# How to land your first AI consulting retainer
**作者**: Corey Ganim
**日期**: 2026-08-30T14:14:05.000Z
**来源**: [https://x.com/coreyganim/status/2094066129790755304](https://x.com/coreyganim/status/2094066129790755304)
---
I've been selling AI consulting for a year, but last week I [interviewed a guy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXYHFEVMxig&t=791s) who puts my model to shame.
His name is Dino Watt and he recently closed a $30,000 AI consulting retainer. $5,000 a month, six-month contract. That's more than double what my highest-paying concierge client pays me.
I've spent the last year selling AI assessments and concierge retainers to small businesses. Dino came on my podcast this week and screen-shared his entire playbook. This article is that playbook, in step-by-step format to help you land your first retainer.
In this article:
- The positioning shift that makes retainers close themselves
- The three-rung ladder: paid workshop → paid assessment → retainer
- The exact pricing at every rung, with Dino's real numbers
- The 7-minute deliverable that does the selling for you
- The math behind $65,734 from one $97 workshop
- The two-path close (word for word)
- The 10 actions I'd take starting from zero
Most people trying to land their first AI retainer lead with the retainer. That's exactly backwards, and it's why they're stuck at zero.
Before we dive in, I combined all the best practices, prompts, and resources from this article into one simple downloadable playbook.
[You can grab it (free) here.](https://corey-ganim.kit.com/2673cdcdb6)
Let's get into it.
# The positioning shift: never sell the retainer first
Dino is 53. Dyslexic, ADHD, barely graduated high school. His words on coding: put a gun to his head and he's a dead man. No marketing background, no tech background. His day job for the last 15 years has been culture and communication consulting for orthodontic practices.
So how does a guy like that out-close me on retainers?
He never sells the retainer.
He sells a filter. Dino's pitch to his audience is simple: you're being bombarded with AI tools and you're terrified of buying the wrong thing. I'll give you a filter so you can make better decisions. That filter is the Three Outcomes. Every tool and workflow gets judged on whether it improves Effectiveness (makes you money), Efficiency (saves you time), or Quality (improves your product and customer experience). That's the framework we teach inside AOA, and it's the spine of everything Dino delivers.
The retainer shows up at the very end, almost as an afterthought. By then the client has already paid him twice and trusts him completely.
I call this the Paid-Every-Step Ladder. Three rungs, and you collect money on every single one:
1. Paid workshop ($97): teach the filter
2. Paid assessment ($497-$997): apply the filter to their business
3. Retainer ($5,000/month): implement what the assessment found
No free discovery calls. No "pick your brain" coffees. No proposals rotting in someone's inbox.
If they won't pay $97 to learn from you, they were never paying $5,000 a month.
## Rung 1: The $97 workshop
Dino built a three-hour virtual workshop on AI basics for orthodontists. One email to his list of roughly 5,000. No ads.
21 people in the room. 15 paid (he comped 6 existing clients). Some caught a $49 early-bird rate, the rest paid $97.
Three hours of teaching the Three Outcomes filter, applied to their industry. That's it. He's a trainer by trade, so this rung plays to his strength. But the content itself came from what we teach, customized to his niche.
Two things make this rung work:
The niche can afford you. Dino quotes Alex Hormozi on this: solve rich people problems. Orthodontists run practices doing seven figures. A $997 assessment isn't a purchasing decision for them, it's a rounding error. Pick a niche where your eventual retainer price is normal, not shocking.
The upsell starts before the workshop. The moment someone registers, the confirmation page offers the assessment: normally $997, but $497 if you grab it right now. Four people bought before the workshop even happened. He was up over $2,000 before delivering a single minute of content.
## Rung 2: The assessment (and the deliverable that sells the retainer)
At the end of the workshop, Dino pitches the assessment again: $997, or $797 if you buy within 24 hours. Three people closed on the spot. Two more came in days later at full price.
That's a 44% close rate from the workshop room.
The assessment itself follows the process we teach: a deep discovery call, transcript into Claude, and out comes a scored report mapping AI solutions to their specific pain points against the Three Outcomes. You don't need to know how to build anything to deliver this. You need to ask good questions and let the AI do the analysis.
