How Geoffrey Has More Free Time With a StoryBrand Website and AI Automation Strategy

Kris: Welcome to from click to client, where we transform a confusing message into a clear, compelling story that sells. I'm your host, Chris Jones, story brand marketing expert. I'm here to help you attract more dream clients with the power of story.

Welcome to the podcast geoffrey Halsey. Geoffrey is a longtime client of mine. We've done lots of work together. And today what we want to talk about is really the things that he's done in his business that have helped him work less and make more money. So, Geoffrey, tell us a little bit about yourself.

Geoff: Hello, and thanks for having me on. so I, uh, I'm in business in Portland, Oregon, and we get a lot of rain here in Portland, and it really wreaks havoc with old windows. And I found a long time ago that people need help with these windows to bring them Into proper [00:01:00] function and, make them work like they're supposed to.

So I developed a business model around that, and that's what I've been doing now for about 18 years. And along with that, I can replicate traditional windows and put them in people's homes so everything matches and is a alternative to a replacement window.

So that's what I do.

Kris: so Geoff when you get on the phone with your potential clients, what are they frustrated by what aretheir struggles?

Geoff: You know, a lot of times people find me through web search and usually they, you know, they're living in a home that is upwards of a hundred years or more old and they, they've been dealing with these old sticky windows.

They've never quite worked right and they're on the hunt for a solution and a lot of times people's first stop is replacement. And so

Kris: meaning by buying brand new windows,

Geoff: buying brand new windows and replacing their original windows that, you know, [00:02:00] that are already there and, usually my website comes up in that search and, and I think folks that may not already know that it's a possibility to restore windows, have their interest,tickles a little bit.

I want to talk about how we met. SoGeoff and I have known each other seven years now. And when I met him you had

Kris: an outdated website, and you knew you were ready for a new website. So you talked to several people, I was one of them, and fortunately, we got to work together. So what I originally did for Geoff's company was to rebrand it. So we, we freshened up the logo and the overall brand palette, and then we totally revamped the website and kind of brought it into this modern day and age.

So, Geoff, do you want to talk about so that phase of working together. Certainly.

Geoff: So you're right, when we,when we initially came [00:03:00] together to work on my website, it was pretty outdated. You know, it was, you're real traditional and I think it was all code based, and, you know.

I remember there being a really in depth and detailed about us page that was,You know, no one's going to read all that. a lot of history about our name and why we chose what our name was. You know, it was, it was a, it was a place to start, but after 10 years of having that website, it was definitely time for a change.

okay. So full disclosure, Geoff and I met seven and a half years ago. We became friends. We had a working relationship and a friendship, and now we are in an actual relationship with each other.

Kris: So Geoff is my partner. And because of that, we're constantly talking about marketing and ways that he can uplevel his business and really continue to hone his marketing game so he can essentially work less, [00:04:00] make more money. That's the ultimate goal. And so over the course of the last year, we have done a ton of work on his business.

We have applied StoryBrand. We have sent out an email blast to his entire list. We have created AI headshots for him. We have set him up with a calendaring system called TidyCal that's really allowed him to automate calls with his clients so he doesn't have to manually do the back and forth that comes with doing that via email.

Automating

Geoff: that, that back and forth is huge. It's been really

Kris: We've created yard signs, door hangers, and van magnets. So his brand is literally driving around town and in neighborhoods. We have, implemented AI tools in a lot of different ways. We've, Implemented StoryBrand Framework into his website, redesigned the entire website.

We have created a one minute process [00:05:00] video, so in one minute, people can watch Geoffrey restoring an old window and making it look new again. we've tuned up his typeforms, so it's much more efficient when people give him information. They get to directly book a call with him and he is not on the hook to reply to every intake that comes in.

And most recently, we've implemented a quoting system called Quill. And Quill is a beautiful way to put together proposals. If you have a business that requires custom proposals for your clients, Quill has been kind of a game changer as far as just streamlining. Both the creation of the proposal, but also beautiful, beautiful presentation and experience for the viewer. And it integrates, you know, signing the proposal, next step, scheduling, the whole thing. It's all kind of under one roof. So that has been huge. and I would say, I'm [00:06:00] curious how you would answer this, but I would say signing up for Tidy Cal and Tidy Cal is an alternate to Calendly.

