DRAFT — work in progress
Discovery (v1.8) + Pitch (v1.9), Hartsuff 5P. Part 3 — Close & Objections — is next. Until then, Sales Call Script §4 and the Objection Cheat Sheet cover post-Pi5.
Before the call (Google Meet)
Voice:
- ~150 WPM.
- Louder than feels comfortable.
- Discovery talk ratio ~25/75.
- Count to 5 before refilling silence.
Posture:
- Neutral curiosity, not interrogation.
- Follow the thread when their answer goes somewhere juicy.
- If they answer multiple P’s in one breath, let them finish, then recap and drill anything thin.
- Don’t pitch in discovery.
Avoid:
- Trash-talking the previous agency.
- Sympathizing more than once.
- Accepting “more” or “it hurts” — you need numbers.
PART 1 — DISCOVERY
P0 OPEN ─→ P1 PROBLEM ─→ P2 PAST ─→ P3 PAIN ─→ P4 POTENTIAL ─→ P5 POSITION ─→ R RECAP ─→ [PITCH]
Sequence is the default, not a rule. Hit every P’s move-on state before pitching.
P0 · OPEN & FRAME
Success criteria
- Set the frame (time, agenda)
- Get permission to pitch at the end
- Capture business basics
Say hi, do some small talk, etc.
“Alright — so we’ve got about 45 minutes. Cool if we jump right in?”
“Awesome. So here’s what we’re going to cover today. I’ll ask you some questions about your business so I can get a full picture, and then understand what your specific problem is. Then we’ll crunch through the numbers and see what the best option for you might be. And if I feel like we can help in some sort of way, I’ll walk you through one of our packages. And if it makes sense at the end, we can get you started and all set up. Does that sound good?”
“Cool - just so I have the full pitcture, can you give me a quick rundown of the busienss? What you do - who your customer is?
Business Info
- Industry
- Location
- Main services
P1 · PROBLEM
Success criteria
- Push past surface answers (“just need more leads” / “just wanted to learn”)
- Drill into WHY they have this problem (root cause)
- Label the problem
“So walk me through what’s going on… what’s happening in the business that got you to reach out?”
If “just need more leads”: “Oh yeah — everybody wants more leads. What does that look like for you right now? Can you elaborate?”
If “just wanted to learn more”: “Sure. But you don’t hop on a call just to learn. What’s the actual issue you’re trying to solve?”
If they name multiple problems: “OK — so what I’m hearing here is you have a lead cost / volume / quality / consistency problem. Which one’s the biggest one holding back growth right now?”
Recap and confirm:
“So at the core, this is a [lead volume / cost / quality / consistency] problem — you said [their specific phrase]. Did I get that right?”
Their biggest problem
P2 · PAST
Success criteria
- Map current customer acquisition channels
- Capture total monthly marketing spend
- Surface what’s worked, what hasn’t, and why
- Use their answers to shape how you’ll pitch
“Got it. So with [labeled problem] in mind — how are you currently getting customers?”
For each channel, ask:
- How long
- Agency or in-house
- Money / time spent
- Lead-to-close rate
- How is it going?
- If good: “Why not do more of that?”
“Anything else? What about SEO? Google? Meta? Lead brokers?”
“When you add it all up — what are you spending on marketing in total right now, give or take?”
“Was there anything else you tried in the past that didn’t work out?”
“Why do you think it didn’t work?”
Recap and confirm:
“OK — so right now you’re getting customers from [channels], spending about $[total/mo]. And you’ve tried [past attempts] which didn’t pan out because [reason]. Did I get all that?”
For each customer acquisition channel:
- Currently running / never ran / ran in the past
- Agency or in-house?
- Money/Time investment
- For how long?
- How it’s going / why it didn’t work(notes)
P3 · PAIN
Success criteria
- Quantify monthly cost of the problem ($)
- Establish duration → cumulative cost
- Surface spillover impact (team / ops / personal)
- Paint 12-month future picture if nothing changes
Get the numbers:
“Cool. Let’s run through some numbers — so I get a sense of where you’re at… What’s your monthly revenue right now?”
“Is that pretty consistent? What’d you get last month?”
“And what’s your average ticket per job?”
“Roughly what’s your margin on that?”