But Dino added one thing that I'm now stealing for my own business.
The 7-minute explainer video. He runs the finished assessment through Notebook LM (now Gemini's video tool) and generates a short animated video that walks the client through their own report. Their pain points, in their words, played back to them with the plan to fix each one.
Here's the prompt structure he adds to his assessment build:
> EXPLAINER VIDEO PROMPT
> Take this completed AI assessment report and write a prompt for Notebook LM that will generate a ~7 minute explainer video.
> The video must:
> - Address the client by name in the opening line
> - Lead with the single biggest outcome (e.g. "designed to give you 5+ doctor-hours back every week")
> - Replay the client's own stated pain points in their own words
> - Walk through the plan as: "First we'll do X. Second, Y. Third, Z."
> - End with the projected annual savings figure from the report
Why this matters for landing the retainer: your buyer is almost never the only decision-maker. There's a spouse, a partner, a business manager, a financial coach. One of Dino's prospects promised her financial coach she wouldn't buy anything without running it past him first. Instead of hoping she could re-explain a 20-page report, she forwards a 7-minute video.
The video does your selling in rooms you'll never be in.
He also has Claude prep his sales call from the same assessment:
> SALES PREP PROMPT
> From this assessment report and discovery call transcript, give me:
> 1. The client's 3 biggest pain points, ranked by emotional weight
> 2. Their stated financial goals and any hard numbers attached
> 3. Which sections of the report to slow down on during the walkthrough call, and which to move through quickly
> 4. A suggested call flow that connects our plan to their #1 goal
Real example: one client wants to sell her practice in five years for at least $1.2 million. Claude flagged that her EBITDA needs to hit roughly [$500-600K](https://x.com/search?q=%24500-600K&src=cashtag_click) to get there. So Dino's entire walkthrough connected every recommendation to that exit number. She's expected to sign this week. That's a target, not a closed deal yet, and I'm labeling it as one.
## Rung 3: The two-path close
After the assessment walkthrough, the retainer pitch is one sentence. Here's the structure, pulled straight from how Dino (and I) run it:
> TWO-PATH CLOSE SCRIPT
> "I promised you a blueprint, and this is it. You now have everything you need to go save $[X] a year.
> You've got two options. You can take this blueprint and implement it yourself, or hand it to any AI person you trust. It's yours.
> Or you can hire us to do it for you. I've got the people and the process in place. You sit back and collect the results.
> Which one sounds better to you?"
No pressure. No countdown timers. The genuine willingness to let them walk is what closes the deal, because it proves the assessment wasn't a trojan horse.
And think about who's hearing this. An orthodontist with patients, staff, and a practice to run. Implementing the blueprint themselves means 200 hours they don't have. Paying $30,000 to capture $250,000 in projected annual savings is the easiest math they'll do all year. (That $250K is the assessment's estimate, not audited savings, so say so on your calls too. Honest numbers close better than inflated ones.)
One sales psychology note from Dino worth bolding: he never says "$30,000." It's $5,000 a month. The only time the full number comes up is in the ROI comparison: pay 30 to get 250 back.
## The math behind $65,734
From one $97 workshop, before marketing beyond a single newsletter email:
- Workshop revenue: ~$1,500 (15 paid seats, mix of $49 early bird and $97)
- Assessment revenue: ~$4,200 (4 pre-workshop at $497, 3 at $797, 2 at $997)
- Cash collected before delivering a single assessment: $5,734
- First retainer closed: $30,000 ($5,000/month, 6 months)
- Second retainer: expected this week (target, not proven)
- Behind that: 3 more assessment clients in the pipeline
Total value from one workshop: $65,734. The closed, verifiable portion is the $5,734 collected plus the $30K contract signed. The rest is pipeline, and Dino presents it that way too.
Notice the structure of the funnel math: the workshop and assessments aren't really the money. They're paid trust-building. The retainer is 84% of the total value. But you can't skip to it. The retainer only closes at that price because the client has bought from you twice, watched you deliver twice, and seen their own numbers in your report.
