He Makes $18K/Month Getting Contractors Google Reviews Transcript, AI Summary & Key Points

00:00 What did you do last month? >> 18,000. >> Wow. What did you set up with your current business before you quit? Did you have any revenue? Anything? >> Zero. >> Really? >> Nothing. I had some opportunities for other jobs and I was like, "No, I'm going to build something." >> How many clients do you have today? >> Knocking on the door of 60. >> Wow. Holy cow.

00:14 Half of a workday, 6 days a week, you'd be making 30,000 a month plus the $170,000 in upfront fees. Meet James. He's a dad of five in Phoenix, Arizona, and he quit his nonprofit job with zero clients and zero revenue. Then he started pulling over landscaping trucks, and one of them started paying him $300 a month. 16 months later, 60 different businesses pay him every month.

00:40 And last month, he made $18,000. Five phone calls in an afternoon, all from Facebook groups. And by the end of this episode, you'll have both his opener and his 30-se secondond checklist. You're going to see how the math breaks down on five calls a day. And halfway through, we're going to talk about tuna M&M's. And at the end, 500 customers with zero reviews.

00:59 Please enjoy. What did you do last month? >> 18,000 total revenue. >> Wow. Mostly profit. >> Yeah, I have been investing in some some additional tools, but yeah, that was my best month ever last month. >> By the end of this episode, will we have enough information to get started on building a business that sells websites and tools to small businesses that can make us at least 10,000 a month?

01:23 >> Yes and no. Yes, because you'll learn the local approach that gets people to want to talk to you. You'll know what the offer is and why there's value and then you have to go learn exactly how to deliver it. But if you can do the learning part, 100%. >> Yeah. What did you set up with your current business before you quit, if anything? Like did you have any revenue?

01:43 Anything? >> Zero. >> Really? >> Nothing. I was chasing landscapers. Like I would take pictures of trucks and there was one time I took a picture of a landscaping truck and then like 2 months later I saw the same truck drive through my neighborhood. I happened to be on my bike talking to a neighbor about a tree that was growing over my wall. >> Mhm.

02:01 >> So I chased the guy down in his truck and pulled him over like, "Hey, I want to talk to you." And he thought I was going to get mad at him for passing out his business cards on the driveways. >> Mhm. >> And I was like, "Come over to my house. I want to show you this tree and tell me about your business." He ended up being my first client for like essentially the marketing agency that I later figured out, okay, I'm going to help these guys with their website, their review system, their, you know, just basic tools.

02:24 >> Okay. And he was Hispanic. >> Mhm. >> Okay. So, you're speaking to him in Spanish. >> He comes and looks at the tree. How does it go from there? >> We sat down. I said, "Tell me about your business." This is like a 22-y old kid who's an orphan who's in Arizona trying to build his business. He he played his like home recorded mariachi song about the American dream.

02:41 And I was just like, "Man, here's a guy who's like got a 2-year-old kid trying to make it." And I was like, "Look, I want to help you. I'll help you register your business." So, I helped him. He He said, "Yes." I was like, "What's it worth to you if I could help you register your LLC, >> get a brand on your truck, and get you a website? Like, what's it worth?"

02:59 And he was like, "Did I see?" And I was like, "Deal." >> What was that? >> 300 bucks. >> Okay. >> I like do it. So, he came back over a couple weeks later, registered LLC, redid his branding a little bit. >> Did he have a website? Not at the time. He had a suspended Google business profile. >> Okay. >> So, I spent four months unsuspending it, diving down the rabbit hole of Google business profiles and how to get them unsuspended.

03:20 >> Do you have any experience there? You're just figuring it out. >> No, I was like just down every internet rabbit hole and Twitter and ex thread and talking to people and his case ended up being really difficult. I ended up finding out that somebody else had made him one years ago that had his same phone number and that was suspended. So, it got automatically triggered in this whole thing.

03:36 And so, I was like, I'll never do this again. And then I realized after doing it four more times that that was an outlier. And it was really hard, but I earned my stripes. But I was like, "Look, I will help you. You're going to be my first client. I want to help landscaper guys like you." >> And uh I'll do whatever I can to help you. So I did. And uh he's still my client today.

03:54 And I ended up also getting him like 15 customers in my neighborhood. >> How >> Facebook group, my local neighborhood Facebook group. >> You're posting. I would just say, "Hey neighbors, if you want a guy who works hard, who is does really good work and he's not going to charge you like the big companies, he's great." And I did some posts and those paid off over time, like over and over.

04:13 And sometimes I'd have friends that like my irrigation leaking. Hey, I got a guy. And that has kind of become part of what I do now, which is like networking and referrals. But that's how it started. >> What's his name? >> Cesar. >> Cesar. All right. 22 years old that I'll >> shout out to Cesar. >> What does he pay you today? >> He gets a pretty good deal, >> I'm sure.

04:30 So, I do his website and I made him some business cards, some QR codes, and he's got his reviews going. >> Mhm. >> He pays me $200 a month. >> That's a great deal. >> It's a great deal. >> But, um, >> I told him, I said, "I'm going to get I'm going to take care of you." >> Yeah. >> Like, you're doing this with me. I'm going to help you. >> Okay. So, what what were you doing for your job before all this?

04:50 >> So, I spent almost 11 years doing small business training programs in developing countries. >> So, that's what you had quit. >> Yeah. I just decided like it was time to earn more and learn more. I was kind of just at the point where I needed some like I needed a new challenge and I'd always kind of liked this liked the idea of owning my own business and I had kind of helped my parents with their family business and and I did get to kind of to the point where I was like I just want to own my time.