“Ok so you’re making about [X]/mo, jobs are worth about [Y], so you’re doing about [Z] jobs a month. Sound right?”
Get the pain:
“And how many jobs do you think you’re missing every month because of [PROBLEM]?”
“Dang — so that’s [missed jobs × Y × margin] a month this is costing you. So how long’s [PROBLEM] been going on?”
“Wow… that’s [monthly cost × duration] over the [duration]. Beyond revenue — what else is it costing you? Team, operations?”
“What about you personally?”
“And 12 months from now if nothing changes — what does that look like?”
Recap and confirm:
“Got it. So let me play it back. You’re at [x]/mo doing about [Z] jobs at [Y] each, [margin]% margin. [PROBLEM]‘s been hitting for [duration] and it’s costing you about [monthly cost]/mo — that’s [cumulative cost] over the year. Beyond that, [spillover impact]. Personally, [personal impact]. If nothing changes — [12-mo picture]. Did I get all that right?”
Current Stats
- Revenue
- Avg. ticket
- Margin
- Jobs/month
Total Problem Cost $
Monthly cost * how many months
Qualitative Cost
Business effects / personal cost
P4 · POTENTIAL
Success criteria
- Capture business impact of fixing it
- Surface personal why
- Define success metric (how they’ll know it’s working)
“OK — flip side. If we fix [PROBLEM], what does that actually mean for the business? What changes?”
“And what does it mean for you personally?”
“How will you know it’s working? What would you be looking at to say ‘yeah, this is fixed’?”
Recap and confirm:
“Got it. So fixing this means [business impact in their words], and personally it’s [personal why in their words]. Did I get that right?”
Business impact of fixing it
P5 · POSITION
Success criteria
- Capture timeline / urgency (why is this a priority now)
- Capture decision-maker structure
Timeline:
“Timeline-wise — when are you hoping to have this fixed? Are we talking ASAP, next month, three months, six?”
“And on a decision like this — who else is involved? How do these decisions typically get made?”
If they mention someone:
“Got it. So they know you’re looking at this? What do they think about it?”
Recap and confirm:
“Got it. So timeline’s [timeline] and decision-wise it’s [structure].”
Any valid blockers
- Timeline
- Decision-maker
R · RECAP & TRANSITION
Success criteria
- Give a clear recap
- Earn “that’s right”
- Get permission to pitch
“Alright — so to put it all together: the biggest piece we need to crack is [blocker], to get you from [X]/mo to [target]/mo. And what really matters here is [personal why]. Did I get all that right?”
“Anything else we didn’t cover that I should know?”
“Based on everything you’ve told me, [blocker] is the piece holding everything back — I’m confident we can help get you to [target]/mo. Want me to walk you through the plan?”
PART 2 — PITCH
Pi1 POSITION ─→ Pi2 PILLARS ─→ Pi3 PROOF ─→ Pi4 PROCESS ─→ Pi5 PACKAGE ─→ [SILENCE → ASK]
Share screen, open the deck. Max 10 min, aim 5–7. The pitch is a callback of discovery — say their words back to them.
Pi1 · POSITION
Success criteria
- Credibility is established
- Prospect believes you know what you’re talking about
Slide 2 is up. 60–90 sec total.
“Before I show you the plan — quick context on who you’d be working with.”
“We’ve worked with home-service businesses across [N] trades — plumbing, roofing, fence, gutter, garage, drain, lighting, painting. We’ve managed [ad spend] across [M] live clients right now. And we’ve driven [revenue] in revenue for those clients over the last [12 / 24] months.”
Pi2 · PILLARS
Success criteria
- Each pillar is connected to their specific situation (callback lands)
- Prospect verbally agrees each pillar would help them
- They see how the three pillars stack together as one system
Slides 3–5. 5–7 min total. Spoken order flexes — open with the pillar that matches their P5 blocker.
“Ok, now a bit about our process…”
Pillar 1 — The Offer Cycle
Matches lead-cost / lead-volume / “ads aren’t really working” problems.