## Getting your first client: who this works for
This model works if you have at least one of these:
- A niche you already serve or understand (Dino: 15 years in orthodontics)
- An email list, even a small one (his took 10 years to build to 5,000, but 21 registrants means you'd get similar results from a list of a few hundred in a tight niche)
- A willingness to run a warm-network version: 5-10 personal invites to business owners you know, same ladder, smaller room
Who this isn't for: if you want to skip the assessment and go straight to building agents for strangers, this playbook won't save you. The ladder is the product. And if your niche can't afford $997 for an assessment, fix the niche before you fix the offer.
One more thing Dino said that should remove your last excuse: not knowing the industry deeply can actually be an advantage. His discovery calls run 90 minutes because his expertise pulls him into rabbit holes. The core assessment questions, the basic ones we hand you, produce the report either way.
You don't need to be the expert. You need to be the person holding the filter.
## The first 10 actions I'd take from zero
1. Pick one niche where owners clear $500K+ and already pay for consulting.
2. Customize the assessment question bank to that niche (feed Claude what you know about their world and have it adapt the questions).
3. Build a 3-hour workshop teaching the Three Outcomes filter applied to that niche. Charge $97.
4. Set up the registration flow with the assessment upsell on the confirmation page: $997 anchored, $497 pre-workshop price.
5. Fill the room with one email to your list, or 20 personal invitations if you don't have a list.
6. Deliver the workshop. Close the assessment at the end with a 24-hour $200 discount.
7. Do 1-2 free assessments for existing contacts first to collect testimonials before the paid ones land.
8. Run every paid assessment through the discovery-call → Claude → scored report process.
9. Generate the 7-minute explainer video and send it as the teaser before the walkthrough call.
10. On the walkthrough call, run the two-path close. Quote monthly, not total. Anchor against their projected savings.
Then do it again next month. Dino's second workshop already has 10 paid seats, zero comps.
## Final thoughts
The reason most people never land their first AI retainer is that they ask for marriage on the first date. Dino got paid to build trust three separate times before the retainer conversation ever happened, and by then it wasn't a pitch. It was the obvious next step.