05:13 Now owning your own business a lot of times is >> sure >> you're a slave to your own business in some ways but I just like I want freedom flexibility and I want to like build something that I can own and be proud of. So, I was like, I'm not going to I had some opportunities for other jobs and I was like, nope, I'm going to build something. >> Yeah. >> So, I just decided, yep, I'm gonna move on and build something.

05:31 >> What was your day-to-day like in your job when you quit? >> So, I lived abroad for almost 5 years, moved back to the US, and so I was remote and so on a lot of calls, some traveling, but yeah, full day and just working on projects, meetings, some travel, training for full days. Yeah, remote. >> Okay. So I was I was remote before it was cool. Like pre-COVID I was remote.

05:55 >> So I was like I've always been remote which is has its ups and downs like pros and >> pros and cons. I just committed to a a day a date like >> I'm going to commit to this date. My landscaper fired our whole street because he wanted to raise prices but was afraid to offend us. And so he rather he would rather just go get new clients. >> That's wild.

06:17 >> And I was like what? That's crazy. Obviously crazy. And then a lot of other people like, "Hey, I wish I could just I wish I could just pay Carlos on like a recurring monthly subscription." So I was like, "That's amazing." How many times do you have clients that are just begging for a subscription to pay one and the business is like not offering it?

06:35 That seems like a cool opportunity. So I was like, "Okay, what if I could build like just a simple thing to help landscaping guys get their clients on a recurring subscription?" >> Mhm. >> That's where I started. >> How does your second client come to pass? >> My friend. Yeah. business owner. >> Business owner side hustle at the time. Event letter rentals.

06:52 So like light up 4 foot wooden letters for parties. >> Yeah. We were at the Alabama game and it was like homecoming 2026 big with the big bulbs in it. >> Uhhuh. Yeah. Homemade uh cool little business. Have a website, but it's underoptimized. Not very good. >> Lots of room for improvement. I said, "Hey, I'd love to build like build some stuff for you."

07:14 No Google reviews at the time. I tried to leave one and then once I got access as an admin on the Google business profile, my review disappears. And I was like, "Okay, we're at zero." >> Let's get some reviews. Let's build your website again. So, that was client number two. >> How did that conversation go? Was it awkward? >> No, it was like, uh, all right, Kevin, I would love to help you with this.

07:30 I'm trying to learn this. It'd be great if I could build this for you. It's like, well, we got to we got to get the website away from the family member who's sort of doing it, but not really not really doing it enough. >> There's always weird stuff like that, right? >> Always. Yeah. So, I said, "Look, I'll make it worth it. Like, I'll talk to him. Whatever it takes.

07:48 Like, do you want to do it?" Yeah, we did it. So, we did it. So, rebuilt the website. We ended up getting up and running. I started learning how to do review automations. So, got a bunch of Google reviews for them >> from previous clients. >> Yeah. Yeah. So, ran the first ever Google review reactivation through the highle system for his account. Got 15, 20, 30 reviews and uh wheel started turning.

08:11 >> He started getting organic inbound. >> Mhm. >> What did you charge him? I think I charged $500 upfront to build it and then 300 a month. >> Okay. And then looking back for those first two clients, if you were to acquire them today, what is that worth? What are those two clients worth? Like what could you charge for them? >> So today I'm I spent the next four to five months like doing custom proposals for home service businesses, trying to do the same thing.

08:36 Basically website and a review system and some other little things on the side. And I would do like this custom proposal of, okay, I'm gonna I'm gonna set up your email for you. This, this, this, and I'd make this like sheet. And I finally got away from that to just here's the package. It's a it's $9.99 for setup month one. And then 30 days later, the monthly recurring is 350.

09:01 >> Mhm. >> So I did that for like 6 months. Fast forward to couple months ago, I increased my setup fee to 2,000. So, my last eight or nine clients have been on 2,000 month one, half today, half in two weeks, 30 days later, 349. >> Okay. Do people bulk of that? >> It depends. Some people do. And then we just talk about value and price and figure out if it's a good fit.

09:22 And sometimes I adapt it. So, I'll have uh sometimes a really new business. I'll say, "Hey, no worries. Like, if if you're not ready for that yet, that's okay. What do you want to do?" And they'll tell me and I'll say, "Cool. You tell me what your budget is. I'll back into it. I'll I'll just cram as much value as I can into whatever bud you want to start with.

09:38 >> Mhm. >> And uh I did that once on a cold call and it was a local electrician. He's like, "Yeah, I just moved here. I'm just getting started. I started like a few weeks ago. I know I need all this stuff, but I'm not ready yet. Call me in, you know, however long." I was like, "Well, what if we just built you a website for 30 bucks a month?" He's like, "Yeah, sounds good."

09:54 So, I got him to close the deal on that first call for $30 a month. Made him a simple onepage site, set it up, and guess what? Two months later, we build the whole thing. >> And what did he pay you? like the full 2K. >> This was before I had gone to that. He's sort of in between right now. But yeah, we I think we upped it to 250. >> Okay. >> A month.

10:11 >> Okay. >> And I was happy. I'm like, this is client for me, like client number 20. >> Wow. >> And I was like, great. I'm just happy to like work on this for people and get the wheels turning. >> So, how many clients do you have today? >> Knocking on the door of 60. >> Wow. Holy cow. Hey, if you're enjoying this episode, it took a lot of work. Cost a lot of money to put it on.

