v2 — Growth Engine Edition
📘 Internal Sales Guide

The Growth Engine Playbook

Everything you need to demo, pitch, and close. Reframed around what Trellis really is: an AI-powered business growth engine — not just another marketing tool.

Part 1

What We Sell

The Shift

Trellis is not a marketing tool. It's an AI-powered growth engine for local businesses — restaurants, med spas, salons, and service businesses.

We sell the marketing person, business consultant, and competitive analyst that every local business needs but can't afford — for $129/month.

The One-Sentence Pitch

"Type your business name. We learn everything about your market, your customers, and your competitors — then we create the content, manage your reviews, and show you exactly what's driving growth. All in 15 minutes a week."

The 30-Second Pitch

"You know how you spend hours trying to figure out what to post on social media? And you're never sure if it's actually bringing in customers? Trellis fixes that. You type your business name, and our AI learns everything — your reviews, your competitors, your customers, your brand voice. Then every week, we create a content plan that sounds like you, not a robot. You just approve it and post. The whole thing takes 15 minutes a week, and one new customer pays for the entire year."

"It's more than marketing. It's like a business growth platform. A mentor."
— Cecily, Nurse Injector, Cottonwood Heights, UT

Part 2

Know Your Buyer

Primary: The Owner-Operator

"I could have tons of great ideas, but it's actually like executing the social media. Creating the content, full-time fucking job. Would rather literally stab myself in the eye with a fork."
— From customer interview, March 2026

Secondary: The Ambitious Grower

Launch Verticals

🍽️
Restaurants
Tacos to fine dining
💉
Med Spas
Botox, fillers, GLP-1s
✂️
Salons & Beauty
Coming soon
🏋️
Wellness & Fitness
Coming soon

Disqualifiers

Part 3

The Demo Flow

This is the most important section. The demo IS the sale.

Pre-Demo

Ask: "What's your business called?" — you need the business name to run the demo live. Have Trellis open on a clean screen, ready to onboard.

1
Minutes 0–2
The Magic Moment
Type their business name into Trellis. Watch their face as the discovery cascade populates: business info auto-fills, reviews load, competitors appear, personas form.
"We just learned more about your business in 60 seconds than most agencies learn in a month."
2
Minutes 2–5
The Intelligence
Show competitor analysis, customer personas from reviews, review sentiment. If they don't have a GBP: "Did you know you don't have a Google Business Profile? When someone searches for [their service] near [their location], you're invisible."
"Here are your top 3 competitors. Here's what they're posting. Here's where they're beating you."
3
Minutes 5–8
The Content
Show a sample content plan. Read a caption aloud — "Does this sound like you?" Show multi-platform captions and shot lists.
"This isn't a template — it's trained on YOUR reviews, YOUR brand, YOUR customers."
4
Minutes 8–10
The Time Pitch
"How much time do you spend on marketing right now?" [3–10 hrs/week, or "I don't"]. "With Trellis, it's 15 minutes a week."
"Your time is worth more than $129/month. How many hours did you work this week?"
5
Minutes 10–12
The ROI
"What's a new customer worth to you?" Frame: one customer pays for Trellis for months or the year. Agency comparison: $2–5K/month for what Trellis does at $129.
"So one new customer pays for Trellis for 3 months to a year. And you're getting competitive analysis, customer intelligence, review management, and SEO. An agency would charge $2–5K/month for this."
6
Minutes 12–15
The Close
"We have a 14-day free trial. No credit card." If yes: walk through signup. If hesitant: "Try it for two weeks. If you don't see engagement growth, you've lost nothing."
"Want me to set you up right now? It takes 2 minutes."

Post-Demo Follow-Up

Part 4

Objection Handling

"I can't afford $129/month"

This is the most common objection — and the easiest to overcome with ROI math.

"What's one new customer worth? For a med spa, that's $350–$1,300 per appointment. For a restaurant, one regular is worth $1,500+ over two years. Trellis pays for itself with one appointment, one new regular. Can you afford NOT to grow?"
"I don't have time"

They're telling you their biggest pain point. Use it.

"That's exactly why Trellis exists. 15 minutes a week — that's reviewing and approving content we already created for you. Your time is worth way more than 15 minutes."
"I already post on social media"

They post, but they don't have intelligence. That's the gap.

"Great — how do you know what's working? Do you know what your competitors are posting? What your customers think based on reviews? Trellis isn't just posting — it's the intelligence that makes every post count."
"AI content sounds fake"

Show, don't tell. Pull up a real example in their brand voice.

"Read this caption. Sound fake? That's because it's not generic AI — it's trained on YOUR reviews, YOUR brand voice, YOUR customers. It writes like you, not like ChatGPT."
"I tried something like this before"

Find out what they tried. The answer is always a single-purpose tool.

"What did you try? Most tools do one thing — scheduling, or content, or analytics. Trellis does the whole loop: learn your business → create content → track results → get smarter. It's not a tool — it's a growth engine."
"$50 seems more my budget"

Don't apologize for the price. Reframe the value.