He's 53, can't code, and plans to ride this until the wheels fall off.
Your excuses are gone.
[Watch the full breakdown with Dino on the Build With AI podcast.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXYHFEVMxig&t=792s)
If you want the assessment templates and playbook resources from this article in one place, [grab the free bundle here.](https://corey-ganim.kit.com/2673cdcdb6)
And if you want the complete business in a box (the trainings, the customized assessment templates, and 242+ operators selling AI services right now), join us inside [AI Operator Academy.](https://www.skool.com/aioperatoracademy/about)
Follow me [@coreyganim](https://x.com/@coreyganim) for daily posts on growing an AI services business. If this playbook helped, repost it so other operators see it.
## 相关链接
- [Corey Ganim](https://x.com/coreyganim)
- [@coreyganim](https://x.com/coreyganim)
- [2.9K](https://x.com/coreyganim/status/2094066129790755304/analytics)
- [interviewed a guy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXYHFEVMxig&t=791s)
- [$500-600K](https://x.com/search?q=%24500-600K&src=cashtag_click)
- [Watch the full breakdown with Dino on the Build With AI podcast.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXYHFEVMxig&t=792s)
- [AI Operator Academy.](https://www.skool.com/aioperatoracademy/about)
- [@coreyganim](https://x.com/@coreyganim)
- [Upgrade to Premium](https://x.com/i/premium_sign_up)
- [10:14 PM · Aug 30, 2026](https://x.com/coreyganim/status/2094066129790755304)
- [2,999 Views](https://x.com/coreyganim/status/2094066129790755304/analytics)
---
*导出时间: 2026/8/31 00:05:04*
---
## 中文翻译
# 如何拿下你的第一个AI咨询月费合同
**作者**： Corey Ganim
**日期**： 2026-08-30T14:14:05.000Z
**来源**： [https://x.com/coreyganim/status/2094066129790755304](https://x.com/coreyganim/status/2094066129790755304)
---
我做AI咨询销售已经一年了，但上周我[采访了一个人](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXYHFEVMxig&t=791s)，他让我的模式相形见绌。
他叫Dino Watt，最近签下了一份3万美元的AI咨询月费合同。每月5,000美元，为期六个月。这比我收费最高的托管客户付给我的钱还多一倍多。
过去一年，我一直在向小企业销售AI评估和托管月费服务。Dino本周上了我的播客，并屏幕共享了他的整套打法。本文就是这套打法，以分步骤的形式呈现，帮你拿下你的第一份月费合同。
本文内容包括：
- 让月费合同“自动成交”的定位转变
- 三级阶梯：付费工作坊 → 付费评估 → 月费合同
- 每一级的具体定价，附Dino的真实数字
- 那个替你完成销售的7分钟交付物
- 一场97美元工作坊带来65,734美元背后的数学
- 双路径成交法（逐字脚本）
- 如果从零开始，我会采取的10个行动
大多数想拿下第一份AI月费合同的人都直接推销月费服务。这完全是本末倒置，也是他们卡在零客户的原因。
在深入之前，我把本文中所有最佳实践、提示词和资源整合成了一份简单的可下载手册。
[你可以在这里免费获取。](https://corey-ganim.kit.com/2673cdcdb6)
让我们开始吧。
# 定位转变：永远不要先卖月费合同
Dino今年53岁。有阅读障碍、多动症，高中勉强毕业。谈到编程，他说拿枪指着他也是个死。没有营销背景，没有技术背景。过去15年，他的日常工作是为正畸诊所做文化与沟通咨询。
那么这样一个家伙是怎么在月费合同销售上击败我的？
