AI illustrationPaid-ads agency for local businesses · LinkedIn
Three in ten local business owners wrote back
Uberwood Agency runs Meta and Google ads for small US businesses. Its Sellinger agents wrote to owners of landscaping, HVAC, spa and real-estate businesses from four LinkedIn profiles, asked one question about how they win customers, and booked strategy calls with the agency’s team.
- Client
- Uberwood Agency
- Founder
- Rey Clemons
- Channel
- Window
- Sep 2025 to Jun 2026
- Data as of
- 9 October 2026
reply rate: 196 of 677 owners and leaders messaged
of replies came to the very first message
prospects asked for a call: 9 confirmed meetings, 5 who offered their phone number
median agent reply inside the winning conversations; 75% within an hour
In short
- Owners of local service businesses are busy and sceptical of agencies. The agents asked one question about how they win customers, and 70% of all replies came to that first message.
- Follow-ups added 43% more replies when they brought a new angle: a pain typical of the owner’s industry, not a plain bump. Beyond the second follow-up, very few people replied.
- All 196 replied threads were read, because bookings went to the agency’s own calendars. 14 prospects asked for a call: 9 confirmed meetings, 5 who offered their phone number.
7 min read
An ads agency that needed conversations with owners, not more leads
Uberwood Agency, founded by Rey Clemons, sells done-for-you Meta and Google advertising for a flat monthly fee. Its buyers are owners of local service businesses: busy, sceptical of agencies, and rarely on LinkedIn for long. The agents had to start a real conversation in one message.
Sellinger’s agents wrote from four team LinkedIn profiles to owners of landscaping, HVAC, spa and real-estate businesses. They asked one question about how those owners win customers, followed up with an angle from the owner’s industry, and booked 15-minute strategy calls with a named business-development lead on the agency’s team.
AI illustrationWhat
Done-for-you Meta and Google ads
A flat monthly fee for small US businesses.
AI illustrationWho
Owners of local service businesses
Spas, landscaping, HVAC, real estate: busy, and sceptical of agencies.
AI illustrationHow
One question, then a 15-minute call
From four team LinkedIn profiles, with a named business-development lead.
The playbook: one question, a new angle, a 15-minute call
The sequence the agents ran for every prospect. The median gap between touches was 5 days, like clockwork.
Day 0
Connection request
From one of four team profiles, almost always without a note.
On accept
One question
“Straight to it, what’s the single biggest constraint on your customer acquisition right now?”
+5 days
Follow-up with an angle
A typical pain for their industry, not a plain bump.
+10 days
Value, then a soft close
A stat or a “written analysis, no call needed”, then a polite breakup.
Buying signal
15-minute strategy call
With a named business-development lead. “No fluff, just strategy.”
connection requests sent
owners and leaders messaged after connecting
reply rate in the busiest month (Nov 2025, 238 messaged)
196 replies, 37 positive, 14 prospects who asked for a call
Bookings went to the agency’s own external calendars, which Sellinger does not see, so every replied thread was read to find the meetings. Positive = asked for a call, booked, shared a phone number, or referred us on.
AI illustrationThe funnel
LinkedIn, 18 Sep 2025 to 6 Jun 2026
- Messaged677
- Replied196 (29%)
- Positive replies37 (5.5%)
- Asked for a call14 (2.1%)
- Meetings confirmed9
prospects asked for a call: 9 confirmed meetings, 5 who offered their phone number
meetings were with target buyers; the other four were with marketers and consultants
Reply rate by month of first message
share of owners messaged that month who replied
- Oct 202540%
- Nov 202531%
- Dec 202528%
- Jan 202624%
- Feb 202635%
- Mar 202620%
Most volume ran from October to February; the outreach period ended in June 2026.
What the threads showed
- Five of the nine meetings were with target buyers: a wellness-spa owner, a bank CMO, a landscaping CEO, an HVAC contractor CEO, and an HVAC-equipment manufacturer’s owner with his VP of Growth. The other four were marketers and consultants.
- The offer matters more than the agent. When a Connected TV “Plan B” was added to the pitch, replies kept coming, but the 181 conversations where it came up produced no meetings.