10:27 Do me a favor and just hit subscribe and it would mean the world. Are they all local to Phoenix? >> Mostly, yes, probably 90%. >> Okay. >> Some in neighboring Tucson. >> Okay. How did you get clients 3 through 10? >> 3 through 10 was neighborhood landscaper, friend, HVAC guy who worked on my house and then cold calls. >> Okay. When did the cold call start?

10:49 >> Right away. I started calling right away. >> Okay. Yeah. >> Do you have experience with cold calling? >> No. The closest thing to it was probably warm calling, which was my college Cutco knives. Yeah. >> Okay. So, you started cold calling. How did you decide who to call? Like where did you look up their numbers? >> Yeah. So, what most people do in kind of this agency space is like scrape leads.

11:09 So, they'll use Outs Scraper and they'll pull a bunch of leads together. Never did any of that. All I did was like, I'm going to try to find a local business that I can call and talk to and offer to help them. So, the short answer is I find 90% of the people that I call from local Facebook groups. >> Okay. You just join them all and you search old post or you just wait for new posts to come out.

11:31 >> Facebook now knows what I want to see. So I can open Facebook anytime and like find a handful of businesses >> and it's some homeowner saying any good recommendations to cut my lawn and you're just looking at all those >> comments. Yeah. So, it's contractor groups, local community groups, and it's either a homeowner looking for a plumber, a roofer, a whoever, or it's a contractor looking for subcontractors, or it's the new contractor who isn't even licensed.

11:55 He is putting himself out there trying to just promote himself. So, my pickup rate is really good because I'm calling the guy who's trying to get called. >> Yeah. >> And he's local. And so I'll call I'll go to the comments on these Facebook posts and collect business cards. Yeah. And information and stick it in my spreadsheet, which at some point I'm gonna figure out how to automate with a bot of some kind.

12:16 >> Mhm. >> Yeah. Then start calling these guys. Say, "Hey, I saw you on this Facebook post." Oh, yeah. Yeah. >> So you've got like four things going for you when you call these people as opposed to like a mass scraped. Number one is recency. They were probably posted about recently, right? So it's relevant. More recent, more relevant. Number two, you have the local tie-in, right?

12:35 So, >> that's the most important one. >> Okay, so you're most you're more trusted than all the other cold calls that get. Number three, they're wanting to get called. So, that's going to be a cell phone number from someone that wants that cell phone number to be called. Number four is the other trust factor of, hey, not only am I local, but I just saw this in the group.

12:53 Like, I'm calling you cuz I saw your number, right? As opposed to like, I'm calling you because I scraped it. When you tell somebody, "I saw your Facebook post." Sometimes they get really excited. >> Yeah. >> It works. Somebody called me, right? >> Like, "Don't get too excited. I'm selling you something." >> So, I have this thing called tuna M&M's. >> Tun what?

13:10 M&M's? >> Tuna M&M's. >> Okay. >> M&M with but a tuna fish is inside. >> Okay. >> So, this is what happens on a cult like this. You see a bowl of M&M's. You're like, "Oh, I'll have one." >> Mhm. >> And then you bite into it and it's tuna. >> Yeah. >> It's not what you thought it was. No, you might like tuna, but you want to eat tuna when you want when you want it.

13:28 When you bite an M&M, you think, have you ever bitten something, you think it's something and it's something else? It's like blows you. It's just shocking. >> So that's what this is like. You have on this cold call, you have to they think you're a what? A customer, a potential customer. And Eminem turns out you're tuna fish. So you have to navigate that transition from they think I'm a customer.

13:51 >> Yeah. >> To I'm actually not, but here's why you should keep talking to me. Because the worst thing that could happen there is when their ego or their pride gets involved and they feel stupid and then they're going to say no to you just because they feel stupid and not because they actually don't want your offer. >> Yeah. >> So that's what you're trying to get ahead of.

14:05 >> Yeah. But I I'll say like the way that I try to do these calls is focus on building trust first. And so I don't call to pitch anything. >> Mhm. >> I usually just call and say, "Hey, I saw that you're here in the area. This is where I live." That's my opener. And oh yeah, what's going on? What do you need? And then I can tell based on what how they respond if they're going to be difficult or not.

14:25 >> Yeah. Or standoffish on guard or lose. >> Then you kind of navigate that vibe a little bit. But the idea is build some goodwill and trust before they even know why I'm calling. And then when I have that transition, it's pretty easy. Not I've gotten hung up on a few times, but very rare. >> Mhm. >> And the ones you do, I'm like, it's fine. Sorry to bother you.

14:44 >> Okay. So your opener is, "Hey, John, I saw your post in the Facebook group. I live here in in Queen Creek or whatever." Then he's like, "Oh, yeah. Okay. Oh, it worked. Cool." Then what? >> I saw your Facebook post and uh I had a few questions for you. >> Shoot. >> So, do you do uh do you do residential, commercial, remodeling? Like, what's your what's your main service?

15:01 >> A little bit of everything. >> Great. Awesome. Is now a good time or are you busy? >> No, it's good. >> Okay, cool. So, is it okay if I tell you what I do? >> Yeah. >> So, sometimes that will happen quicker. Sometimes we'll talk for 10 minutes about the Yeah. Like, oh, how did you start? >> I saw that you just got your license. Yeah. >> That's awesome.

15:16 Like, congrats. or family business. I'm guessing family business because I saw your GoDaddy era website with your dad like you know something unique about them. And then if if I think they are a little standoffish or like going to be more difficult, I will always try to have something of value to offer. Hey, did you know that joe's roofing.com your exact business name is available and anybody could go buy it right now?

