axiom: Website replacement is the Trojan Horse. Target a resented existing line item (LocalSearch/Sensis ~$400/mo), offer strictly superior version at exact same price, slip proprietary AI tech inside as free differentiator. Once you control domain hosting, you control their digital nervous system. Voice AI becomes frictionless feature toggle, not hard sale.

source: DT25 Gemini Deep Think


axiom: Pitching Voice AI to a tradie whose website takes 8 seconds to load creates cognitive friction. Fix the tire before selling the engine. Website speed is the entry wedge because it targets an existing pain point they already pay for.


axiom: Never use 'clone'. Say 'Asset Extraction' or 'Performance Re-platform'. The tradie owns their brand, text, photos. LocalSearch owns the clunky code. We migrate their IP off bloated servers onto our Enterprise framework.


axiom: Discovery question hack - Assumptive Anchoring: Don't ask what they pay. Say 'most tradies we rescue from LocalSearch pay $450-600/mo. Are you on the basic $150 or the $450 SEO package?' They instinctively correct you to sound smart, revealing their exact spend.


axiom: Contract lock-in objection solved with The Buyout: Host their new AI site FREE until contract ends, they just pay Voice AI usage. Eat $20/mo COGS to acquire a $4,800/yr client. Point domain via GoDaddy, don't break contract.


axiom: Upsells must be event-based, not time-based. When Talking Widget catches a chat at 8PM, fire automated email: 'Your widget caught a job while you were watching footy, but you missed 3 phone calls today. Activate AI Phone Receptionist for $200.' Real data triggers real upgrades.


axiom: AEO (AI Engine Optimization) is the differentiator. Every agency sells SEO. We sell optimization for ChatGPT + Apple Intelligence + Gemini. JSON-LD Schema markup with FAQ answers injected into site head. 'Your competitors optimize for Google 2018. We optimize for Google AND ChatGPT.'

category: differentiation


axiom: The Moat has 3 layers: (1) Brain Drain - AI learned their business, leaving = firing best employee, (2) Number Trap - business number ported to Telnyx, switching = telecom nightmare, (3) Review Flow - system auto-generates Google reviews, leaving = severed 5-star pipeline.


axiom: Path to $50K MRR needs only 3.5% conversion of 3,886 leads (136 clients) over 6 months. Blended ARPU ~$400. COGS $40/client. Net margin 89%. Month 1: 5 manual clients covers burn rate. Month 6: 135 clients = $54K MRR.


axiom: Email timing for Australian tradies: 5:15 AM AEST (checking phone in ute before site) or 4:30 PM (doing invoices/smoko). Plain text only. No HTML. Subject line must be lowercase, specific, conversational - like a text from a mate, not a marketing email.


axiom: Target $1M-$5M revenue tradies (Nick Ponte formula). 5-12 employees = sweet spot. Big enough to pay $500-1500/mo without blinking, small enough to not have in-house IT/AI. Average HVAC business = $1.05M revenue. These are high-volume service engines, not one-man-band operators.

source: DT25 + Nick Ponte + Tradie Lead List Generation Strategy

category: targeting


axiom: Pricing tiers named for psychology not features: The Bleed (free), The Escape ($149), The Parity Match ($299), The Anchor ($499), The Growth ($699), The Dominator ($999). Each name tells a story. Tier 3 'The Anchor' at $499 is the hero - matches LocalSearch spend while delivering 10x value.