- Warm lists replied most. Network and post-engagement leads replied at 39%; keyword lists at 12 to 36% by industry.
Follow-ups added 43% more replies; the first one did most of it
Replies to the first message alone: 19.6%. With follow-ups: 27.9%. Beyond the second follow-up, very few people replied. Six of the 14 call requests came after an unanswered follow-up that added a new angle.
Reply rate at each touch
of owners who got that message without having replied yet
- Intro19.6% (129/660)
- Follow-up 18.8% (38/430)
- Follow-up 23.5% (11/316)
- Follow-up 32.0% (4/197)
- Follow-up 41.2% (1/84)
Which message earned the first reply
- Intro70%
- Follow-up 121%
- Follow-up 26%
- Follow-up 3+3%
Follow up once or twice, and make each follow-up say something new. A typical industry pain beat any bump; beyond the second follow-up, replies dried up.
Answers in minutes, including evenings and weekends
More than half of all prospect messages arrived outside business hours. The agents answered most of those before the next business morning.
median agent reply inside the winning threads; 75% within an hour
of prospect messages arrived in the evening or at weekends (US Eastern)
of those were answered before the next business morning
median from first message to first reply
In the winning threads the agent replied in a median 18 minutes, often in two or three. One spa owner went from first reply to a booking in 45 minutes.
Five patterns behind the conversations that led to a call request
One question that costs nothing to answer
“What’s the single biggest constraint on your customer acquisition right now?” Owners answered with their real situation.
10 of 14 wins began with a reply to the first message.
Follow-ups with a new angle
Instead of “just bumping this”, the follow-up named a pain typical of their industry: life beyond referrals, wasted ad spend, low-quality leads.
6 of 14 wins came after such a follow-up.
Speed at the moment of interest
When an owner engaged, the agent kept pace, often within two or three minutes, while they were still on LinkedIn.
One HVAC owner got 6 replies in 28 minutes.
Their words, back to them
“A clear, actionable plan to find those next 100 loyal customers”, after the owner said she needed a hundred more.
A small ask with a named specialist
A 15-minute strategy call with the agency’s business-development lead, framed as “no fluff, just strategy”.
8 of 9 confirmed meetings came from this ask.
Inside the conversations
Four real threads, condensed. Prospect names are changed; the agents’ and prospects’ words are verbatim.
AI illustration“I would love to see a strategy that delivers. I have done my own ads and hate doing it.”
Wellness-spa owner, US
CEO, landscaping company, US
Landscaping: booked 3 minutes after the link
- AgentDay 0Hey Ken, noticed you're driving growth at [the company]. With your focus on expanding the client base, what's your primary method for generating new landscaping and hardscape leads right now?
One open question, no pitch.
- AgentDay 5Many landscaping businesses find it challenging to get a consistent stream of new leads beyond referrals. Curious if that's something on your radar?
Follow-up names the industry’s pain.
- Ken, CEO+7 hIt is on my radar, i have not really scaled the business yet. I had a niche market, that i need to expand on and am starting to look into it.
Buying signal.
- Agent+2 minThat's a great position to be in, Ken. Scaling beyond a niche is all about building a predictable system for new leads. [...] hop on a 15-minute call with Will, our Director of Business Development. [booking link]
Straight to the ask, in his words.
- Ken, CEO+3 minThanks I just grabbed some time with him tomorrow
Booked.
Why it worked: Booked on the first follow-up: it named the industry’s pain, and the agent answered the buying signal with the call in his own words.
Wellness-spa owner, US
Wellness spa: from “I’m closing” to a booked call in 45 minutes
- Sara, spa ownerDay 0I have had trickles of people coming in and now am having to close at the end of the year.
- Agent+2 minI'm truly sorry to hear that, Sara. It sounds like you created something with a lot of heart [...] Wishing you all the very best.
No pitch into bad news.
- Sara, spa owner+3 minI am taking the saltroom [...] on the road in a mobile trailer.
The gracious exit reopened the conversation.