It has all the capability of Calendly but it's 39 and it is the best 39 you'll ever spend. 39

Geoff: one time.

Kris: One time. One time payment of 39. Yeah, I feel like I'm getting

Geoff: away with something when I use it, but yeah, it's a really great product.

Kris: Yeah. So tell, tell me like what that's been like for you to to automate that part of your business. Because from my perspective, I feel like you're at least getting about five hours back per week using this tool.

Geoff: I mean, that's hard for me to quantify, but it's probably a reasonable. estimate. what I've noticed about it is just eliminating all the back and forth. So yeah, if I was to go in and kind of count up the amount of times I email back and forth or just, you know, leave messages on answering machines, trying to catch up with a prospect. It has really shaved [00:07:00] that down to almost zero because I am, I'm putting the option in the, in the prospect's lap of, choosing a time that works for them. And,I have two different kinds of bookings that I'm doing right now.

Two, one is just a half hour, phone call. and then the other one that I do, I have to go to people's homes to assess their project and I, I bill for that and I charge 130 for people to have me come do an assessment and produce a proposal and I can collect that payment when they book that meeting, which has been really cool.

Like, I don't even have to think about any of it. It just happens. And so it's all very seamless and it works great. I've been really super pleased with how that works.

Kris: So prior to all of this, like the old way was you go back and forth, back and forth, back and forth to book it, to book the initial site visit, you send them a separate invoice [00:08:00] for the site visit, which they may pay or they may not pay.

Geoff: And then you'd show up to this site visit and gather your information, then go back and work without AI, an estimate was taking you. Either half day or a full day. let's say a half day is a good average. Yeah.

Kris: And work on the proposal, and then put that proposal into quickbooks and then send that QuickBooks to the client, hope that they accept it and then follow up, create a new QuickBooks document that's like their deposit and bill them separately.

there. In addition, send them forms and. legal documents in a separate document that they have to sign and docu sign and So like when you got a new client it was A lot of logistics on your part.

Geoff: Oh yeah. And I mean, there was a lot of logistics before they were ever even a client, you know, just kind of getting them to the onboarding [00:09:00] stage.

There was a lot of back and forth and,and I mean, really. Like all of these things that, you listed kind of at the top of the, of this episode are things that are happening within my, my sales pipeline. all, you know, before they're ever a client and which is where I was really struggling for a long time. You know, where it's where I was consistently bottlenecked. And, I have to take advantage of all my leads and I have to kind of try to treat them all with the same amount of attention and, immediacy. And so, Being able to get through those initial stages and,

making those things happen quickly while the client is interested has been really key.

Kris: Right. And, and actually, like, with every day you wait to get back to them. your odds of getting them to say yes get cut in half. And so if you reply within that 24 hour time range, they're way more likely to work with you [00:10:00] because it sets the tone that you're responsive, that you're on on the ball, and that you're professional.

Whereas we all know what it feels like on the other end, if you send an email to a company and maybe you want to work with them and then you don't hear back from them for five to seven days, you've just had a not a super positive first impression of working with them. So the beauty of all of this is that it's making your life easier, but it's also really giving your customers a more accurate feel for what it's going to be like to work with you, because you take such good care of your clients. And that really wasn't coming through in the clunkiness of the beginning stages of the relationship.

Geoff: Yeah, that's true. Yep.

Kris: so often in Oregon, we talked a little bit about the rain.

In the winters, people go into their caves in Portland and nobody wants to come outside. [00:11:00] People go to bed early. They, they sleep in later. And so what happens, around the holidays? For Geoff is that things get quiet, right? People aren't thinking about making a big investment Because they don't even want to deal with a big a big decision until the new year hits,

So it's really hard to keep the pipeline full and get people excited about signing on the dotted line pre holiday in that whole month of December, which is really Difficult for a business like yours because you really need to keep that pipeline full and going. Oh, yeah.