他从来不推销月费合同。
他推销的是一个过滤器。Dino对他的受众的说辞很简单：你正被AI工具轰炸，你害怕买错东西。我给你一个过滤器，让你做出更好的决策。这个过滤器就是“三大成果”。每个工具和工作流程都根据它是否能提升效果（帮你赚钱）、效率（为你节省时间）或质量（改善你的产品和客户体验）来评判。这就是我们在AOA内部教授的框架，也是Dino交付一切内容的骨架。
月费合同出现在最后，几乎像事后想起。到那时，客户已经付过他两次钱，完全信任他了。
我把这称为“每一步都收费的阶梯”。三级台阶，每一级都收钱：
1. 付费工作坊（97美元）：教授过滤器
2. 付费评估（497-997美元）：把过滤器应用到他们的业务上
3. 月费合同（每月5,000美元）：落地评估发现的方案
没有免费的探索性通话。没有“请教一下”的咖啡。没有烂在别人收件箱里的提案。
如果他们不愿意花97美元向你学习，他们就永远不会每月付你5,000美元。
## 第一级：97美元工作坊
Dino为正畸医生打造了一个关于AI基础的三小时线上工作坊。给约5,000人的邮件列表发了一封邮件。没投广告。
21人参加。15人付费（他免了6位现有客户的费用）。有些人享受了49美元的早鸟价，其他人付了97美元。
三个小时，教授“三大成果”过滤器，并结合他们的行业应用。就这些。他的本行是培训师，所以这一级发挥了他的优势。但内容本身来自我们教授的东西，针对他的细分领域做了定制。
有两个因素让这一级奏效：
这个细分领域付得起你的价格。Dino引用Alex Hormozi的话：解决富人的问题。正畸医生的诊所年营业额可达七位数。997美元的评估对他们来说不是一个购买决策，只是零头。选择一个你的最终月费价格显得正常而非惊人的细分领域。
追加销售在工作坊开始前就启动了。有人注册的那一刻，确认页就提供评估服务：正常价997美元，但现在下单只要497美元。四个人在工作坊还没开始时就买了。在交付任何一分钟内容之前，他已经进账超过2,000美元。
## 第二级：评估（以及那个能卖出月费合同的交付物）
工作坊结束时，Dino再次推销评估服务：997美元，24小时内购买则797美元。三个人当场成交。几天后又有两人以全价购买。
从工作坊现场算，这是44%的成交率。
评估本身遵循我们教授的流程：一次深度探索通话，转录成文字喂给Claude，然后生成一份评分报告，根据“三大成果”将AI解决方案与他们的具体痛点进行匹配。你不需要懂任何构建技术就能交付这个。你只需要提出好问题，让AI完成分析。
但Dino加了一样东西，我现在正把它偷学到自己的业务里。
7分钟讲解视频。他把完成的评估报告输入Notebook LM（现在是Gemini的视频工具），生成一段简短的动画视频，带客户浏览他们自己的报告。他们的痛点，用他们自己的话，回放给他们听，并附上解决每个问题的方案。
以下是他在评估构建中加入的提示词结构：
> 讲解视频提示词
> 拿这份已完成的AI评估报告，为Notebook LM写一个提示词，生成一段约7分钟的讲解视频。
> 视频必须：
> - 在开场白中称呼客户的名字
> - 以最大的单一成果开头（例如“旨在每周为你节省5小时以上的医生时间”）
> - 用客户自己的话回放他们自己陈述的痛点
> - 以如下结构讲解方案：“首先我们做X。其次，Y。第三，Z。”
> - 以报告中预计的年度节省金额结尾
这对拿下月费合同为什么重要：你的买家几乎从来不是唯一的决策者。还有配偶、合伙人、业务经理、财务顾问。Dino的一位潜在客户向她的财务顾问承诺，不经他过目不会买任何东西。与其指望她能重新解释一份20页的报告，她直接转发了一个7分钟的视频。
视频替你完成那些你永远不会在场的房间里的销售。
他还让Claude基于同一份评估为他的销售通话做准备：
> 销售准备提示词
> 根据这份评估报告和探索通话转录，给我：
> 1. 客户的3个最大痛点，按情感权重排序
> 2. 他们陈述的财务目标及任何相关硬数字
> 3. 在讲解通话中哪些报告章节应该放慢节奏讲，哪些快速带过
> 4. 一个建议的通话流程，把我们的方案与他们的头号目标连接起来
真实案例：一位客户想在五年内以至少120万美元的价格出售她的诊所。Claude标记出她的EBITDA需要达到大约[50-60万美元](https://x.com/search?q=%24500-600K&src=cashtag_click)才能实现这一目标。于是Dino的整个讲解都把每条建议与那个退出数字关联起来。预计她本周签约。这是一个目标，还不是已成交的订单，我明确标注这一点。
## 第三级：双路径成交法
评估讲解之后，月费合同的推销只有一句话。以下是结构，直接取自Dino（和我）的运作方式：
> 双路径成交脚本
> “我承诺给你一张蓝图，这就是。你现在拥有了每年省下[X]美元所需的一切。
> 你有两个选择。你可以拿着这张蓝图自己落地实施，或者交给任何你信任的AI专家。它是你的了。
> 或者，你可以雇我们来帮你做。我有人手和现成的流程。你只需坐享成果。
> 哪一个对你来说听起来更好？”
没有压力。没有倒计时。真正愿意让他们离开，才是促成交易的关键，因为这证明评估不是特洛伊木马。
想想听到这些话的人是谁。一个有病人、员工和诊所要打理的正畸医生。自己实施蓝图意味着200个小时，而他们没有。花3万美元去捕获预计25万美元的年度节省，这是他们全年做的最简单的数学题。（那25万是评估的估算，不是经审计的节省额，所以你在通话中也要这样说。诚实的数字比夸大的数字更能促成交易。）
Dino分享的一个值得加粗的销售心理学要点：他从不说“3万美元”。而是每月5,000美元。唯一提到总金额的时候是在ROI对比中：花30万回报250万。
等等，这里是：花3万收回25万。
## 65,734美元背后的数学
从一场97美元的工作坊，且在只发过一封简报邮件、没有其他营销的情况下：
- 工作坊收入：约1,500美元（15个付费名额，49美元早鸟价和97美元混合）
