Positioning โ Why we're pricing this below market
Market rate for what Jaime built is $12โ15K. We're not charging that. We're early, we need a showcase win, and the before/after story from Modern Maid is worth more in future sales than squeezing margin here.
Say it plainly to Amanda: "We're coming in below market because we want you as a showcase client and we want to earn the right to tell your story." She'll respect the honesty. She already told you she knows quality has a range โ same as cleaning.
Aspire Digital may use Modern Maid's website, before/after lead metrics, and growth story in portfolio and sales materials. Client approves any specific claims before they're published. Nothing goes public without Amanda's sign-off.
What's included in every option
- โ Full website redesign (Jaime's demo, refined)
- โ Pulse CRM API wiring โ all forms feed her CRM
- โ Maggie Voice AI setup + 90-day free trial
- โ Mobile-optimized, accessible
- โ Service detail pages with illustrations
- โ Meet the Team flip-cards
- โ Join the Team + application form
- โ Gift certificate request form
- โ Delaware County service area callout
- โ Facebook Ads management
- โ Site care + hosting
- โ Weekly lead quality scorecard
- โ 1 blog post/month
- โ Maggie ongoing (after 90-day trial)
Facebook ad spend โ Amanda's own budget, billed directly by Meta. Recommend $500/month minimum to start.
Option B โ Trade + Cash
"We're already your customer โ we put over $7,000 a year into your business. We want to build something together. Let us apply 6 months of our cleaning bill toward the build, and we'll run your marketing from day one. We're doing this at a showcase rate because we want to show what's possible."
The trade arrangement needs a simple one-page agreement so the credit is clear and doesn't get awkward. Aspire invoices as normal; Amanda credits $600/month against the build balance until $3,600 is covered (~6 months). After that, cleaning resumes at full price.
Option C โ Low Barrier Retainer
"You paid $3,000 in 2020 for a site you can't touch. Today it's $1,500 to get started โ then we run everything for less per month than you're probably spending on ads you're managing yourself."
Aspire carries most of the build cost in month 1. 12-month minimum must be in the contract. If she cancels early, have a buyout clause: remaining months ร $500 early-termination fee.
Option A โ Clean Cash
"Market rate for this build is $12โ15K. We're coming in at $6,500 because we want you as a showcase client and we want to earn the right to tell your story. You own the site outright."
Side-by-side comparison
| Metric | B โ Trade+Cash | C โ Low Barrier | A โ Clean Cash |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cash upfront | $3,000 | $1,500 | $6,500 |
| Trade credit | $3,600 (6 mo. cleaning) | โ | โ |
| Monthly retainer | $650 | $850 (12-mo min) | $550 |
| Year 1 cash total | $9,500 | $10,850 | $11,450 |
| Amanda's cash barrier | Low | Lowest | Medium |
| Aspire Year 1 risk | Low | Medium (carry) | Low |
| Best story | Yes โ relationship angle | Clean math | Simple |
The 90-Day Maggie Trial โ Full Detail
What you say to Amanda:
"We know you had some hesitation around AI answering. So we're not asking you to pay for it. Maggie answers your after-hours calls โ 5 PM to 8 AM โ for free for 90 days. You'll get a weekly report showing exactly what she did, who she talked to, and whether any of those conversations became bookings. If she doesn't produce real leads for you, she goes away and you owe us nothing. If she does, we'll talk about a number that makes sense."
- Her office is unmanned 5 PMโ8 AM weekdays and all weekend. That's when working families with two incomes โ her ideal recurring client โ have time to call.
- A voicemail captures a name and number. Maggie captures a name, number, location, service type, and home size โ so Katie's first call the next morning is a closing call, not a discovery call.
- Maggie is already the mascot. She's on the website. The voice AI is the character coming to life, not a cold tech add-on.
Configure Maggie in GHL with Modern Maid's voice and brand. Active window: 5 PMโ8 AM weekdays, all day Saturday + Sunday.
Maggie's 3 qualification questions (built into her script):
- "Just to make sure we can serve you โ are you located in Delaware County?"
- "Are you looking for regular cleaning service, or a one-time clean?"
- "Roughly how many bedrooms in your home?"
Capture Amanda's current baseline: weekly lead volume, sources, rough conversion rate. Week 1 scorecard sent to Amanda at day 7 โ even if it's just activity data, it starts the habit and shows Aspire is tracking everything.
GHL logs every call with full transcript. Review weekly: are callers engaging with Maggie's questions or hanging up? Adjust script tone if needed โ she should sound warm, not robotic.
First quality comparison: are Maggie's after-hours leads asking for recurring or one-time? Are they in Delaware County? This data starts building the quality story before Amanda ever asks for proof.
By now you have 3โ4 weeks of real data. The key questions:
- Are Maggie's captured leads calling back when Katie reaches out?
- What's the conversion rate on after-hours leads vs. business-hours leads?
- Is the script filtering too hard (too few leads captured) or too soft (leads aren't qualified)?
Every booked recurring client that traces back to a Maggie call gets logged as an attributed win with the contract value noted.