Geoff: You know, we have a lot of overhead and just kind of keeping a, you know, a steady stream of revenue coming through is really important.

Kris: Yes. So one of the things that we decided to do was to really just reach out to Geoff's entire email list and

Geoff: the whole thing,

Kris: the whole list. And I think you have about 1500.

Is that [00:12:00] right?

Geoff: Yeah.

Kris: Yeah. Yeah. And so, and Geoff doesn't have a lead magnet or anything like that. So these All of these 1500 people have literally emailed Geoff wanting to potentially work together at some point in time. all of these

Geoff: addresses were derived through,just organic type form submittals.

You know, people that found me, submitted a, an inquiry and just, and now they're in my system and I, you know, I have access to all of those addresses.

Kris: So we decided to email everybody and just check in. And so the first iteration of that email was kind of felt like a, like a winter newsletter, like, hello, you know, hello, audience, hello homeowner and this is what we're up to and we're hope you have a wonderful holiday and you know, it was, it felt long.

I can't even fully remember it, but I remember looking at the first draft and thinking this feels like a 1500 [00:13:00] people.

Geoff: Yeah. I kind of, it's funny. I. I forgot that there was even that iteration, but yeah, you're right.

Kris: Yeah. And so what we ended up doing is we worked together and, and basically we wrote the email to one person.

We said, what, how would we craft this email? If we were checking in with a client, a potential client who, or a lead,who we'd talked to three months prior. And so it was way more casual. Hey. Nick, just checking in, are you still looking to get your windows restored?

And then we, we maybe added another line of text and we included a video in there. right. Didn't we include that video in there? Yeah. We got

Geoff: the video in there. And,Yeah, but I think the whole key was keeping it light and

Kris: super short. So the beauty was it had a little one minute video in there watching him do his work.

And it was a very like a two sentence email that felt very much like Geoff was personally checking in with that one particular client. And [00:14:00] so tell us about what you're feeling when you hit send on that email.

Geoff: Yeah, so, you and I spent some time crafting the message, getting it ready. I think I sat on it for a couple of days, you know, just kind of mapping out just how it was going to go.

And I think I hit send on a Wednesday or a Thursday. And,and I was feeling good and like, okay, this is going out. And then, and then I realized that I had sent this to upwards of 1, 500 people. And I had this sort of,dark cloud fall over me, realizing that,I was potentially going to need to be managing a lot of incoming email.

And,you know, hindsight being 20, 20, I might've broken it up and do a few smaller bite sized bits, but as a, as things go, I managed it. I think I, I think I generated probably, I think probably maybe 80 to a hundred. Previous contacts got back [00:15:00] in touch to one degree or another, you know,

I would say most of the people that got back to me appreciated that I reached out in the first place. several of them converted to being actively interested and created just that that extra boost to my sales pipeline that I really needed.

And since then. I've converted a couple of them. So it was valuable and it, and it did what it needed to do.

Kris: Tell me how it feels now when you send people to your website, how do you feel when you're doing that now?

Geoff: You know, it's, it's such a,I get, I consistently get really like rave reviews about my website. Like I'll walk through someone's store after we've set up a meeting and. One of the first things that I hear a lot of the time is, man, your website looks so good. It works really well. It was easy, you know, all of the things that you want to hear.

And so I know from my,my client's perspective, [00:16:00] it really works the way you want a website to work. so just knowing that gives me a lot of confidence and that I can, you know, this is Something that I can present to people and be truly, like, proud of it. And, and, and really believe that it showcases What my offers are and, and why I'm here doing what I do, you know, it speaks truth and it does a little bit of education on the front end too, because what I do is not, widely known about.

And so, a lot of what I have had to do historically is educate people about it and let them know that it's possible. So, it's, it does a really good job of that. I just. It gives me a lot of confidence going into a new interaction with a prospective client. I know that I, you know, that they've been prepped, they have an accurate impression of what, what I'm going to be like.

when I get there, because there's pictures of me, it's in my voice. so.

