Sales Training — Classic Opener

25Free reviews promised

30%Healthy review rate

$10SMS wallet preload

0.7¢Cost per text

Step 1

The Opener

Get 30 seconds

Remember

If it sounds like a pitch, you already lost. Casual voice. No "professional" sales tone. Type your name and niche in the worksheet before you dial.

Say this — word for word

"Hey, this is [name]. Are you guys new in town?"

Wait

Pause for their answer. Then continue:

Then say

"Okay, I wasn't sure — but the reason that I'm calling is I'm offering [niche] a free trial to get you 25 reviews, completely for free. Can I have 30 seconds of your time to explain how it works?"

If busy

Don't negotiate. "It's only going to take me 30 seconds — can I explain how it works?" Keep moving if possible.

Why it works

The "new in town" question breaks the pitch pattern. Then you ask for 30 seconds — not a sale. Time is easy to say yes to.

Step 2

Explain the Free Trial

Balint's lead magnet

Once they give you 30 seconds, explain the system. Don't pitch price. Don't ask if they want it yet. Just explain, then move into questions.

How it works

"What we're going to do is send a text message to your past clients from the last three to six months and ask them for a review — and we'll connect your current system with ours so every time you finish a job it automatically sends a text asking for a review.

What we do differently is we don't just send a link like everyone else. People get those all the time and they won't click it because they think it's a scam.

Instead, we send a custom image with their name inside it, along with your logo, your picture, or your crew. So when they get that message, they trust it more. Because of that, we've seen it increase click and response rates by about 20% compared to a standard review request.

The other thing we do differently is we donate a meal to charity every time someone leaves you feedback. We don't lead with 'leave a review and my marketing company will donate' — we simply say we donate a meal for every piece of feedback. This increases reply rate because people like doing something good — and it makes you look charitable in your local area at the same time."

Trial framing

"So the way it works — it's a two-week trial. If you get 30, 40 reviews in that time, you keep them all. If we don't hit at least 25, I'll keep working for free until we do. After that, it's only $97 a month — but today we're just getting the free trial set up."

Don't wait for them to react. Go straight into questions. You control the flow.

Step 3

Simple Questions + Math

Load the gun — keep it short

Tip

You're not "discovering." You're collecting numbers you'll say back. Enter them in the worksheet as you hear them — the script fills itself.

Permission
"Great — let me ask you a few quick questions so I understand what this looks like for you."
How long in business?
"How long have you been in business?" → type into Years
Jobs per month
"About how many jobs are you doing per month?" → type into Jobs / month
Say the customer math out loud

Round down — makes the gap bigger

"Okay so you've been in business about [years] years, doing roughly [jobs] a month — so you've helped around [total] customers."
The gap — then silence

Ask. Pause. Do not rescue them.

"And you've got about [reviews] reviews total?"

(Shut up. Let the silence land.)
What have they tried?
"What have you tried in the past to get more reviews?" Note their answer — you'll use it if they object later.
Customer list check
"Quick question — do you have a list of customers from the last six to twelve months? Even a spreadsheet or phone contacts is fine. We just need names and phone numbers."

Math cheat (worksheet does this for you)

Total customers

Jobs/mo × 12 × Years

Round jobs down. Discount year one. Example: 10/mo × 5 years ≈ "300–400 people easily."

The gap

Customers − Reviews

"~400 customers, 44 reviews." Pause. That discomfort sells for you.

Review rate

Reviews last month ÷ Jobs

"You did [X] jobs last month and got [Y] reviews — that's [rate]. You should be closer to 30%."

One-in-X

Customers ÷ Reviews

"One in [X] customers is leaving a review. Have people not been happy — or has no one asked the right way?"

Don't

Don't pitch during questions. Don't explain the system again. Collect. Then close the trial.

Step 4

Close the Free Trial

Lock setup before money talk

Soft close

"Look, this is completely free — I just need your customer list and it's easy for us to get it set up. Once I get it going, we'll aim for at least 25 reviews. Sound good? What's the best email to send you a quick intake form?"

Then lock onboarding

"Perfect — let's get your onboarding scheduled so we can get this set up." (Pick a time now. Make it feel like the call is basically over.)

Order

Email / onboarding first. Card second. If you ask for the card before they've said yes to the trial, it feels like a sale. After they agree, the card feels like paperwork.