15:39 Might as well be you. You want some help or something? Mhm. >> Or a lot of times what I'll do is say, "Hey, like I wanted to meet you because I work with about 50 local businesses that could be great subcontractor referrals for you. Just wanted to like learn what you do so I can connect you with some people." So I've made a lot of connections, random calls.

15:56 So one time I called HVAC business, but it was a personal post. Hey, we're looking for some stuckco work on our house. So I called like, "Hey, you looking for Stuckco?" "Yeah." "And you guys have HVAC business?" "Oh yeah, yeah, yeah." I tried to look it up. Guess what? Looked up their business. the website's down. And I was like, by the way, like what's happened with your website?

16:14 And I heard this whole story. Oh, well, we paid some over like some agency that took it overseas and they were holding us hostage and charging us to fix stuff that they broke and this whole nightmare story. I was like, "Oh, man. I'm so sorry. If you want, I would love to help you." So, I ended up getting them as a client. >> Wow. >> And then I once, you know, a short time after that cold called a contractor and I said, "Hey, like I have a lot of connections to great local businesses that are owner operators.

16:38 if you ever need somebody like I'd love to connect you. And I ended up connecting this HVAC business to that contractor who never was never a client and uh got them a job like a big HVAC job with this random guy that I called. >> And so they paid me like $500 to say thank you, >> which is cool. But I have a lot of these like I'll just try to connect people, >> add value.

16:58 >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Call. So here's the here's the paradigm. Tuna fish M&M's. That's one. The other one is people hate cold calling and they hate getting cold called. Why? because it's hard to do and annoying. But if you're calling, think about it like this. If I'm calling to give you bad news, that's a hard call to make. If I'm calling to give you great news, >> this is the easiest call you ever make.

17:19 >> Yeah. >> Hey, Chris, you just won 500 bucks. All you got to do is click this sketchy link. No, I'm just kidding. But like, do something and here you go. I have good news for you. >> So, I try to have the attitude of whenever I call somebody, I've got I just have good news. >> Yeah. >> Hey, if you want to work with me, I would love to help you and it'll probably be the best decision you ever make for your business.

17:36 >> Yeah. If if not, all good. If your mother-in-law is doing your website, no problem. But I can show you this other guy that I started working with three months ago. Do the same thing for you. It's good news. >> How much research are you doing before you call them? >> Under a minute, maybe 30 seconds. >> What's the checklist? >> I look for signals.

17:50 So, first thing I look for is like kind of a lame or AI logo. >> Mhm. >> Gmail account. Joe's roofing@gmail.com. Okay. That tells me something about him. Not necessarily techsavvy or has has enough time to set up his domain based email. doesn't know what a DNS record is, >> right? The next thing to go look at is does he have a domain name? So, first search is is does he have a website?

18:12 Does he does he own the name? Is the name available? I love calling guys that have their exact You'd be surprised how many businesses are out there. >> They haven't bought their domain. And you're just like, dude, this should be the first thing that you do after you register that business. >> So, look for domain, email, branding. I look at their Facebook page, look at their Google business profile.

18:29 That's it. >> You know what you could do? You could make a Grockpot or Amuse agent that cross referenced every business local to Phoenix and their exact match domain name, right? Joe'spool cleaning.com. Joe'spool cleaning equals joe's poolcleing.com is available. That's a guy you call and that's what you lead with. Like you could have a spreadsheet of all of the yeses.

18:51 >> Yeah. >> Within minutes. >> That is the next thing to do. >> Yeah, >> for sure. So, a lot of that it's really just about like call with good news, be friendly, local, offer some value, and then if they're friendly, cool. Like, hey, do you want to talk? I got some ideas for you. Happy to show you. >> Yeah. >> And then, uh, but I got called a lady, one of my clients had a lead come in on his website, and it was a local interior designer, and she's networking, looking for ways to connect with contractors.

19:15 So, guess who called her? Me. Hey, I just saw your he reached out to my client. >> Mhm. >> And she had like a 20-year-old website. I was like, I'd love to help you. Here's what I could do. and I would love to connect you with some other contractors. And she was like, great. So, we did. >> So, I got her on board, connected with my client, so they did some jobs together and then got her as a client, rebuilt her whole website and reviews and everything.

19:37 Oh, the other one I look for is numbers. So, phone numbers. Anybody that doesn't have a local number, I can get them the local number through the A2P system on High Level. That's a huge value ad. If you're calling Arizona homeowners from your Florida number, it's better if you have a local number. So, I look for those, too. If you haven't already noticed, my guest here makes his living all through GoHigh Level and I talk about them all the time because I use GoHigh Level and I love them.

19:58 So, please use my affiliate link if you like this podcast. I'll get a little kickback. You'll get 30 days free trial to try it, which everyone else only offers 14. So, use my affiliate link below if you want to see how GoHigh Level can change your life cuz it's honestly changed mine. >> So, I called another contractor. This is actually my most most recent client.

20:15 And I said, "Hey, uh, I saw on Facebook you're looking for an interior designer. I just happen to know a really good one. Here's her website. Check it out." And then I connected her like, "Can I get you in touch with her?" And I did. And she did a job for him. And I said, "By the way, like I'd love to talk to you about your business. There are probably some things I can do to help you."

20:34 >> Do you have any numbers on what percentage of your calls get answered? >> I started tracking a few months in. I just have a big fat spreadsheet with because I'm all I'm calling all local. I want to make sure I don't call the same person twice. Mhm. >> Anyway, yes, track them. I'd say pick up probably I mean I have days where I'll get eight out of eight pick up the phone and I'll have days where it's like, you know, 2 out of 10, 3 out of 10.

