How do I sell websites or marketing to a local business owner without sounding salesy?

Selling to local business owners is about being a solid, likable, approachable person. Being too good at sales can actually hurt you. If you come off salesy, you lose them.

What's the approach?

Reciprocity. Humans want to give back. When somebody gives them something, they feel like a bad person if they don't give something back. Do work for them before you get any money, with as little pressure as possible.

How do I bring up their website?

Here's how I'd run it:

1. Pull up their website and look at it together.
2. Don't tell them it's bad.
3. Pull up a good website you've built. Here's what a site should look like: a hero section like this, the image over here, super clear messaging.
4. Keep it low pressure, with you doing the work before any money changes hands.

"So the first thing you do is you don't tell them it's bad, right? You say, okay, let's look at your site from a funnel perspective."

Can I open with something I noticed?

Yes, if it's real. Before calling a residential cleaning company, look them up on Google. "You have good reviews, which is great, but you only have nine. That's kind of a red flag for people. Your Google profile isn't optimized at all." Cleaners are a great example, because people are constantly searching for them.

Should I offer everything I do at once?

No. Bring up one paid thing. But you pick which one as the conversation goes, based on what you learn:

• Doesn't get many phone calls? Don't offer the AI voice agent.
• A weird business nobody would click an ad for? Don't offer Meta ads.
• Website already pretty good? Don't pitch a website.

You can still do all three behind the scenes. They don't need to know that.

What if they say "I've had this website forever"?

That's a standard sales problem. Owners like the status quo because it's easy, even when the alternative is a lot better. My current pitch is AI visibility. Every business owner now knows they want ChatGPT to recommend them, even if they don't know anything else about it. An older site wasn't built for AI search, because that wasn't a thing when it was built. A new one built for it is also better for regular SEO and better looking for customers. They win on every angle.

Don't promise leads. For a cheap AI search listing, I'd pitch that how you get found online is changing and we're connecting their business to how AI works today. It might bring more leads and it might not, but it helps brand awareness. Stack so much potential value that even if 90% never shows up, the other 10% makes it worth doing.

Why do owners say yes to someone new?

The owners I've talked to, and it's not a big sample, mostly don't trust whoever they have now. Their providers are doing old-school stuff. Pitch yourself as AI-first. I believe AI lets you build a beautiful, high-quality site with strong SEO in about 30 minutes, when agencies charge as if it takes three days, so you could undercut their price by 50% and still do well. More on the AI search side in getting recommended by ChatGPT, and on the bigger picture in adding an agency to a local newsletter.