Step 5

The $10 Card Close

This is the goal of the call

After onboarding is locked — act like the call is wrapping up, then:

Casual — one last thing

"One last thing… There are SMS fees since we're sending text messages. I can't cover those on my end. But it's literally point-seven cents — less than a penny — per text. I just need a card on file. It puts ten dollars into the system so it doesn't ping your bank two cents every time we send a message. Make sense?"

After they give the card

"The way it works is it loads $10 into a wallet, and messages pull from that. So it's not charging your card half a penny every time."

Why $10

People who pay anything show up. Someone who paid $10 will attend onboarding. Someone who paid $0 probably won't. If they won't give a card for $10, they were never going to become a real client.

If they stall

"Totally — but can I grab a card now so I'm not starting from scratch when we set this up? I won't charge anything until we've actually gotten going." Then ask again: "Will that be Visa or Mastercard?"

Optional — A2P (only if needed on this call)

Keep it simple

"One more thing — because we're sending texts on behalf of your business, there's a law requiring us to register your business with the carriers. I just need your EIN and the legal name on your LLC. Businesses hand these out all the time — not a big deal."

Step 6

Objections (Free Trial Only)

Handle briefly → ask for the card

Rule

After every objection, get back to yes on the trial — then ask for the card. Don't over-explain.

"We already use Housecall Pro / Jobber / our CRM for reviews."

"Perfect — let me just see what I can get done. You said you do [jobs] a month and only have [reviews] reviews. People don't like clicking plain links. When we add a personalized image, they feel more comfortable. Plus we donate a meal — makes you look great locally. Let's run the free trial and you tell me if the results are better."

→ Lock email / onboarding → "One last thing…" → card

"Are these fake reviews?"

"Ha — no. These are real customers you've worked with. We send them a personalized message, they choose to leave a review. 100% real. We just make it easier for them to do it."

→ Back to trial close → card

"I don't have a customer list."

"No problem — phone contacts, old invoices, or anyone you've texted before works. Give us 50 names and we'll run with that."

→ Email for intake → card

"I don't want to give out my list of my customers."

"Well I understand your concern, but we're able to run the campaign with just a name and phone number — that's it. It's all public info anyway. What am I gonna do with your list? Our service is for business owners, not homeowners."

If they say you'll sell it: "Leads are like .00001 of a cent — why would I put this much effort into five cents?"

→ Back to trial → email → card

"Call me back / let me think about it."

"Totally — but can I grab a card now so I'm not starting from scratch when I call back? I won't charge anything until we've actually talked."

→ Get the card for SMS

"Asking in person works better."

"Okay — but let's look at the math. You said you do [X] jobs a month and last month you got [Y] reviews. That's about [rate] — you should be closer to 30%. And if asking in person worked that well, we wouldn't even be having this conversation."

→ Free trial → card

"I'm busy — call me in an hour."

"You and I both know as a business owner, you'll be busy in an hour too. It's going to take me a couple days to get everything built anyway. Let's get this started now, and we can schedule time to finish onboarding."

→ Onboarding → card

"What's the catch / why free?"

"Honestly — I'm building case studies. I've helped contractors get a bunch of reviews fast, and I want a few more wins like that in your area. You keep the reviews either way. After the trial, if you love it, it's $97 a month. If not, you walk."

→ Trial → card

Dial

One-Page Cheat Sheet

Print or keep open while calling

Call flow

#	Phase	Say / do
1	Opener	"New in town?" → wait → 25 free → "30 seconds?"
2	Explain	Personalized text + charity meal + 2-week trial
3	Questions	Years → jobs → customer math → review gap → silence → list?
4	Trial	Free setup → email → schedule onboarding
5	Card	"One last thing…" → 0.7¢/text → $10 wallet

Before every dial

Know their niche word (roofers / plumbers / etc.) — type it in the worksheet
Note their current review count from Google
Have intake email / onboarding calendar ready
Remember: win = card on file, not a long pitch

Opener (memorize)

"Hey, this is [name]. Are you guys new in town?" [wait]

"Okay, I wasn't sure — but the reason that I'm calling is I'm offering [niche] a free trial to get you 25 reviews, completely for free. Can I have 30 seconds of your time to explain how it works?"

Card line (memorize)

"One last thing… There are SMS fees — less than a penny a text. I just need a card on file. It puts ten dollars into the system so it doesn't ping your bank two cents every message."

More depth

Full Balint system: 1-Call Close · Free-trial ops: Coaching Analysis · Formulas: Call Math · Texting: A2P Chat Widget · Intake: Onboarding

Free Trial Call Script

Math cheat (worksheet does this for you)

Optional — A2P (only if needed on this call)

Call flow

Before every dial