“You know how you mentioned [their P1 quote — lead cost / volume angle]? Most of our clients say they deal with this. And the reason is usually because they weren’t testing different offers. That’s why every ad campaign we run follows our offer cycle where we test 3 different offers at one time, find the winner, and rotate out the losers. And we’re not testing cheap discounts, instead we are testing different positioning focusing on trust, quality, reliability, or different high-value angles. This way you find the winning offer fast — more leads at a lower cost from the same budget, because a better offer just converts more efficiently. Do you think that would help lead volume/cost?”
“Great — so you’ve got the offer cycle getting you more leads for less.”
Pillar 2 — The Closed-Job Loop
Matches “tire kickers” / “leads don’t close” / lead-quality / “set-and-forget” problems.
“Now, you know how you mentioned [their P1 quote — lead quality angle]? Most of our clients say they deal with this. And the reason is usually because the algorithm doesn’t know which leads actually close — it just sees that a lead happened. So it keeps finding you whatever converts cheapest, which usually means lower-quality buyers. That’s why every account we run has a closed-job feedback loop built in. Every time you close a job, that data gets fed back to Google or Meta — so the algorithm stops optimizing for ‘who fills a form’ and starts optimizing for ‘who actually becomes a customer.’ This way over time you get more buyers and fewer tire-kickers from the same ad spend, because the algorithm is hunting for real customers, not just form-fillers. Do you think that would help?”
“Perfect — so with the offer cycle getting you more leads, and the closed-job loop making sure those leads are actually closing into customers…”
Pillar 3 — The Bottleneck Hunt
Matches “stalled at a ceiling” / “can’t scale past X” / “set and forget agency” / consistency + scalability problems.
“You know how you mentioned [their P1 quote — consistency / scaling angle]? Most of our clients say they deal with this. And the reason is most agencies build the campaign, launch it, and basically forget it. Maybe a check-in every couple weeks, a few small changes, but no real system. That’s why we run a structured process. Every single day someone on my team is in your account making real optimizations — not weekly, not biweekly, daily. Then every week we do a bottleneck analysis — we find the ONE number in your account that, if we doubled it, would double your results. Could be how many people click on your ads, how many leads actually book, whatever it is. We find it, and spend the whole week attacking only that. The way this is structured guarantees the account keeps improving over time, nothing slips through the cracks, and we catch problems before they actually hurt you. Most agencies build it and walk away. We’re in it every day. Do you think that would help?”
Stack recap
“Alright then looks like we’ve got everything covered from three angles — the offer cycle getting you more leads for less, the closed-job loop training the algorithm on jobs that actually close, and the bottleneck hunt keeping your account improving every single day and every week.”
Pi3 · PROOF
Success criteria
- Prospect sees themselves in a real client we’ve helped
- They verbally agree the case study is relevant to their situation
- They see the breadth of others we’ve worked with
Slides 6–9. ~60–90 sec total. Skim the bench → land on the closest parallel → tell the story briefly → confirm → quick breadcrumb → move on.
“Now let me show you some of the clients we’ve worked with —”
Click through the case study slides quickly, then land on the most relevant one.
“I want to point to this one specifically because they were like you — [parallel: same trade / same problem / same region / same revenue size]. They were dealing with [parallel to their P1 problem]. We did [matched to one of your pillars]. [Y months later] they’re at [outcome — leads, revenue, or a specific number]. That’s a similar version of what we’d do for you.”
“Does that feel relevant to what we just talked through?”
After yes — quick breadcrumb to reinforce:
“And we’ve done similar work with [trade 2], [trade 3] — different industries, same play.”
- Yeah / nod → quick breadcrumb → move to Pi4.
- Kinda / hesitation: > “What’s the part that doesn’t quite line up?” — then reframe or jump to a different case study slide.
Pi4 · PROCESS
Success criteria
- Prospect understands the full journey (build → launch → ramp)
- Expectations are calibrated — they know Day 60–90 is when ROAS sharpens
- Their involvement preference is captured and reflected in the ongoing cadence
Slides 7a (timeline) + 7b (ongoing cadence). ~2 min total. Walk the journey through Day 60–90 on slide 7a, then advance to slide 7b as you ask the 1–10 — the slide change marks the pivot from build-phase to run-phase.
“Here’s what working together actually looks like.”
Slide 7a is up — the 90-day timeline visual.