Full 90-day report card โ one page Amanda can actually read:
- Total after-hours calls answered by Maggie
- Leads captured (qualified: in-area + recurring intent)
- Callbacks completed
- Bookings confirmed from Maggie leads
- Revenue attributed: X bookings ร average recurring contract value
The ask at day 90:
"Maggie answered 34 after-hours calls. Eight became quote requests. Four booked recurring cleans. At $600/year per client, that's $2,400 in new annual revenue. She costs $250/month to keep running โ or we fold her into your retainer and you stop thinking about it as a separate line."
Lead Quality Measurement โ Internal
We track two levels: the simple weekly scorecard you see, and a quality layer underneath that tells us where the leads are coming from and which ones are actually worth closing. Most agencies hand you a lead count. We hand you a picture of your pipeline.
Amanda's goal is 40 leads/week to hire two new techs. But if we double volume to 40 and conversion drops from 50% to 25% because leads are lower quality, she's no better off. The real goal is 40 qualified leads โ in-area, recurring-intent, price-aware. Volume and quality work together; we track both.
| Metric | Baseline | Month 1 | Month 3 | Target |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total leads/week | ~20 | โ | โ | 40 |
| Bookings from leads | ~10 | โ | โ | 20+ |
| After-hours leads (Maggie) | 0 | โ | โ | track it |
| Facebook Ads leads | โ | โ | โ | track it |
- In-area rate โ % of leads actually in Delaware County
- Recurring intent rate โ % wanting ongoing service vs. one-time
- Lead โ quote rate โ are visitors completing the quote form?
- Quote โ booking rate โ are quotes converting to clients?
- Booking โ recurring rate โ is the first clean turning into ongoing revenue?
- Source breakdown โ organic / Facebook Ads / Maggie after-hours / referral
- Cost per qualified lead โ ad spend รท in-area recurring-intent leads (not just any lead)
Not just "you got more leads." The report looks like:
"Your Facebook Ads leads are converting at 60% while organic leads convert at 45%. Maggie's after-hours leads are 70% recurring intent vs. 55% from your website form โ here's what that means for your hiring goal and what we adjust next."
You said you need 40 leads/week to hire two new techs. That's the number we're building toward. But just as important: we make sure those 40 leads are the right kind โ in Delaware County, interested in recurring service, ready to book. More leads and better leads. That's what the reporting is built around.
Facebook Ads โ Clarify Before the Close
The management fee in every option covers Aspire's time to run the ads โ not the ad spend itself. Amanda needs to budget her own money for Meta. Clarify this before the meeting or there will be sticker shock later.
$500/month ad spend minimum. At ~$30 CPL (home services benchmark), that's ~17 new leads/month from Facebook alone โ on top of organic.
"The management fee covers us running your ads. The ad spend is yours โ think of it like the budget you're already spending, just managed by us instead of you."
Conversation notes โ context for the meeting
Amanda herself framed it at the end of the meeting: "Not all websites are priced the same, just like not every house cleaning is priced the same." She's not anchored to the $3K she paid in 2020 โ she already pre-handled that objection herself. Use it back to her.
You and Jaime are already her customers โ over $7,200/year. That's not a tactic, it's a real relationship. "We put money into your business every year. We want to build something together." That's the line. The trade isn't a discount trick; it's just your cleaning spend working harder.
She acknowledged the gap herself: no coverage 5โ7 PM, and that's when working families call. Don't sell the AI โ sell the coverage. "Maggie doesn't close leads. She answers, captures the caller's info, and makes sure you wake up to a warm lead instead of a missed call." If she's still hesitant: it's free for 90 days. She literally cannot lose.
She volunteered this unprompted: "I need somebody to help me with Facebook ads because I'm trying to do them on my own and I feel like somebody else can get better results." That's an open door. The management fee covers Aspire running the ads; her ad spend is her own budget on top (recommend $500/month to start). Be clear on this upfront.
She needs 40 leads/week to justify hiring two new techs โ she said this clearly. She's currently at ~20. That's the number to keep coming back to. Every element of this proposal (site, Maggie, Facebook Ads, lead tracking) is a path to that number. The website is the foundation; the rest builds on top.
Hard rule confirmed in the meeting โ do not touch Pulse, Jobber, or Applause. Hannah said it would make them "want to puke." Everything Aspire does is additive: new website wires into Pulse via API, Maggie feeds Pulse, Facebook Ads feeds the same funnel. Nothing replaces anything. Lead with this.
Before the close meeting โ prep checklist
- โ CLI-101 โ confirm Pulse API docs are available (gates the proposal architecture)
- โ CLI-102 โ ship the 7 P0 demo revisions before the meeting (Maggie rename, Converse + bracelets, Elder Care on homepage, service area, pricing reframe, gift cert fix, text Amanda re: 21:33 comment)
- โ CLI-104 โ schedule the follow-up review meeting (Jun 9โ18 window)
- โ Decide: present all three options side-by-side, or lead with B and keep C/A in your back pocket?
- โ Set minimum Facebook Ads spend expectation in the contract โ or scope ads out until she commits the budget
- โ If going with Option B: draft the one-page trade agreement before the meeting so it's ready to sign