20:55 It depends, but I'd say average is like 50/50, maybe a little more. >> Okay, >> so pickup rate is pretty good. >> And then what about close rate? >> So I haven't tracked this perfectly, but to date, since I started, coming up on like 16 months since I officially started, I have not contacted more than a thousand individual businesses >> by cold call specifically.

21:16 >> Mhm. Okay. So, you've contacted 800 something, 900 and something somewhere in there >> and call it 60% of them have answered. >> Yeah, more or less. >> Okay. So, let's say you've spoken to 450 people. >> Probably more than that. Sometimes I'll call I'll call them back, right? They don't answer. >> 600 people. >> Yeah. I've probably I've probably at least talked to 600.

21:34 >> Okay. And that's someone that even answered but then hung up on you. You're going to count that. Yeah. >> It's a pickup. >> And a lot of them are a lot of them I have categorized as follow up later. >> Okay. or I'll make them priority to follow up with >> 600 unique business owners >> more or less. Maybe maybe 6 to 700. >> Okay. >> Actually interacted with >> 700.

21:52 >> Yeah. >> All local to Phoenix or mostly >> all local to Phoenix and surrounding areas. >> Okay. And I'm just going to do some very rough na back of the nappy math. So there's 33 million small businesses in America. Most of them are going to be home service businesses. Phoenix has like, call it 1% of the US population because I know DFW has 3%. Call it, you know, 1%.

22:13 So, so 330,000 local businesses in the greater Phoenix area. That's a lot. And you've spoken to 700 of them, right? So, I'm just trying to show an example of like how >> wide this opportunity is if you never went outside of Phoenix. Yeah. Right. >> Yeah. >> Okay. So, you've spoken to 700. You said you had 90 clients total >> right now. Current paying monthly clients almost 60.

22:36 >> Okay. How many all-time clients either monthly or otherwise? >> I've only lost maybe five or six. >> Okay. So, 66 67. >> Yeah. >> And then how many of those came from cold calling? >> 70%. >> Okay. >> 75%. >> 50 50. >> Yeah. >> Um >> most of them by far, some referrals, one or two that found me and a few friends. >> So, call it 8% close rate. >> That's where I had it pegged when I did some math like a few months back when I was >> from people that story.

23:03 >> Yeah. >> People you spoke to. >> Yeah. Yeah. So, it might be 4% from anyone you dialed. >> Yeah. More or less. I mean, I if someone doesn't answer, like I'll just keep on the list and keep calling. >> Yeah. >> Actually, it's funny that the guy that I recent my most recent client who I introduced to the designer, I had seen him before, months before, called, no answer.

23:20 He's busy. So, I called him again, but with like, hey, got a connection for you. >> Mhm. >> So, I keep people in the in the pipeline. >> Yeah. Okay. So, let's just say 4% of anyone you dial, right? Accurateish. >> Yeah. Maybe even a little more. Okay. Yeah, we'll be conservative. 4%. >> Yeah. >> What are you making like at your today's pricing? What are you making per month on average from your clients?

23:42 >> 3.49. >> 3.49. Okay. And you don't really know what your true lifetime value is yet because you've only been in business 16 months, but so far it's looking like 10% churn per year. >> Yeah, it's pretty low. I mean, the only clients I've lost have been, oh, this business shut down. There's always like some kind of odd case. So, the churn has been quite low.

24:02 That's part of the reason I like the business is because it's recurring revenue. The churn is low. I think I have lower than average churn because I take a really personal approach >> which doesn't scale infinitely, right? >> That's my next chapter is trying to get to that version of this. >> Mhm. >> But it's great for now. Like it's been a great way to start.

24:20 >> Do you have any data on how long your calls last on average? Like including the ones where they don't pick up. You've got 20 numbers to call, 12 pick up, eight don't. How long do you spend on the phone? >> Yeah. People always ask me this like, "How many dials per day are you doing?" Because people that are cold calling struggle. Like I've made I've talked to guys that have made 3,000 calls.

24:37 I'm like, "What are you doing >> with like triple line dialers? Who are you calling? I don't have time for that." >> Yeah. >> So I'll sit down and make I'll call five businesses in an afternoon. >> Mhm. >> Because if I talk to them, it's going to be anywhere from 5 minutes to 30 minutes. >> Mhm. >> And I'll invest more in that conversation if it's going somewhere.

24:55 Sometimes they go nowhere quickly. That's fine. But yeah, it's uh the average conversation is probably 10 to 15 minutes >> if they answer. >> Yeah. >> And zero minutes if they don't. >> Yep. >> So 6 minutes on average, 8 minutes somewhere in there. >> Mhm. >> Okay. So if your churn is 10% a year, 3.49 a month, that's not including the upfront payment, which is now 2,000.

25:20 It's been less in the past. So 3.49 a month time 10 3500. So, we're looking at like, call it $4,000 a year per client. If your turn is 10%, then that means they last 10 years on average, your clients. I think that's how that math works out. So, the LTV, the lifetime value of your average client at today's pricing is give or take $40,000. And that probably seems really high like what?

25:45 But it's like assuming LTV or churn stays 10%. Monthly stays 3.49. We're not even including the upfront $40,000 lifetime, right? We're going to take a decade to get all that money. So, I'm I'm putting all the asterisks where they're supposed to go here. >> And some of them upsell later. Yeah. >> There are other services that I'm doing. >> Sure. >> So, so 3.49 theoretically if your close rate is 4% on anyone you've dialed.

26:08 And of course, there's going to be follow-up calls. You don't usually close them on the first call, I imagine. >> Only ever done that four times. First cold call on the phone. No, no video call at all. >> Okay. >> It's rare. It's fun. >> Yeah. >> But usually it's close on the demo call or the followup or subsequent call. I've also had people that I've talked to and after 8 months we stay in touch and then we close later.

