Do not open a marketing agency call with your services. Open with one specific thing you noticed on the prospect's own website or listing, say it in a sentence, and ask whether they know about it. "Your phone number isn't tappable on mobile" proves you looked. "We help businesses grow online" proves you have a list. The rest of this script is built around that one noticed thing and a request to send a short written look, not a pitch meeting.
Jonas Whitfield runs Brightline Local, a three-person agency that handles websites and local search for plumbing, electrical and HVAC companies with 3 to 15 trucks. The names are made up. The script below is what Jonas says, line by line, with the reason for each line next to it.
Before the call: find one thing
Spend three minutes per prospect. Open their website on your phone, search their trade plus their city, and look at their Google listing. You are looking for one fact that is true, visible to them if they look, and fixable by you. Good ones: the site does not load a clear phone number at the top on mobile, the contact form goes to a page that errors, the listing shows hours that no longer match the website, or the three reviews at the top are two years old. Write the one you will use at the top of your call sheet. If you find nothing, move to the next company. A call with nothing to say wastes both people's time.
The script, with the reason for each line
| What Jonas says | Why |
|---|---|
| "Hi, is this Dolores? Jonas Whitfield at Brightline Local. I do websites for local trades, so this is a sales call, but a short one. Can I take 30 seconds to tell you something I noticed on your site?" | Opener. Says who he is and that it is a sales call, and asks for a small slice of time. |
| "When I opened your site on my phone, the phone number is in the footer and not tappable at the top. Someone with a burst pipe would have to scroll to find it." | Reason for the call. One fact, a picture of a real customer, no jargon. |
| "Did you know that, or is it new to you?" | The question. Either answer is useful. "New to me" gets attention. "I know, I keep meaning to fix it" is a warm lead. |
| "Who built the site, and do you still work with them?" | Finds out whether there is a person to replace, a nephew to be polite about, or nobody at all. |
| "I can send you a one-page note with three things I'd fix, ranked, free. Shall I send it to this number or an email? And can I call Thursday to answer questions?" | The ask. A small yes now, a second call on the calendar. |
The ask is deliberately small. A contractor with a crew on a roof will not agree to an hour with an agency, and Jonas does not want him to. He wants to send a page that proves he is useful and book the Thursday call. That follow-up call is where the meeting gets booked. Two or three exchanges are normal. If you need ideas for a first line, cold call opening lines has more than a dozen.
Objections, in plain words
- "I already have a marketing guy." "Good. Is he the person who built the site? I'm not trying to replace him. The note is a free second opinion you can hand to him."
- "I get calls like this every week." "I believe it. Most of them don't tell you what is wrong with your site. Do you want the note, or should I take you off my list?"
- "What does it cost?" "The note is free. If you want me to fix anything, I'll give you a flat price for each fix before you decide. Pricing for a full plan depends on what you need." Do not quote monthly retainers to a stranger. The longer answer is in what to say when a prospect asks how much.
- "Word of mouth is all we need." "That's the best kind. The note shows where the referrals go when they search your name. Takes two minutes to read."
Voicemail, and the note you send
Dolores, Jonas Whitfield at Brightline Local, 555-0134. I looked at your site on my phone and found one thing I think is costing you calls. I'll email you a one-page note today. No charge. I'll call Thursday afternoon to see if it helps.
The note itself should have three items, each with a screenshot or a sentence, each with a plain fix. Send it from your own address with your postal address and an opt-out, both of which CAN-SPAM requires:
Subject: Three things on the Delacroix Plumbing site
Hi Dolores, I left a voicemail. Here is the one-page note. 1) The phone number is not tappable at the top on mobile. 2) The "Request service" form sends people to an error page. 3) Your Google listing lists Saturday hours that the site does not. I can fix #1 and #2 in a day. Want me to call Thursday at 3 to go through it? Jonas Whitfield, Brightline Local, 88 Cedar Ave, Tulsa. Reply "stop" and I won't write again.
If email works better for your buyer than a call, cold email templates for marketing agencies follows the same idea in writing.
When to call a contractor
Service-trade owners are on a job site from early morning, so the first hour of the day and the lunch hour are the worst. Jonas calls between 3:30 and 5:00 p.m., when crews are heading back. Office managers pick up earlier in the day, if the company has one. Always use the prospect's local time. A full rundown by type of buyer is in best time to cold call.
The law for agency calls
Calls to businesses are not rule-free. Under 16 CFR 310.6(b)(7) the Federal Trade Commission's Telemarketing Sales Rule generally leaves business-to-business calls alone, with two exceptions that matter here: the bans on false statements about what you sell (16 CFR 310.3(a)(2) and (a)(4)) still apply, so do not promise rankings or call counts you cannot control, and calls selling nondurable office or cleaning supplies are covered. The rule's calling hours are 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. at the called person's location (16 CFR 310.4(c)), written for residences; keep to them for business calls anyway. A contractor's mobile number can be a personal number, and in February 2024 the Federal Communications Commission ruled that AI-generated voices are artificial under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, which means consent rules apply if a voice like that calls a mobile phone. Many states have their own telemarketing laws, so check yours. This is general information, not legal advice.
If the dialing is what keeps you from doing the work, Rocketship can handle it on Launch and up: AI phone calls that say they are an AI assistant and can book the meeting on the call, and the follow-up email goes out from your own Gmail. Plan details are on the pricing page.