- Sara, spa owner+12 minI signed on with a marketing agency early on and spent 5000 on no return. [...] I just needed a hundred more of them to make it profitable.
The real objection.
- Agent+5 minThat's textbook 'black box' agency behavior. [...] Are you open to a brief 15-min screen share to see what a transparent, results-focused plan for your new mobile business would actually look like?
Names her distrust, offers the opposite.
- Sara, spa owner+16 minThank you for putting in the effort. I am happy to schedule and to make referrals when I like what I see.
Booked; Rey adjusted the slot himself.
Why it worked: Empathy before the pitch. Sympathy for an owner closing her spa reopened the conversation and ended in a booking.
Owner, HVAC-equipment manufacturer
HVAC manufacturer: owner and VP of Growth, next day
- Mark, ownerDay 0We weren't acquired....Through rep partners and direct marketing.
Corrects a stale detail in the opener.
- Agent+2 minMy apologies, Mark, for the incorrect assumption, thanks for setting me straight! [...] are you currently running any paid digital campaigns?
Owns the error in one line.
- Mark, owner+2 minWe have ran some paid google adds without a lot of luck. Lots of leads and traffic but zero quality.
- Agent+4 minIt often comes down to targeting too broad keywords, missing negative keywords, or sending traffic to pages that don't effectively convert. [...] Would a 15-minute strategy call make sense?
Diagnosis before the ask.
- Mark, owner+3 minI cant see that it would hurt. I will loop in my VP of Growth. [...] We are having a hard time with proposals giving us quantifiable data.
Objection.
- Agent+2 min[...] that's exactly what our team focuses on during these calls: benchmark against industry standards, identify 2-3 specific opportunities, and outline a clear roadmap with realistic expectations.
The objection becomes the agenda. Meeting held next day.
Why it worked: A sceptic’s objection became the meeting agenda. The owner brought his VP of Growth to the call.
Founder, boat marketplace
Boat marketplace: the founder asks for the call
- AgentDay 0The classic marketplace challenge is balancing the cost to acquire supply (listings) vs. demand (buyers). Which side is proving more expensive to scale right now?
A question about how his business works.
- AgentDay 0What's your current return on ad spend looking like?
A metric question goes unanswered.
- AgentDay 6[...] I typically find that 20-40% of a marketplace's budget is wasted on traffic that will never convert. Is optimizing that spend a current priority?
New angle, not a repeat.
- AgentDay 11The core issue for a marketplace like yours isn't traffic, it's filtering high-intent buyers from the 'dreamers' before you spend money on them. [...] Open to a 15-minute private briefing? No sales pitch.
Second angle, easy yes or no.
- Omar, founder+3 hlets have a call tomorrow if possible here is my number
The founder picks the channel.
Why it worked: Two new angles earned a phone call, after a metric question had gone unanswered.
What made it work
- 1
Ask the one question owners think about every day. 70% of all replies came to the first message, and “what’s your biggest constraint on getting customers?” was the best-performing version.
- 2
Follow up once or twice with a new angle. A typical industry pain beat any bump; beyond the second follow-up, replies dried up.
- 3
Answer while they’re still there. In the winning threads the agent replied in a median 18 minutes, often in two or three.
- 4
Respect the person before the pitch. Sympathy for an owner closing her spa reopened the conversation and ended in a booking.
- 5
Keep the offer the market wants. The same agent, pitching a product owners didn’t want, produced replies but no meetings.
- 6
Close the loop with a human. Rey stepped in to reschedule and call in 4 of the 14 wins.
How we measured this
- Source: Sellinger production data for the Uberwood Agency workspace, read-only, snapshot 9 October 2026. LinkedIn only, 18 September 2025 to 6 June 2026.
- Messaged = received at least one message after connecting. Replied = wrote back after our first message.
- All 196 replied threads were read. Meetings were found in the conversation text because bookings went to the agency’s own calendars, which Sellinger does not see.
- Touch = the n-th message before the prospect’s first reply. Reply rate per touch = of people who got that message without having replied, the share who replied before the next one.
- Prospect names are changed and companies are described, not named.
- Images are AI illustrations, not photos of Uberwood’s clients.
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