The first screen
- Why
- Wrong visitor, or not ready
- What you get
- Nothing, and it cost you nothing
Why they showed up at all
Almost nobody goes looking for a PEO. They go looking for relief from a number.
- The renewal came in with an increase they cannot absorb, and it is the third year running.
- They are adding people and just realized what benefits will cost at their size.
- Someone at a trade association mentioned they use a PEO and pay less.
- They asked an AI what a PEO costs and got a fluent, uncited, generic answer that told them nothing about their business.
- You reached out, and they finally clicked.
Whatever brought them, they arrive mid problem, not mid research. That single fact governs the entire design.
Six people who land on your site
You already know these people. The site is built for all of them at once, without insulting any of them.
The one with the renewal letter open.
Angry, specific, holding a real number. Wants to know if this is better. Will not tolerate a form.
The delegator.
Owns the company, does not do the math. Will forward whatever they find to their bookkeeper, their CFO, or their spouse. Whatever you give them has to survive being forwarded to someone more skeptical than they are.
The skeptic.
Enters approximate numbers first, to see whether the thing is real. If the output looks canned, they leave. If it moves sensibly with their inputs, they come back and enter the truth.
The comparison shopper.
Talking to you and two others this week. Whoever answers first frames every conversation that follows.
The one who does not know the word yet.
Has heard "PEO" twice. Needs to understand what it means for their money, not what the acronym stands for.
The tire kicker.
Curious, not moving this quarter. Costs you an hour if they reach your calendar. Costs you nothing if they do not.
They differ in patience, sophistication, and readiness. They are identical in one respect.
Every one of them wants to know what it costs, and none of them wants to earn that answer by handing over a phone number first.
The eight steps they move through
01
They land, and you have seconds.
The page says what it does in a sentence. No history of the agency, no explanation of co-employment. They are deciding one thing: is this going to answer me, or handle me.
02
They start answering.
Only things an owner knows without looking anything up. What they expect to earn. What they pay for healthcare now. How the company is set up. How many people. No document requests, no census upload, no homework.
03
They see a number.
Their best case PEO cost, from your rate card, carried through federal and state tax law to what it does to their bottom line. Not a range. Not a promise to call them back. A number, with its scope stated plainly: healthcare premium plus your admin fee, with comp and the ancillary lines defined later in your formal quote.
04
They decide whether to unlock the rest.
The full report sits behind a phone verification. This is the trade, and it is an honest one. They got something real first, so being asked for a verified number afterward reads as reasonable rather than extractive.
05
If they want help, they can talk to it.
A voice agent is available and clearly optional. It introduces itself as an agent, never as a person. On the locked report it explains what the number means and helps them through verification. It listens more than it talks.
06
They verify, and the report opens.
Their numbers, their state, the rules that apply to them. A second agent walks them through the highlights and sends comp, dental, and PEO specifics where those belong, which is a conversation with you.
07
The report is texted to their phone.
A few minutes after they verify, the link arrives on the number they confirmed, under your name. It survives the moment. They can reopen it that night, forward it to their accountant, or show their partner. The delegator's version of this journey depends entirely on this step.
08
They ask for the quote, or book time with you.
Not because a button chased them, but because they now hold a number they believe and a short list of what is still undefined. You are the person who can close that list.
Where they leave, and what you get anyway
Most funnels are described as though nobody leaves. Here is what actually happens.
| They leave at | Why | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| The first screen | Wrong visitor, or not ready | Nothing, and it cost you nothing |
| Mid questionnaire | Distracted, or unwilling to think about it today | Anonymous signal in your analytics that the page is being tried |
| The number | It did not favor them | A truthful no, delivered without your time. They do not call you to argue |
| The verification gate | Not ready to be contacted | The strongest anonymous signal you have. Someone modeled a real scenario |
| After unlocking | Thinking it over, or forwarding it | Their full file, and a live prospect who now has your name attached to a real number |
Mid questionnaire
- Why
- Distracted, or unwilling to think about it today
- What you get
- Anonymous signal in your analytics that the page is being tried
The number
- Why
- It did not favor them
- What you get
- A truthful no, delivered without your time. They do not call you to argue
The verification gate
- Why
- Not ready to be contacted
- What you get
- The strongest anonymous signal you have. Someone modeled a real scenario
After unlocking
- Why
- Thinking it over, or forwarding it
- What you get
- Their full file, and a live prospect who now has your name attached to a real number
The engine can return an unfavorable result, and it says so.
An owner who learns that on your site does not become an hour on your calendar, and does not become a bad placement you have to fix at renewal.
What lands with you when it works
A verified mobile number and their contact details
Projected income, entity type, state, company setup, headcount
What they pay today, and the number they were shown
What they asked the agent, in their own words, summarized
You open the call already knowing their situation. No discovery, no fact collecting, no asking them to repeat what they already typed.
You spend the call on judgment, fit, and the parts of this that are actually your craft.
Why it is built this way
Your customers are business owners under pressure who resent having to think about healthcare costs at all. They will not read, they will not do homework, and they will not trade their contact information for the promise of a callback.
So the site pays first. It gives a real answer, then it asks.
The ones who fit arrive at your call already convinced there is something here worth an hour. The ones who do not, do not arrive.