- 评估收入：约4,200美元（4个工作坊前以497美元，3个以797美元，2个以997美元）
- 在交付任何一份评估之前已收现金：5,734美元
- 第一份月费合同成交：30,000美元（每月5,000美元，6个月）
- 第二份月费合同：预计本周（目标，尚未证实）
- 在此背后：另有3位评估客户在跟进中
一场工作坊的总价值：65,734美元。已成交、可验证的部分是收到的5,734美元加上签署的3万美元合同。其余是销售管道，Dino自己也是这样呈现的。
注意这个漏斗数学的结构：工作坊和评估其实不是赚钱的地方。它们是付费的信任建设。月费合同占总价值的84%。但你不能跳过前面的步骤。月费合同之所以能以那个价格成交，是因为客户已经向你买过两次，看过你交付两次，并在你的报告中看到了自己的数字。
## 拿下你的第一个客户：这个模式适合谁
只要你至少具备以下条件之一，这个模式就有效：
- 一个你已经在服务或了解的细分领域（Dino：15年的正畸行业经验）
- 一个邮件列表，哪怕很小（他的列表花了10年才积累到5,000人，但在一个紧密的细分领域，21位报名者意味着几百人的列表也能取得类似成果）
- 愿意做熟人网络版本：向你认识的5-10位企业主发出私人邀请，同样的阶梯，更小的规模
这不适合谁：如果你想跳过评估，直接为陌生人构建AI智能体，这份手册救不了你。阶梯本身就是产品。如果你的细分领域付不起997美元的评估费，先换领域，再改报价。
Dino还说过一句话，应该能消除你最后的借口：不深入了解某个行业反而可能是优势。他的探索通话要跑90分钟，因为他的专业背景会把他带进各种兔子洞。评估的核心问题——我们交给你的那些基础问题——无论如何都能生成报告。
你不需要成为专家。你只需要成为掌握过滤器的人。
## 从零开始我会采取的前10个行动
1. 选择一个企业主年收入超过50万美元且已经在为咨询服务付费的细分领域。
2. 针对该领域定制评估问题库（把你知道的关于他们世界的信息喂给Claude，让它改编问题）。
3. 打造一个3小时的工作坊，教授应用于该领域的“三大成果”过滤器。收费97美元。
4. 搭建注册流程，在确认页放置评估追加销售：锚定价997美元，工作坊前特惠价497美元。
5. 用一封邮件发给你的列表来填满房间，或者如果没有列表，就发20份私人邀请。
6. 交付工作坊。在结束时用24小时200美元折扣成交评估服务。
7. 先为现有联系人做1-2次免费评估，在付费客户到来之前积累推荐语。
8. 每一份付费评估都通过探索通话 → Claude → 评分报告的流程来交付。
9. 生成7分钟讲解视频，在讲解通话之前作为预告发送。
10. 在讲解通话中，使用双路径成交法。按月报价，而非总价。以他们的预计节省额作为锚点。
然后下个月再做一次。Dino的第二场工作坊已经有10个付费名额，零免费名额。
## 最后的思考
大多数人拿不下第一份AI月费合同的原因是，他们在第一次约会就求婚。Dino在月费合同对话发生之前，三次有偿地建立了信任，到那时这已经不是推销了，而是显而易见的下一步。
他53岁，不会编程，并打算把这辆车开到轮子掉下来为止。
你的借口已经没有了。
[在Build With AI播客上观看与Dino的完整拆解。](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXYHFEVMxig&t=792s)
如果你想在一处获取本文的评估模板和手册资源，[在这里免费领取。](https://corey-ganim.kit.com/2673cdcdb6)
如果你想要打包完整的生意（培训课程、定制评估模板，以及242多位正在销售AI服务的实操者），加入[AI Operator Academy。](https://www.skool.com/aioperatoracademy/about)
关注我 [@coreyganim](https://x.com/@coreyganim)，获取关于发展AI服务业务的每日内容。如果这份手册对你有帮助，请转发，让其他实操者也能看到。
## 相关链接
- [Corey Ganim](https://x.com/coreyganim)
- [@coreyganim](https://x.com/@coreyganim)
- [2.9K](https://x.com/coreyganim/status/2094066129790755304/analytics)
- [interviewed a guy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXYHFEVMxig&t=791s)
- [$500-600K](https://x.com/search?q=%24500-600K&src=cashtag_click)
- [Watch the full breakdown with Dino on the Build With AI podcast.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXYHFEVMxig&t=792s)
- [AI Operator Academy.](https://www.skool.com/aioperatoracademy/about)
- [@coreyganim](https://x.com/@coreyganim)
- [Upgrade to Premium](https://x.com/i/premium_sign_up)
- [10:14 PM · Aug 30, 2026](https://x.com/coreyganim/status/2094066129790755304)
- [2,999 Views](https://x.com/coreyganim/status/2094066129790755304/analytics)
---
*导出时间： 2026/8/31 00:05:04* 