Onboarding — first 30 days:
“First 30 days we’re heads-down building everything — campaigns, landing pages, tracking setup, the closed-job loop. You’ll have a kickoff call with me and your account manager in Week 1, then we’re in the build. We’ll loop you in for asset approvals as we go, but you’re not running anything — we are.”
Launch + ramp:
“Around Day 30 we go live. You’ll see leads from Day 1 of being live — but real performance kicks in around Day 60 to 90. The first 30 days post-launch are about gathering signal — what offers convert, what audiences pull buyers, where the bottlenecks are. After that, the math sharpens. Anyone telling you Day 1 ROAS is lying.”
Advance to slide 7b — ongoing cadence visual. Slide change happens as you say “now”:
“Now once we’re past launch and running — on a scale of 1 to 10, how hands-on do you want to be on the day-to-day? 1 is you don’t hear from me until leads are coming in. 10 is you’re at my desk in [your city] in the ad account with me every day.”
Describe ongoing communication per their answer — slide 7b stays up through the drill:
- 1–4 (hands-off): > “Got it — fully off your plate. Here’s how you’ll see what’s happening — dedicated Slack channel with me and your account manager (your team can be in there, but you don’t have to be), weekly written breakdown plus a 3-min video where I walk you through what changed, monthly KPI call. I’ll only ping you in Slack when I genuinely need a decision.”
- 5–7 (involved): > “Got it — in the loop without running it. Same setup — dedicated Slack channel, weekly written breakdown plus 3-min video, monthly KPI call. I’ll tag you in Slack when there’s something worth weighing in on, otherwise I stay out of your way.”
- 8–10 (high-touch): > “Got it — you want to be in this. Same cadence — Slack, weekly written + video, monthly KPI call — plus mid-week pulse checks whenever you want, and I’ll loop you in on smaller decisions in Slack too.”
Pi5 · PACKAGE
Success criteria
- Prospect agrees the solution fits their specific situation
- They’ve articulated WHY in their own words (close anchor)
- Price is delivered flat — no hedging
- Close engages cleanly (payment link sent AND onboarding booked)
Slide 8a/b. ~90–120 sec for walkthrough → solution-yes → why → price → silence. Critical rule: solution-yes before price-yes. State price flat. Silence.
Bridge from Pi4 — slide clicks 7b → 8a (Google) or 8b (Facebook) on the words “let me show you”:
“Cool — so based on everything we’ve talked about, let me show you what I think would make the most sense for you. Here’s what’s in it —”
Walk through the deliverables — pick the channel version. Tie each piece back to the pillars + process you already discussed.
Google version:
“We build out your Google campaigns from scratch on our agency account, so we own the optimization layer. A custom landing page tuned for [their trade], built around the offer cycle. Call tracking through CallRail or HighLevel so you’ve got recordings of every call. Conversion tracking and the closed-job loop we talked about, so the algorithm trains on jobs that actually close. And the daily and weekly work we discussed — plus Slack access, weekly written breakdown and 3-minute video, and the monthly KPI call.”
Facebook version:
“We build out your Facebook campaigns from scratch including the creative production. Landing page or lead form ad, depending on what converts best for [their trade], built around the offer cycle. Meta Pixel plus the closed-job loop we talked about, so the algorithm trains on jobs that actually close, not just form fills. And the daily and weekly work we discussed — plus Slack access, weekly written breakdown and 3-minute video, and the monthly KPI call.”
Solution agreement ask:
“Do you agree that — based on [their P5 blocker + P4 goal] — this is the exact thing that would help you overcome [their P1 problem] and get [their desired outcome]?”
Wait.
- Yes → continue.
- Hesitant on a pillar: > “Which part feels off?” — re-pitch that pillar.
- Hesitant on ROI (“what will I actually get?”* / “how do I know this works?“):* → fire Branch 2b below (directional math first; audit call only if they keep pushing).
- Don’t move to price until solution-yes is real.
They say yes — now make them articulate why:
“Walk me through why this lands for you.”
Write down their phrase verbatim — close anchor when objections fire later. They sell themselves on the fit.
Price + assumptive close — flat, no warmup. The close ask is baked in. Change nothing in your tone:
“Great — it’s [PRICE] for the 90-day program. I’ll send the payment link in the chat here. Do you want to go ahead and get your onboarding call scheduled too?”