26:34 >> The reason why is because my name pops up on caller ID and they see that I'm a real person. Is this James Oaks? >> Makes a difference. >> Yeah. I didn't know and then I realized, oh, you can see my name sometimes on caller ID. >> Yeah. >> So, more likely to pick up. So that's going to be 200 minutes. If you want to make 20 cold calls a day, that's going to be 200 minutes a day divided by 60 minutes.

26:52 So 3 and a half hours. And the reason I said that, well, let's do 25 calls. Cuz if your close rate is 4% and you want to get a customer a day, that's going to be 25 calls a day times 10 minutes divided by that. So 4 hours of prospecting a day, theoretically, would equal $2,000 upfront and $3.49 49 every month, right? So, after call it 3 months of being in business and you're probably not able to charge 349 right up front.

27:23 You want some case studies. You need a track record. I get all that. And you're not going to work Sundays, of course. So, that leaves 28 working days per month times 3 months. That's 84 days of making calls. That equals 84 clients. 84 days times 349. So, your monthly recurring revenue theoretically would be $29,000. After three months of spending four four hours, that's a long time.

27:47 I'm not saying this is easy. >> Half of a workday, six days a week, you'd be making $30,000 a month plus the $170,000 in upfront fees that you made from those people. Poke holes in that. >> Yeah. I think so. Time is part of it. I People ask me all the time, "How many dials per day? How many how many calls you making?" And I'm like, dude, today I had time to make two calls.

28:11 >> Sure, it's Yeah, it's never linear. >> Yeah, it's not perfect, but I would rather make three really highquality calls that are local that I've already done 30 seconds of research on then call 300 random phone numbers. >> Yeah. >> So, quality over quantity all day. And I don't have necessarily like the pedal to the metal. I'm also trying to like build some processes and get the business in a place where I can try to scale better.

28:31 The difference is calling high quality prospects local and take the different approach. I think I think my conversion rate is higher than average because of all of those things we talked about. But yeah, if you just sat down and and did it and you had really good imple implementation fulfillment, I think it it's not too far off. >> If someone is just an absolute terrible salesperson and their close rate is 1 and a half% instead of four, it's over 10 grand a month in 3 months.

28:59 >> I had a month and a half where I was like just striking out and I didn't know why. I just kind of stuck with it. All right. So, you're at 60 recurring clients today, mostly Phoenix-based, mostly home services. You've been at the 16 months. What did that 16-month arc look like? What was your revenue and profit like along the way? >> Yeah, profit. So, right now it's I have some luxury expenses cuz I'm investing in some tools and some additional support, but like if I had to really shave it down to the the basics of

29:26 cost, it's my it's it's a VA and the software. So, I have a virtual assistant that does the website, the SEO, just the backend stuff, which I did myself for way too long, right? Like, you want more leverage quicker. That is one thing I'd go back and do differently is find the right VA sooner. >> Mhm. >> Because I was, this is pre-AI studio vibe coding days.

29:49 I was taking a template and customizing it myself for seven hours. >> Tedious, >> which is now >> those days are behind us, >> they're behind us. And and I will say there's nothing better than being really excited to do something and then six months later dreading it. Yeah. >> That means you've learned something and you've made progress. So I look back with fondness and disgusted, oh my gosh, I spent seven hours one day making that website that now I've already redone for that client because the new one is way better.

30:16 >> Yeah. >> Okay. I've I've gotten somewhere. But yeah, so VA the software and some other tools. So 85 to 90% profit margin today. >> What do you pay the VA? >> 800 to a,000 a month. >> Okay. Awesome. Where are they? >> Philippines. >> Philippines. And 300 a month for the software. >> I was I started on the 297 plan. You can start on 97 and make three sub accounts.

30:39 Your agency account, a demo account, and your first client. >> I skipped that. I was like, I'm not doing that. We're going to 297 because I'm going to make make sure that I commit to making this work. Yeah. >> So, start at 297, upgraded to 497, which is the agency pro plan, which lets you do rebuilding and that kind of stuff. Not necessary, but it's been good to have.

30:56 Any other costs? >> Nothing hard. Like I'm paying for Loom. >> So I use Loom all the time. Yeah. >> So give or take every three months, what was your monthly revenue and profit like until today? >> So yeah, first the first three months I had, you know, five to seven clients. >> Thousand bucks a month. >> Yeah. I went from a,000 to 3,000. And then 6 months in, I think I had around 17 >> clients.

31:20 Okay. That was after this little lull period where I had a month and a half that was no no new clients. 6 months when I kind of turned the corner and started averaging about a client a week. >> What changed? >> You know, I don't really know other than I did dial in the offer. So, instead of doing a custom proposal, I was, okay, here's the package. >> And I just tried to add as much value as I could to be extra helpful and be different.

31:44 The idea was, hey, this is what it's worth. Here's what I charge. I'm going to give you tons of value because I want to help you and it'll be good for me. >> What are some parts of that offer that really move the needle for your clients that you didn't expect? >> It's a good question. I mean, the list is basically like I do a brand package. So, a lot of these guys have kind of a janky logo or a Canva or an AI logo and I'll say, "Hey, do you love it or do you want to redesign it?

32:06 If you love it, I'll give you a package of high resolution, high quality design of your logo with dark and light background. every file type you'll ever need for print, digital, everything, all the permutations of your brand, logo in all the file types that you need. And that's something that I try to do for everyone >> mostly because that's what I would want.

