How Agencies Can Win More Clients with Self-Service Tools

In today’s market, service buyers want answers now. They don’t want to fill in a form, wait for a call, or hear “it depends.” And if you’re running a digital agency, that’s your edge—if you know how to use it.

In this tutorial-style recap, we’ll show you how Marcus Sheridan (author of They Ask, You Answer) and Steve Auchettl (co-founder of Priceguide) break down a new way for agencies to lead with trust, get better results, and scale their client impact using pricing calculators and self-service tools.

Step 1: Understand What Buyers Want Today

According to Marcus, the shift is clear:

“Buyers don’t want to talk to sales. They want to get 80% of the way through the buying process before they ever engage with a human.”

That means the old way—“Call for quote”—isn’t just annoying. It’s killing your conversions.

Takeaway:

Agencies need to help clients meet buyers where they are—online, in control, and looking for immediate pricing information.

Step 2: Embrace the 5 Types of Self-Service

Marcus outlined five self-service tools that smart agencies should offer or recommend:

1. Pricing Calculators
2. Online Scheduling
3. Product Configurators
4. Instant Quoting Tools
5. Interactive Assessments

But he spent most of the webinar diving into the first one: Pricing.

Why? Because nothing builds trust faster than price transparency.

Step 3: Offer Price Estimators as a Service

Steve Auchettl shared how Priceguide makes it easy for agencies to build powerful, branded estimators that sit on a client’s site and:

• Show pricing ranges without needing a call
• Capture qualified leads with every submission
• Integrate with tools like HubSpot, Zapier, and Jobber

And agencies can build these for any service industry—home improvement, law, fitness, accounting, pest control, and more.

 Smart Move:

Instead of building a custom calculator from scratch, use Priceguide to create one in minutes, white-label it, and offer it as a done-for-you or retainer service.

Step 4: Position Yourself as a Trusted AI + Pricing Advisor

Here’s where the real opportunity is.

Buyers want instant answers. Your clients want more leads. When you offer transparent pricing tools powered by smart logic, you become more than a marketing agency.

You become a conversion expert. A sales enabler. A trusted advisor.

“The agencies that win in the next 3 years will help their clients sell better, not just market better.” – Marcus Sheridan

Step 5: Start With the Simple Wins

You don’t have to change everything overnight.

Here’s how Marcus and Steve recommend getting started:

1. Pick 1-2 clients who are service-based and struggling with lead quality.
2. Build them a basic pricing estimator using priceguide.
3. Show the lead data. Show the conversion rate.
4. Use it to upsell retainers, improve trust, and shorten the sales cycle.

What Agencies Are Saying

Many agencies that joined the partner program have reported:

• 3–10x more qualified leads
• Less form drop-off

Clients who finally understand how pricing transparency builds trust

Final Thought

If you’re tired of chasing leads and watching clients get ghosted by form-fillers, it’s time to stop saying Call for Quote—and start offering self-service pricing experiences.

Your clients will thank you. Their leads will convert faster. And your agency will stand out.