Then wait. They either engage (pay + schedule = Branch 1) or push back (Branch 2, 2b, or 3+).
The close — based on what they do next
Branch 1 — They engage with the close (asks about the link / shares card / agrees to schedule):
Send the payment link in chat immediately. While they’re paying:
“Let’s get the onboarding call on the calendar. What does your week look like?”
Send the calendar invite while still on the line. Don’t end the call without both: payment processed (or in motion) AND onboarding booked.
Branch 2 — HESITATION (“I need to think” / “talk to my partner” / “send me something”):
Filter first — did P5 discovery surface this? Real if you uncovered the partner / process / timeline in P5. Smoke screen if you didn’t.
If SMOKE — surface the underlying objection first. Don’t accept the surface stall:
“Got it — what specifically about it do you want to think about?”
Listen, surface the real objection, then route to Branch 3+ or re-pitch the pillar that’s not landing.
If REAL — book the audit call. Per Hartsuff, this is the 92% case. Don’t settle for “let me get back to you” or “let’s just do Monday”:
“Totally — this is a real investment. What I usually do for people at this point is book what we call an audit call. Between now and then I’ll go into [their P2 channel / account], put together specific recommendations for your business — exactly what we’d do, what numbers we’d hit, the whole thing — and walk you through it. Bring [partner/CFO/spouse] on the line so they get the full picture too. What does your week look like for that?”
Get the audit call booked before ending the call.
Branch 2b — ROI / projection request (“What can I actually expect?” / “Show me the numbers” / “What CPL / how many jobs?” — fires at solution-yes hesitation OR post-price silence break):
Two-step move: light directional math first, audit call only if they keep pushing for specifics.
Step 1 — directional math (use their P3 + P4 numbers, no calculator needed, just verbal):
“Yeah — let me walk you through the math. To hit [their P4 target jobs/mo] at your [P3 ticket]: that’s [target revenue]/mo. Working backwards, ~3× that in qualified leads — call it [$X]/mo in ad spend at typical CPL ranges for [trade]. Our piece is [PRICE]. So [$X+PRICE] total to drive [target revenue] in new revenue. Math works.”
If they accept the math → continue close (back to “why” if at solution-yes; back to Branch 1 if at price silence break — they’re likely yes-leaning).
Step 2 — if they keep pushing for real specifics (“but what will MY actual CPL be?”* / “show me real numbers from a client like me”):*
“That’s exactly what I want to walk you through — but to give you an accurate projection, not a guess, I need to look at your actual ad account and conversion data. That’s a few hours of real work on my side. The audit call is where I walk you and [partner/CFO] through the specific projection: CPL, lead volume, jobs, revenue. What does your week look like for that?”
Book the audit call. Hard rule: never give specific projection numbers on call 1 — directional math is the ceiling.
Branch 3+ — Money / proof / “I have an agency” / anything else:
See Objection Cheat Sheet until Part 3 is built. Most common: money objection → tie back to pain math (“you said this is costing you [$X]/mo, we’re talking [PRICE] to fix it”).
Package contents (deck prep)
Build two versions of slide 8 — flip mid-call based on channel. No price on the package slide; price gets its own slide (flip after solution-yes) or stays verbal.
Slide 8a — Google package:
- Campaign build + ongoing optimization on agency-owned account
- Agency-owned landing page (CRO-tuned for the trade)
- CallRail or HighLevel call tracking with recordings
- Conversion tracking + closed-job feedback loop
- Weekly + monthly cadence (calibrated to their 1–10)
Slide 8b — Facebook package:
- Campaign build + creative production + ongoing optimization
- Agency-owned landing page OR lead form ad
- Pixel + closed-job feedback loop
- Weekly + monthly cadence (calibrated to their 1–10)
PART 3 — CLOSE & OBJECTIONS [TBD]
Until built, Sales Call Script §4 + §5 and the Objection Cheat Sheet cover this ground.
Scope when built: close ask · card collection + “card sits, I don’t charge it” reassurance · kickoff scheduling · universal first response · 3-objection handlers (money / time / DM) · loop pattern (buy time → “and” not “but” → address) · BAMFAM · audit-call (call 2) path for the 92% who don’t close on call 1.