Written testimonials are useful. A buyer on camera, giving their real numbers in their own voice, is better. Paul agreed to sit down for a few minutes at the end of a call and tell it straight, so this one is a video.
The numbers
Here's how Paul summed it up:
— Paul, Klaudius operator, California
Client by client:
- A local HVAC business: $800 for the website, then $200 a month
- The second business: balked at $800, so Paul lowered it to $500, then $100 a month
- The third business: $800, then $200 a month
That's $2,100 up front and $500 a month recurring, from three businesses, inside three weeks. Asked whether Klaudius had paid for itself yet, his answer was "Oh yeah, pretty, pretty easily."
The prices are Paul's own. Klaudius doesn't set them, and his second client shows the room you have to move: when one owner balked at $800, Paul met him at $500 rather than lose the deal, and still added $100 a month on top.
The website did the selling
Every one of Paul's clients was pitched with something most cold outreach can't offer: a finished website, built for their business by Klaudius before anyone had spoken to them. And the owners were, in Paul's words, "really receptive" to it. The praise was the same every time:
"It's a clean design, I like the design, I like it a lot."
His first client, a local HVAC business, told him the same thing in fewer words: "I like the design of the website." He wasn't being asked whether he wanted a website. He was looking at one, already built for his business, and he liked it. From there it was a few details to put in, a call on Google Meet, and a price.
With the other two, what was left was finishing touches, "minor things that they wanted to add on, like accreditations." A website the owner already likes, with a few edits to make, is a much easier sale than a pitch for one that doesn't exist yet.
How fast it happened
Pretty much all three of Paul's clients were first contacted in his first week of running Klaudius. The first one signed within that week. The other two came in during weeks two and three, as their conversations played out. "Three in three weeks, basically," as he put it.
That gap matters. Outreach goes out quickly, but owners take their own time to reply, think about it and agree a price. Which is the point of Paul's advice.
"The money's in the follow-up"
We asked Paul what he'd tell someone thinking about getting Klaudius. He didn't talk about the websites:
"It's always risky jumping into any sort of new thing, especially when it costs money and it's going to require time and effort. But anything worth doing requires that. And then I would say the money's in the follow-up. I remember telling you nothing's happened, and you were telling me it's in the follow-up, and you're right. So just understand that context, and if you can just stay disciplined, you'll get results."
Early on, Paul's first messages had gone out and nothing had come back yet. That's normal. Most replies to cold outreach come on the second or third touch, not the first, and Klaudius has follow-ups built in for exactly this reason: it keeps working the same list of businesses, lining up a fresh message for each one that went quiet, so you don't have to prospect again from scratch. The operators who get results are the ones who let it run.
What Klaudius did: nearly all of it
Picture the work behind those three clients done the old way: finding local businesses worth pitching, researching every one, designing and building a real website for each, and writing a personal pitch to every owner. That's a mountain of work before a single owner replies, and most of it goes to businesses that never do.
Paul didn't do any of it. Klaudius found the businesses, built every site from each one's own photos and details, and sent the pitches, on its own. By the time an owner wrote back, the hard part was already done: there was a finished website in front of them, and they liked it. All Paul had to do was have the conversation and agree a price.
That's how one person gets to three clients in three weeks. The selling Paul did was a handful of conversations with owners who were already interested. Everything that produced those conversations, Klaudius did.
For the same story told by a web agency, read Grant's first month on Klaudius: 100+ businesses reached, 21 replies, 5 clients.
Read the full interview transcript
Paul: So my name's Paul. I'm based in California.
Rohan: And then you said you've signed three clients so far. So tell me about the first one, like what kind of business was it? What did they buy, and then what did you charge them?
Paul: Yeah, so it was within the first week. Pretty much all three were initiated, the initial message was sent out in the first week of getting all set up with you. And the first one was a local HVAC business. And it was so funny, because he said, "I get a lot of these, I ignore them all, but you got me at the right time. I like the design of the website." And so we just went back and forth, and he was like, "Put these details in." So I did. And then I sat down with him, organized a time to meet with him on Google Meet, and the charge was $800 for the website and then $200 a month ongoing.
Rohan: Nice. And then what about the other two?
Paul: So the other two: the second one, he balked at $800, so I just lowered it to $500, and it's $100 a month. And then the third one, again, was $800 and $200 a month.
Rohan: Nice. And then how long after you started with Klaudius did these three come in?
Paul: The first one was within a week, and then the latter two was just this week. It's only been like week two or three, you know? So yeah, three in three weeks, basically.
Rohan: Awesome. And I think you already answered for the first business, but what did the other two say when they saw their websites?
Paul: Yeah, it was just the same common praise of, "It's a clean design, I like the design, I like it a lot." And it was just a matter of finishing off any minor things that they wanted to add on, like accreditations and things like that. But yeah, they were really receptive to the design of the website.
Rohan: Nice. So if you just add it all up, how much have you made up front so far, and what's coming in every month now?
Paul: Yeah, so all up in these first three weeks, we've made up front $2,100, and then an ongoing monthly of $500 a month.
Rohan: Nice. So has Klaudius paid for itself yet?
Paul: Oh yeah, pretty, pretty easily.
Rohan: And then last question: what would you tell someone who's thinking about getting Klaudius?
Paul: Yeah, you know, it's always risky jumping into any sort of new thing, especially when it costs money and it's going to require time and effort. But anything worth doing requires that. And then I would say the money's in the follow-up. I remember telling you nothing's happened, and you were telling me it's in the follow-up, and you're right. So just understand that context, and if you can just stay disciplined, you'll get results.