1. Why "website + retainer" beats one-off projects

One-off websites are a treadmill. You sell, deliver, the client disappears, and you're back at zero. The retainer model fixes this:

• Predictable revenue. Ten retainers at $1,500/mo = $15k MRR you can plan around.
• Higher LTV. A $3k website becomes a $21k 12-month relationship.
• Better SEO outcomes. SEO needs 6–12 months. One-off projects don't deliver results, get you blamed, and kill referrals.
• Lower CAC over time. Long-tenured clients refer; one-off clients don't.

The setup fee ($2k–$5k) covers the build and de-risks you. The retainer ($800–$3k/mo) is where the business is.

2. The three offers

Tier	Setup	Monthly	Includes
Starter	$2,000	$800	5-page site + GBP optimization + 2 SEO articles/mo + monthly report
Growth	$3,500	$1,500	10-page site (incl. 5 geo pages) + GBP + citations + 4 articles/mo + review system + monthly report
Domination	$5,000	$3,000	20+ page site (geo grid) + GBP + citations + 8 articles/mo + reviews + social posts + monthly QBR + paid-ads support

Starter is the wedge — easy to say yes to. Growth is where most of the money is made. Domination is for clients who already understand SEO and want to outspend competitors.

3. Pricing math

Build a number that lets you live. Per-client unit economics on a Growth retainer:

Line item	Cost / mo
Hermes hosting (already paid via LTD)	$0
4 AI-assisted articles ($30 each prompts + edit time)	$120
GBP / citations tools (BrightLocal, etc.)	$50
Reporting tool (LookerStudio = free)	$0
VA / contractor (8 hrs/mo @ $20)	$160
You (oversight, 4 hrs/mo @ $50)	$200
Total	~$530
Margin at $1,500 retainer	~$970 / mo

Ten Growth clients = $9.7k/mo profit, with about 2 days/week of your time once stable.

4. The 30-minute discovery call (full script)

Goal: understand their business, mirror their language, propose a fit, schedule the close.

4.1 Open (2 min)

"Thanks for the time, {{ first_name }}. The agenda I 
had in mind: 5 minutes on what your business looks 
like today, 10 minutes on what's working and what's 
not, then I'll show you the two or three things I'd 
do, and we can figure out if there's a fit. Sound 
good?"

4.2 Diagnose (12 min)

Ask in this order. Take notes verbatim — these become the proposal.

1. "Walk me through how you get customers today — top 2–3 channels."
2. "What's a customer worth to you, on average?"
3. "How many do you need a month to be busy but not stressed?"
4. "What have you tried that didn't work?"
5. "Who's your biggest local competitor — by name?"
6. "If we waved a wand and you got X more customers a month, what would change for the business?"

4.3 Show the gap (5 min)

Pull up their site, GBP, and a search for their target keyword. Narrate what you see — without judgment. Examples:

• "Your site loads in 4.8 seconds on mobile — Google starts dropping rankings around 3."
• "You have 12 reviews; the top-ranking competitor has 187."
• "You don't have a page targeting 'plumber {{ city }}' — that's why you're on page 2."

4.4 Propose (5 min)

"Based on what you said, here's what I'd actually do…
1. Rebuild your site with proper local SEO foundations
   — typically a week. That's a one-time {{ setup_fee }}.
2. Then we run an ongoing program: GBP optimization, 
   {{ N }} new pages a month, reviews system. That's 
   {{ retainer }}/mo, month-to-month, 90-day minimum.
Most clients on this start seeing GBP impressions 
move in 30–45 days, leads in 60–90.
Want me to put it in writing?"

4.5 Close (5 min)

Three valid paths:

• Verbal yes → "Great. I'll send a contract and a Stripe link tonight. Once both are signed and the deposit clears, we kick off Monday."
• "Send me a proposal" → "Sure. To save us both a round, what would make this an obvious yes?" Address it. Then send.
• "Need to think" → "Totally fair. What's the part you're unsure about?" Address it. Then schedule a 15-minute follow-up.

5. Objection handling

Objection	What it usually means	What to say
"Too expensive."	Anchored against a freelancer, not against the business outcome.	"Compared to what? If I told you this brings 3 new {{ niche }} customers a month and each is worth {{ X }}, where does that put us?"
"My nephew can build a site."	Doesn't yet see the SEO/retainer value.	"Totally. The site is the easy part. The reason we charge a retainer is for what happens for the next 12 months — Google rankings, reviews, fresh content. Could your nephew do that monthly?"
"Need to think about it."	Either lacks authority or has a real concern they didn't surface.	"Of course — what's the part you're unsure about? Pricing, timing, or what we'd actually do?"
"Send me everything in writing first."	Stalling, or not the decision-maker.	"Will do. Who else is in on the decision? I'll make sure they have what they need too."
"I tried SEO and it didn't work."	Got burned before. Trust deficit.	"Tell me what you tried. Most of the time we find the previous agency was running national SEO for a local business — totally different game."

6. The proposal that converts

Keep it short — 1 page. Mirror the client's words. Structure:

1. One-line problem statement. "You want X more customers/month and you're stuck at Y."
2. What we'll do. 4–6 bullets. Concrete, observable.
3. Timeline. Setup + retainer cadence. Specific dates.
4. Pricing. One-time + monthly. Total 12-month cost shown.
5. Guarantee. "If we don't deliver X by day 90, we work for free until we do." Bold. Calculated risk; almost never invoked.
6. One CTA. Stripe checkout link. No "click here for more options." One link.

Tools: PandaDoc, Better Proposals, or just a Notion page with a Stripe checkout button. Send within 60 minutes of the call. Same-day proposals close 2× more often than next-day.

7. Contracts, payment, onboarding

7.1 Contract

One short master services agreement (MSA) covering scope changes, IP ownership, refund policy, termination notice (30 days), and limit of liability. Use a template from a service like ClickUp's MSA library, then have a real lawyer review once.

7.2 Payment

Stripe Checkout for setup deposit (50%–100% of setup fee). Stripe Subscriptions or your Hermes Client Billing for the monthly retainer. Auto-pay only — never invoice-and-chase.

7.3 Onboarding

Day 0: send a welcome video (Loom) + onboarding form. Ask for: logo, brand colors, photos, GBP access (manager invite), domain registrar logins (or DNS instructions), competitor list, target keywords. Block the kickoff call until the form is complete. Otherwise the build slips.

What to do this week

1. Pick which two of the three tiers you'll lead with. Most agencies start with Starter + Growth.
2. Build a one-pager Notion proposal you can duplicate.
3. Set up Stripe Checkout (or Hermes Client Billing) for the setup fee + monthly subscription.
4. Write down the three objections you've already heard most. Memorize the responses above.
5. Run one discovery call this week — even with a friend. Time the script.