Kris: Mm. [00:17:00] You had shared with me earlier that prior to revamping your, your website and your business, you kind of felt like pretty passive about how you would get clients. You said, I felt like when they'd come my way, it was just about luck, like pure luck.

Then you shared that now you have a better sense of control around how you get business. So tell us about that.

Geoff: Yeah, I felt like before I was just kind of this passive sea creature that filters plankton out of the water and, you know, manages to stay alive just through this kind of passive action that I don't have a whole lot of control over and by being able to control my message better

on the front end has really given me, again, it kind of ties back to that confidence thing. You know, I don't feel as passive. I feel like the, I am actively putting a message out there that is attracting a certain set of clients that [00:18:00] I want to talk to.

And,whereas this sort of, you know, plankton gathering version,I, you know, I get a lot of,a lot of curiosity seekers and, people that may not be. prepared to spend what it takes to work with me, and you know, that takes time, you know, having to like filter those people out. And if, if that can be done before they ever get to you, it's really helpful.

Kris: It's so true. I feel like, you know, an intentional message, an intentional story, strategic website. Of course, we want it to draw in and attract those ideal clients. But as important is that it repels the wrong fit clients, right?

So Absolutely. You get to really protect your time as the business owner because your job and your role is best spent going out and getting new business.

Um, speaking of wrong fit clients and this also with this idea [00:19:00] of confidence, tell us about some clients because it's inevitable. Like when we put ourselves out there and we become more visible, we are going to attract more people.

Some wrong fit clients are going to find their way through the cracks. And so, part of what's been fun for me to witness Watching you navigate through the year is gaining that confidence and overcoming imposter syndrome and it's, it's a, it's a process, right? um, what's happened for you around wrong fit clients that get through the cracks?

Geoff: Oh, gosh. I mean, there's lots of different kinds, but, you know, I

I had a, I had a potential and, they were, they were really excited straight out of the gate. And, we built a, We built a project for them worth, it was worth tens of thousands of dollars.

it was going to be a really big project. So wehad everything lined up and when it was [00:20:00] time to start, collecting to start the project, they told me they decided that they didn't want to do that and they were going to give up their, reservation payment.

All's fair. And I said, okay, that's fine. Let me just try to, you know, reiterate some of the positive points about my offer. And, I sent a quick email with a few bullet points, kind of reminding them of why they came to me in the first place. And. They changed their mind. They said, okay, we'll do it.

So we were back on, and then a couple of weeks went by and They ended up canceling the project again. So I said, all right, I'm not going to try to talk you into it again.

and so this was all last fall. And then, I just heard from this client again. Asking if we'd be willing to, do a portion of the project that we had originally,had, bid on. And my initial motivation was to say, yes, of course we will. You know, everything's in the can. I know exactly what needs to happen.

I could [00:21:00] very easily put this project in the queue and move forward. But there was something that was just kind of eating at me. Telling me this is not a good idea. We've been down this road twice now, and what's the potential for, this project to go sideways, and And I, and I had to respectfully decline the project.

and I knew that I was turning away several thousand dollars, but, interacting with this client and. Just getting a feel and a better sense of, their potential for,becoming upset and pinning it on me was great. And, and I think that the thing that I really, you know, we were talking about confidence and really trusting yourself.

when things like that happen. I think that was a really empowering moment when I was able to switch gears, walk away from my initial, motivation to take the project on because like any work is good work, you know, and really knowing that [00:22:00] that's not always true. so it was, it was empowering, you know, and it made me.

I walked away feeling like I made the right decision. There wasn't a question in my mind about it.

Kris: Hmm. What a good feeling. So tell me,how really being intentional with your story and revamping your online presence, how you show up online, whether it's your website or your Google reviews or the video of you doing your work, like elevating your online presence, how has that contributed to overcoming imposter syndrome?