"I get it. But here's what we've learned — $50 solutions give $50 results. Our customers told us the same thing: a low price signals low value. Trellis replaces a $2–5K/month agency. At $129, you're getting 10–50x the value."
"Can I try it first?"
"Absolutely. 14-day free trial, no credit card. You'll see results before you spend a dollar."
"I need to think about it"

Don't push. Let the data do the work.

"Totally fair. While you're thinking — we already learned your business, found your competitors, identified your customers. That data is waiting for you. The free trial is there when you're ready."
"What if it doesn't work?"
"Cancel anytime. But here's what I'd ask: give it two weeks. Post the content we create. Watch your engagement. If the numbers don't move, you've lost nothing. If they do — you've found your growth engine."

Part 5

Competitive Positioning

We Are NOT:

We ARE:

CompetitorPriceMissing vs Trellis
Hootsuite$99–249/moNo intelligence, no reviews, no discovery
Later$25–80/moContent scheduling only
Jasper$39–99/moGeneric AI, no business intelligence
Podium$249–449/moNo content, no competitive intel
Birdeye$299–499/moReview-centric, expensive
Trellis$129/moEverything. Intelligence + content + reviews + analytics.

The Key Differentiator: Discovery Cascade

Nobody else does this. You type your business name and we:

  1. Pull your business information
  2. Find and analyze your competitors
  3. Read all your reviews and extract sentiment
  4. Build customer personas from review data
  5. Capture your brand voice
  6. Identify SEO/GBP gaps

All in under 5 minutes. No setup. No questionnaires. This IS the demo. This IS the hook.

Part 6

Pricing & Packaging

$129
Growth Plan
/month
Custom
Enterprise
Multi-location

Growth Plan — $129/month

Everything you need to grow:

Enterprise — Custom

For multi-location operators:

Free Trial

Promo: VIPFIRST5

The ROI Math

$350–$1,300
Med Spa
Avg appointment value
$1,500–$2,500
Restaurant
Lifetime value of one regular
$2K–$5K
Agency
What they charge monthly
$129
Trellis
Less than your cheapest service

Part 7

Outreach Templates

Cold DM (Instagram/Facebook)

Copy & Paste
Hey [Name]! I noticed [something specific about their business — recent post, review, menu item]. I'm building an AI growth tool specifically for [restaurants/med spas] in Utah — it learns your business, creates content in your voice, and tracks what's working. Would you be open to a quick demo? It literally starts with typing your business name. No commitment, just want to show you what it finds.

Warm Intro (Text/WhatsApp)

Copy & Paste
Hey [Name], [Mutual connection] mentioned you might be interested in this — I'm building Trellis, an AI growth engine for local businesses. It does something kind of wild: you type your business name and it learns everything about your market, competitors, and customers in about 60 seconds. Then it creates weekly content in your voice. Want me to run a quick demo? Takes 10 minutes, no strings.

Follow-Up After Demo

Copy & Paste
Hey [Name]! Great meeting you. Quick recap — here's what Trellis found about [their business]:

• [Key competitor insight]
• [Key review insight]
• [Key SEO/GBP gap]

Your free trial is active at app.trellishq.ai. I'd suggest connecting your [Google/Instagram] first — takes 2 minutes and unlocks the full experience.

I'll check in Friday to see how the first week of content looks!

Referral Ask

Copy & Paste
Hey [Name], random question — do you know any [restaurant/med spa] owners who struggle with marketing? Trellis has been working really well for [current customer] and I'd love to help more local businesses. Happy to do a free demo for anyone you think would benefit.

Part 8

Metrics & Goals

March 30 Checkpoint

10
Businesses signed up
(trial or paid)
5
Customer interviews
completed
2
Paying customers
converted from trial
1
Case study
published (Muertos)

Per-Customer Success Timeline

1
Day 1
Signed Up
Connected at least 1 social account
3
Day 3
First Content
First content plan generated, at least 1 post approved
7
Day 7
Data Flowing
Engagement data starting to show
14
Day 14
Trial Conversion
Measurable engagement increase, subscription conversation
30
Month 1
ROI Story
Clear ROI: new followers, reviews, or attributable customers

Pipeline

LeadSourceStatusNext Step
CecilyInterviewBeta setupCreate GBP, connect IG
Sugar House Coffee (Emily)Cecily referralNot contactedTanner outreach
[Tanner's network]PersonalIdentifiedReach out this week

Outreach Target

Target: 10 users by March 30. Pitch ~20 people, expect ~50% conversion. Customer interviews (0/5 done) happen organically with early testers.

Part 9

Key Reminders

  1. Demo the discovery cascade. This IS the product. The magic moment sells itself.
  2. Use their language, not ours. It's a "growth engine" and a "mentor," not an "AI marketing platform."
  3. ROI over features. Never lead with "we have X features." Lead with "one new customer pays for the year."
  4. Time is the real sell. Every owner's most precious resource. "15 minutes a week" is the hook.
  5. $129 is a steal, not a stretch. Frame against agencies ($2–5K), consultants ($200/hr), and the cost of doing nothing.
  6. Let them experience it. Don't describe Trellis. Show them. Type their business name.

Ready to grow?

Type your business name. We'll handle the rest.

Start Free Trial →

Trellis Sales Playbook v2 — The Growth Engine Edition · Internal document · March 2026