32:28 Like I >> and I want to build their website and their other stuff with a high quality logo and brand looks good. >> And that's why I tell people, hey, I want your business to look so good that I'd be proud to represent it. So here's what we're going to start with. Like let's start with your brand. So I do that. I set up their domain based email and I do like a little Facebook page optimization and design and then a Google business profile optimization and then review reactivation and then I do some custom QR codes with

32:51 their brand in the QR code and they think that's cool, right? And then I put that on some business cards and give them some brand new digital and print files for business cards. >> So just like a bunch of little things that >> Yeah. >> they're not going to do. >> Yeah. And then I set up the native feature in high level that takes five star reviews and reposts them on social media and they think that's magic.

33:13 >> Yeah. >> Which it's great. >> What do you use to make the brand package >> of VA? >> Okay. Are they using AI for that? >> No, it's a that's why it's so valuable is because it's actually like a folder that has 12 files, PNG, PDF, SVG files, like every file type and all the different versions of the of the logo for each one. >> Okay. And is that the VA that you have or a different one?

33:35 >> Different one. Just dedicated. I went I went on Upwork. He's like, "Hey, I need a graphic designer who can take because I had one client that needed this." And I was like, "Well, I'm just going to keep using this guy every time I have a client." >> He gives me the full brand package and I pay him 50 bucks. >> 50 bucks. >> And he's I've given him I don't know easily over I don't know 15 20 clients I've done that for now.

33:52 So he's happy. >> Okay. So four 5,000 at six months. 3,000. >> Yeah. Let's see. Where was I? So six months I was at about 17 clients. A lot of my early clients, I gave them really good deals. >> Yeah. >> And sometimes I remind them, hey, like if you were a client today, here's what you'd pay. >> Yeah. >> And uh but I'm just grateful that they were willing to work with me early, so they get they get a great deal.

34:15 >> So my MR was lower on average and that's still if you look at my average, it's like that's what pulls me down a little bit. >> But it's okay because that's what got me where how I started. So yeah, around around 6 months got to like 17 18 eventually 20 clients and then the the last 6 to 8 months up to now I'm approaching 15,000 monthly recurring 85% profit margin.

34:38 So I recently brought on a second VA who's bilingual to handle cuz my my approach is like very white glove which I know is hard to scale in some ways but it's also keeps the churn low and it also helps me close much higher conversion. So, I'm happy with it for now. So, training up a VA to do customer support and onboarding so that I can really just get out of the fulfillment game altogether, especially if you speak Spanish.

35:03 There are a lot of people out there doing the web the low ticket website offer. So, my goal is to be a little bit different, add a lot of extra value, create a bit of a local network. I've referred people right and left. I had a guy that I cold called and he's like, "Yep, business is brand new, not ready yet. Call me later." I just referred him a couple jobs.

35:22 I was like, "Hey, I got a contractor client that needs drywall and I got this guy." So, I got him some paid jobs. Didn't ask him for anything. Hey, just like want to help you out. Guess what? Like two months later, he called me. Hey, I'm ready. Like, let's let's start. So, local networking. I'm going to keep doing that cuz it's fun. Like, I like calling somebody to give them good news and say, "Hey, I want to help you.

35:37 You just started your business. Congrats on the license. Let's like >> and it's the law of reciprocity. They feel like they owe you something back because you're doing something for them." >> Yeah. I think in the micro and the macro, like on the call, it's three minutes or five minutes or sometimes 10 of you telling me the story of your business and then I say, "That's awesome.

35:55 Can I tell you what I do?" Of course, they're going to say yes. So, that's where I get to talk. Hey, well, here's what I I started this a year and a half ago. I'd love to help you. I work with other businesses like yours. Can I show you a couple things? And if the if they're friendly and they're open, it's an easy conversation. >> Yeah. >> So, yeah, hopefully more of that.

36:09 And the goal is to get to at least 100 clients as fast as possible and then hopefully have people coming to me. So, >> yeah. What is the the website offer that you said other people are doing? >> Typically, it's like website and SAS. So, they'll do some kind of template websites they customize and then usually there's something like similar where any lead that comes in, we'll get an automatic text response, a little bit of a lead automation.

36:37 Yeah. >> So, usually it's something like that, >> like miscell text back. automated review response >> 100 bucks a month plus up front. >> Yeah, a lot of them are at 197 297. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> It sounds like you're kind of specializing in like newer businesses. >> Mo a lot of them are >> which a lot of people would say avoid them. They don't have any money.

36:57 >> Depends. And sometimes they don't. But I've closed a handful of guys that like brand new business. I'm like, "Hey, look, you're not ready yet." Totally fine. How about this? Let's just build you a simple website for 99 bucks a month and just get you something. >> Yeah. >> And I'll help you with some other stuff, too. Like I I I always do more than I charge for.

37:12 >> Yeah. Yeah. >> And then I'm like, "Hey, I'm happy to grow with you over time." Totally fine. So, there's probably an argument that said I shouldn't do that, but I do. So, it's good. A lot of new businesses. Um, the golden prospect, this is going to be a great tidbit. The golden prospect is a business that is not brand new, that's been around for three to seven years, and they don't have systems yet, >> but they've got good revenues.

37:38 >> They've got revenue. They've got reputation. They're probably doing social media. But what really is awesome? Well, here's the other thing that's important before I say this. I don't promise people anything that I can't deliver. So, I don't tell people, "Hey, I'm going to get you 10 leads in the next month." No way. I I want the expectations to be exactly where they should be, which is, hey, I'm going to help you massively improve your online presence so that when people find you, they'll trust you.