Geoff: Man,I have to, I have to give credit where it's due because,you being the, the master nudger that you are and, you know, pretty consistent,presence in my life,can say that I wouldn't be where I'm at right now without some of those nudges. So, but I think the online presence part, like all of those things of like, classically, I'm not a very good self promoter, never have been.

It's not [00:23:00] where my comfort lies. so it has been a growing experience to really try to, fit into those shoes. and as I do, like, as I kind of inhabit the space that I haven't classically been used to, it just by doing it has,given given me more confidence and and I think all of these interactions that I have with my clients now, you know, kind of moving forward and, you know, like they all kind of build on each other and they all Sort of bolster my own inner sense of my expertise and knowledge base, and I'm, you know, I, I know that I have those things, but, it is a tangible, it, it's a tangible, example of, of, of it being true, if that makes sense.

Kris: Geoff, what's changed for you in the last year as a business owner?

Geoff: I think, I think a lot of business owners would probably, say something similar to this, but it's just the, ubiquity or, you know, the [00:24:00] developing ubiquity of, artificial intelligence as it really, you know, just like the easy access to it that we have now, has really completely changed the way I, do my proposal writing, whereas, a year or so ago, everything used to happen within the QuickBooks platform, I would have some, some basic menu options that I would choose from, and I was constantly having to modify them, and if a project was at all outside of my regular scope, which they often are, there was just a lot of Continual tweaking and a lot of brain work and a lot of keeping things, categorized and trying to think of ways to categorize them in the most presentable fashion and As I've gotten more and more comfortable with using AI, I use Claude specifically.

just the amount that it's taken off my plate, just from an organization standpoint,is just incalculable. Being able to just brain dump into just a simple Google [00:25:00] Doc and then being able to plug that into the AI and it just sorts it out and gives me such a good jumping off point to then, be able to modify and reiterate.

And, it's, it's really pretty amazing. And I think if you are a business owner that spends any amount of time in, and I'm going to call this a creative process because it is, you know, you have to create a narrative you have, but you also have to be organized about it and you have to do the math and, it's just a really good thought partner and helping you organize all that stuff.

And it's, it's been. Hugely, hugely important and I can't see ever doing it going back to the old way. Oh no.

Kris: Yeah, a couple of things that you've been doing that I think are really cool are you've been recording your site visits. So you'll go to a client home, you'll Just press record and it will record your your conversation and then you can go back and plug that into Claude.

It will basically make sure that you have not that [00:26:00] you do not forget any detail about what they need and what you need to pay attention to. You can also talk into it. And just brain dump verbally, which is really cool. And then I think the most game changing thing that you've done is, well, Geoff is, you should know, Geoff is a master at spreadsheets.

He loves. Spreadsheets. And,they are not my jam, but they're his jam. And so he has all this data and it's very organized in the spreadsheet. And what he has been able to do is just literally copy and paste that spreadsheet into Claude and then Claude converts that. I can

Geoff: totally analyze it for the most part.

And, and I'm learning how to organize my spreadsheets better. So the AI can. analyze it more efficiently. we're teaching each other. It's kind of weird. But,yeah, my, my spreadsheets are pretty unwieldy, or at least were, and I've had to really tighten them up and really and make some [00:27:00] decisions about what kind of information I want to present and kind of standardize some things.

So it's Just the whole process has been, just a lesson in organizing my thoughts and how I think about, the way I present a proposal. It's been totally game changing.

Kris: Yes, completely game changing. I mean, I used to watch you agonize over these proposals for hours and hours, and like, he'd be plugging away at the same proposal multiple days in a row.

And it was, it was torture, right? And then it was kind of like all this work and they might just be like, Nope, we went with somebody else. So it's like, it's really, really frustrating. And I, back in my earlier days of my career, I did a lot of proposal writing and it was always my least, my least favorite thing to do.

