. And I had some ideas of things I wanted to do to work with local local small businesses. And then I came across High Level I could use this to do a bunch of these things that I wanted to do already and you know just kind of dove in and went all in on it um right away. So, I was kind of already on this path of starting a starting my own business and then it's like, yeah, I'm gonna, you know, I I sort of avoided for a long time like the term like, oh, I have a marketing agency.

I've sort of just accepted that now, but that's essentially what I'm doing. But I try to do more than the average like marketing agency. Like, I really try to partner with people. I try to be a resource for other other things that they need. um and just kind of build like a building a little bit of a local network to help to really try to help people in uh and be a really valuable resource. So that's kind of the story.

Uh but I just was like, okay, I could use this tool for for all of this all these different things. And the goal was just recurring revenue that once it's up and running, it's hard to it's like high switching cost. So when I get somebody an HP number that's on their truck, like you think they're going anywhere? No. Uh, so it's very passive. There's room for upselling and once you set it, it's like recurring revenue is amazing.

So that's what it's all about. >> I agree. And the your ability to keep clients is is next level. Like your turn is so low. And I love these strategies that you're you're sharing because it shows it shows how much you care, right? The the little things like getting a sticker onto their truck and you're absolutely right. Right. you getting their phone number that you buy and that you integrate and getting them to put that on their truck.

They ain't going anywhere and that's that's that's the beauty of this. So, I love the business that that you have set up. What's next for you, man? What's what's what's in the future here, James? >> Uh, well, so I I had a lot of people reaching out to me asking for help. So, I decided to put my cold calls on YouTube. So, I've got a little YouTube channel just showing my cold calls. So, if you want to go watch some live cold calls, the last few that are on there are deals that I closed.

So, that's kind of fun. I'm I'm all in. Like, my goal is to five or 10x this business and have a team that just runs implementation and customer success and and then we'll see. I've got a lot of other ideas of things I want to do, but for now, like, I'm locked in to to take this to the next level because why not? Like, I I don't have any good reason to go start something else. I've turned down a few job offers here and there because every time I think about trading my time for like finite resources, I'm like, why would I do that?

Like, I could go cold call five businesses and get, you know, $350 in recurring monthly revenue. Why don't I just go get another one of those? Like, [laughter] uh, you get two of those and that's a rental property. Like, it's amazing. So, I am I am kind of locked in on on scaling uh the business um and deciding, you know, like I don't think that I want to have the $500,000 a month business with 60 people on my team. I don't think I necessarily want that.

Like, if I can scale it and keep it reasonably passive with, you know, clients that are uh just using the the basic fundamentals, um then I'm going to do that. And maybe I'll upsell more clients to ads and SEO, but I like the low stress business. And like I've had some problems like I a few weeks ago I had a like three clients get like massive spam attacks on their lead forms and I had to go learn how do you deal with that?

And so like there are things that come up. Um I did have a client try to churn on me a couple days ago and I just sent him my downell deck and I said, "Hey, I want to help you out. Here's what you need to know. Here are your options. Tell me what you want to do." And instead instead of losing him from 350 to zero, I put him on my 189 a month plan and he's staying put. So, I like the low stress, reasonably low stress, passive business.

Once it's up and running, it's recurring and it's going. So, yeah, going to keep growing. >> That's awesome. I love that. And I agree, man. That that was also my goal. I was kind of burnt out. I had a job and I was like, dude, and I used to be a web designer, too. So, it was all super high ticket. I've sold websites for 56 $8,000, but then the next month you're back down to zero. So, I love this way more. I would much rather charge 1, two, 3k upfront and then charge $300 a month or $500 a month, right?

Depending on what you offer and just keep those clients as as the recurring MR keep stacking up. So, I agree 100%. >> Yeah, it's great. And I would say just, you know, for anybody who's wanting to do this or struggling to do it successfully, you got to change your mindset to this is not a quick way to make money online. You need to be allin on really helping people and be unique because people are tired of getting pitches of stuff that they don't need and they only want to buy things that they do need from people they trust.

So the game is not selling websites. The game is become somebody that that roofer can trust to do really good work for him. And so if you can learn the game of like building trust, you have a great opportunity. But most people are just trying to like, you know, kind of chaotically get deals done quickly and it's not the way to go. So, I do think this is a great opportunity and it's it's easier said than done, but if you focus on adding value and building trust and and ideally stay local to where you are, you do have a great opportunity.

Uh because you really can add value. Like that's what this is all about is uh it's amazing to have somebody come back to you and say, "Hey, like in two months I'm getting better leads than I've ever gotten and you're making these businesses money." And so it it really is a great chance to add value to your community to make a difference for these businesses. But you have to be committed to really doing good work and building trust with people.

And uh don't view this as a way to like quickly make money. It's like do the work, add the value, and then you'll get paid. And it's great. It's good for everybody. >> Absolutely. And that $300 a month that they spend with you is really nothing because a lot of these businesses will spend that much on a company lunch. They go to a restaurant and they'll get they'll they'll buy, you know, stuff for all their employees and all that is just more expensive.

So that $300 a month is well well worth it for the services that you're delivering, for example. And that's that's what I love about this and the low ticket model because the the churn goes way down. You know, if you have I've noticed this, too, and that's essentially why I started downselling go high level. But when our main package was just lead generation and running Facebook ads, I mean, the churn was way higher than if we charged a client only 300 a month or 500 a month.

So, we would start them at that super high price point and then and then downell them when you know when they want to pause. Hey, we have everything integrated. You already have the phone numbers. You have all this stuff. Let's just downgrade into this plan. And that also works super well. >> So, I love that. I love that. Awesome, James. Well, I appreciate you jumping on, man, and and taking some time out of your day here.

So, if someone wants to find you, what's your YouTube channel? >> So, the YouTube channel for now is it's open the sale. So, I kind of coined that. I bought the domain for it because I realized people want to close sales. They want to close deals, but they don't know how to open them, which means like get somebody to invite you in. Like, build trust, build trust, build a connection, get invited in the door. So, uh, it's just, yeah, open the sale on YouTube and I've got about 15 videos on there of just me doing cold calls and, uh, you can go on there and recreate my script if you want, but, uh, all my calls are unscripted, but you'll get a sense of what it looks like.

So, yeah, YouTube, hit me up on there and from there you can find other ways to contact me. >> Boom. I love that. That's awesome. Yeah. And James, you know, it's lovely seeing you in the community. You've been posting kind of as as as you've been growing as well and as you hit certain milestones and all that. So, you know, super exciting to see you grow, man. And I'm super excited for the future as well and to see how big you can you can you can grow this thing.

But I'm super excited for you. You know, there's still many things you can you can do to optimize this and that's that's that's really the exciting part about this in business and and and everything else, right? So awesome, man. Well, I'll see you inside the community. It was great chatting and I appreciate you jumping on. >> Awesome. Thank you, Paul.