38:01 I can't guarantee. This is not a lead generation service. This is an upgrade your online presence service. Yeah. and I will knock it out of the park for you. And at some point, the natural consequence is going to be you're going to get some organic leads, especially if you do these five things that I'm going to teach you. >> That being said, the golden prospect is somebody who's been in business for three, five, seven years, has maybe a CRM, but maybe no website, maybe a kind of a lame one, and they have no or not very

38:30 many reviews. >> Yeah. Because I like I just did this for a pest control guy and uh he had a list of 500ish past and current clients and guess how many reviews he had on Google? Zero. >> So I ran the review act reactivation and now he's at 80 something fivestar reviews and guess what? The leads are trickling in. Yeah. >> And guess what? He's more than paid for what he pays me.

38:54 He's stoked >> and so am I because guess what? That client's never going anywhere. >> He left a lot of money on the table not asking for reviews. Well, and it was just because, you know, like they couldn't quite get the Google thing verified and figured out and they're doing some Facebook reviews, but there's no system to get the reviews. So, that's the the really core part of the SAS offer for me is all you got to do is press this button, ask for the review, and then that client is going to get the review request and

39:17 two reminders if they forget, and then a threemon message that says, "We'd love to get a referral from you." And then a six-month message that says this, and it's just a little trickle out SMS automation. >> Yeah. But getting him those reviews gets him up on Google search and people start calling him, messaging him and he starts seeing, oh, you got a review, you got a review, you got a fivestar review and then he starts getting leads just coming in.

39:38 >> Yeah. >> So, that is the golden prospect. I've done that a few times now where somebody has a list, a really solid list of past clients and you just go get those reviews. So, I built this little review text automation that works well. >> Is there anything I should have asked you that I I didn't ask you about that would have been interesting for people to know?

39:54 >> No, we covered a lot of it. >> Okay. Like there's some great stories. At the end of the day, it's really like my strategy has been local, white glove, personal in the age of mass outreach, which a lot of my clients get hit up all the time. Hey, I want to sell you this voice AI agent. But really, it's all about people appreciate the personal approach.

40:16 >> Yeah. >> And I do think it's the best way to start. >> I agree. >> Go get your first two, three clients for free. Help a friend, help a neighbor, give them whatever deal they need to let you get the value of learning to do the thing and then you have some proof, then go offer it, but do it in a personal local way and people really appreciate it. >> Yeah.

40:34 >> So, that's that's where it's at. And uh there's a controversial take maybe that people say, "Is this saturated?" I think yes and no. It's there's a lot of people that need help and there's a lot of mass outreach. So, I think the opportunity is in doing personal local outreach. Yeah. And that's the sweet spot. Well, I mean, how many people do you think are targeting specifically Phoenix area businesses?

40:55 >> A lot. >> How many? Like, oh, man. >> I know you're just going to guess, but like 50 other people like you. >> 500. >> There's got to be hundreds. >> Let's say there's 300. All right. Remember, there's 300,000 businesses in Phoenix, right? So, 300,000 divided by 300, that's a,000 clients per competitor, right? >> Yeah. But the trick is there are a lot of people doing lazy outreach, right?

41:20 >> Cold email, cold DMs. >> Their close rates are a 0 2%. >> But the the whole point is like that there are people out there that do Facebook post. Hey, I'm doing a free website. People know that game now. Like they they just avoid that stuff. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> But there are people out there that they need that call. >> Yeah. >> Like that they're going to wait for you.

41:40 >> Yeah. >> And they want to work with somebody local that they can trust. >> Yeah. >> So that's the opportunity. I think in the age of AI, we want to work with humans more than ever. And we need someone to pull the strings and to push the buttons, even if AI can do most of the work on the back end. >> Yeah, >> there are literally hundreds of ways you can make tens of thousands of dollars a month through GoHigh Level.

41:57 It is a transformative piece of software. That's how my guest is making riches all through GoHigh Level. If you want to try it for free for 30 days, it would mean a ton if you use my affiliate link. You'll get 30 days risk-free. It's linked below in the description. Go High Level is absolutely incredible and you will not regret trying. Or if you just own a business and you want to clean up your systems and processes, automated text back, AI, voice answering service, like email workflows, the works, you need to check

42:24 out GoHigh Level. Check out my affiliate link. You won't regret it. Where can we find you? If we want to learn more, I had a lot of people asking me, "Hey, what's your approach? How are you successful with cold calling?" So, I started recording everything that I'm doing and sharing it on YouTube. So, I decided to start a movement. Instead of cold calling, it's cool calling >> because we're making cold calls cool again.

42:47 >> Yeah. >> Because temperature, it's just it's not as cold. >> Yeah. >> It's friendly. It's a little warmer because you're local and you're offering some value. It's not a hard call to make. And it's just cooler. >> Yeah. >> People like it and it's fun. >> One minute of research goes a long way. >> Goes a long way. and being friendly and local and trying to help out your community makes a huge difference.

43:07 Having a serviceoriented kind of mindset when you do this makes a huge difference. So on YouTube, James Oaks YouTube at coolalling and uh I'm on school James Oaks on school. >> Okay, >> so thank you James. >> Come check it out. >> Hey, if you're serious about starting this business, it would really help if you spent 19 bucks on this business plan we put together.

43:27 No, it's not some AI generated crap output. It's really good charts, graphs, 25 plus pages. Best 19 bucks you'll ever spend. You'll see it in a link in the description and in the pinned comment. If you like this content, please share with a friend. Hit a like or a comment below. and we'll see you next time on the Kerner