Right. I created a proposal for you eight years ago ish. and you accepted it. Thank you. so, okay, let's, let's dig [00:28:00] a little bit deeper we're, uh, get into the real meat. So Geoff and I. I would say once a week, we like to go to this divey, divey dive bar in Portland, Oregon. It's called YURS, Y U R S, and there are no windows.

it's just this very dark cave, and we always sit at the bar. And I remember, a couple months ago, he was telling me that he got an email from a client he had given a proposal to. And essentially, the email said, you know, this is way too expensive. I would never, I would never consider moving forward with a project that's this is ridiculous.

This is ridiculous. Like, essentially, that's the vibe of the email that he got from his client. And so, you know, of course, like, we're all human. And of course, that's gonna hurt your feelings, essentially, like, it doesn't feel good,

Geoff: personally.

Kris: Yeah, we all do. And I think, you know, we're, as service providers, we have big hearts. We really [00:29:00] care about our clients and we want them to be happy. And when people get attitude with us, it like, it will affect us. Period. Anything goes wrong, you're thinking about it in the shower, it's with you until you've kind of navigated through all these emotions. Right. I want to hear about what you did to really accelerate the processing of your emotions behind that email.

Well,

Geoff: so, one of the things that I use AI for is to help me quickly generate email,and, and it isn't that I'm just, You know, blasting out, solely AI generated emails. I, I usually just kind of use it to, you know, get the basic structure and then I tune it up and give it my own voice and send it away. and this particular one, you know, I wanted to handle gracefully and, I wanted to at least advocate for myself a little bit and, you know, cause I was feeling a little, my feelings were a little hurt. And so I started doing that and, you know, and Claude helped me [00:30:00] craft something that, you know, supported my position gracefully, you know, walked away. Claude had, had produced this, lovely message with all of the required components and then,and then I believe I said, okay, so what would this message look like if I Wanted to be a real jerk.

And, and then Claude really stepped up to the plate and said something like, Oh, he went, you want to be nasty? and it produced a, a really scathing reply. And that made me feel pretty good. And at the end of its reply, I said, Remember, you don't want to send this, but it sure feels good, doesn't it? Would you, would you, would you like to try again?

A little nastier? And I said, yeah, yeah, let's do it again. And so It produced a new version that was even more acidic than the first, and at the end it said, would you like to go again? And I said, I think, I think its exact words were, would [00:31:00] you like to go harder? And I said, Yeah, yeah, go harder. and then it really delivered the goods, but all of this is to say it was a It was a very cathartic experience to be able to kind of work through some of those thoughts and you know kind of pretend to create this this message that you know, I obviously never sent but It was useful

Kris: It's like you've got someone who's on your team that's by your side that's validating your value and why this guy, you know, isn't valuing you and,Yeah, I just remember looking at the chat because you shared it with me and it was like iteration after iteration, go harder, go harder, go harder, and it just got more and more fun like the harder you went.

And I think ultimately. You know that whole thing probably took you 10 10 minutes or 15 minutes, right if that yeah And but you came out of it Totally at peace with this whole [00:32:00] situation, right? You sent you sent a very polite very graceful email reply to this guy but you had gotten all that muck out of your system and Claude had really helped facilitate that process.,

Geoff: it was really pretty, it was remarkable, you know, and I think it it gives some insight into some of these ancillary uses that we're hearing about AI being applied to like therapy for humans.

You know, like,it can, I can see it being useful in certain situations. I'm sure, you know, professional human therapists, you I don't want to hear that, but,I think there's, I think there's a place for, for that kind of interaction and, and I was surprised at it, you know, it was, it was,like I, I would not have expected to, get that much,catharsis out of this back and forth with, uh, with the Claude

Kris: Geoff, it has been so fun having you here on the podcast today. Thank you for joining me. And where can people find you online?

Geoff: So we are at, uh, [00:33:00] eastportlandsash. com, um, that's the name of my business and we serve the greater Portland Metro region. Give us a shout if you're in this area and you have an old house with old windows.

Is your website turning away potential clients? I can help you turn that around. Book a money making messaging call with me today and we'll transform your story into your most powerful sales tool. That's all for this episode of from click to client. Don't forget to subscribe and follow. I'm Chris Jones, and I'll see you next time.