Ruben BuijsYour next chatbot client may already be paying you to maintain their website. Start with a problem you can point to: repeated service questions, missed enquiries or visitors who cannot find the right contact.
This guide follows a fictional dental practice, Harbor Dental, from the first conversation to launch. The goal is a service you can demonstrate, quote and keep delivering.
Start with the questions the business already receives
Ask a client to collect common questions from recent emails, calls or live chats. Group them by what the visitor needs: opening hours, delivery, service details or help choosing.
Choose a small group that has reliable source information. If staff disagree about the answer, fix the source before training a chatbot on it.
For example, the fictional Harbor Dental practice receives questions about opening hours and appointments. Begin with approved opening-hours answers and an enquiry route. Don't promise automatic bookings unless the booking action is configured and tested.
Decide whether a chatbot is a good fit
| Client situation | First response |
|---|---|
| Frequent questions with stable answers | A focused chatbot pilot can help |
| Missing or contradictory website information | Fix the information first |
| Little traffic and few enquiries | Improve the website or acquisition before selling extensive automation |
| Questions need personal judgment | Route them to the team rather than inventing answers |
| The client expects staff to answer live chats | Agree staffing separately |
A good recommendation can be a smaller project. That is better than selling maintenance work the client does not need.
Open the conversation with a specific offer
Once you know the repeated question, offer to show a small example. You do not need a presentation about AI to get this conversation started.
Your team gets several questions about opening hours and appointments. I can show you a website assistant that answers from your approved information and sends enquiries to the team. Would you like to review a small demo?
For Harbor Dental, that is an invitation to solve a familiar problem. The practice can judge the result before committing to a larger project. Agree which public or supplied content you can use for the demo.
Build a demo around their approved information
With Boei, an approved agency can start a client trial from the client's website address. Boei creates the chatbot and finds pages through the website and sitemap. You can prepare the demo and check its answers before inviting the client.
The website provides a starting draft, not a finished client service. Review the discovered pages, fill gaps with approved FAQs and test the questions you collected earlier. Use the client's permission and approved public or supplied content.
For Harbor Dental, test an opening-hours question, a missing price and a request for human help. Follow an enquiry through to the team's inbox. The demo should make the handover as clear as the answer.
Boei's training sources and human contact options support those two parts of the service. A booking or order action still needs its own connection and test.
Turn the demo into a clear offer
Your setup can include content review, configuration, answer testing, installation and a short handover. Ongoing work can include agreed content changes and answer checks.
Separate the client's responsibilities. They supply accurate business information and approve changes. Their staff handle the conversations you route to them unless your contract includes that service.
Use a plain scope statement:
We will configure one website chatbot using the sources you approve. We will test the agreed questions and install it on the listed website. Ongoing care includes the update time shown in your quote. New systems, major content changes and staffed live chat require a separate agreement.
Adapt that example to your project. It is a service description, not a complete legal contract.
Decide who owns and pays for the account
Some clients want their own subscription and ownership. Others want the agency to invoice the software and service together.
In Boei's client-owned route, share your affiliate signup link and then request management access. The client approves access and can revoke it. In the approved reseller route, your agency pays Boei and invoices the client.
Neither arrangement requires password sharing. Read the agency options before promising a particular billing model.
Make the price understandable
Show setup, software and ongoing work separately, even if you later combine them into one invoice. Explain the usage allowance and approval process for extra capacity.
Build your price from delivery costs and client value. Don't use another vendor's claimed earnings as evidence of what your agency will make. Build a clear chatbot service quote with separate software, setup and care prices.
Give the pilot a finish line
A pilot needs a finish line. Agree which questions and website you will cover, who approves the information and what counts as a useful result. Keep these decisions in a short shared document.
For Harbor Dental, the first scope could cover opening hours, new-patient information and appointment enquiries. The chatbot should answer from the approved content and send uncertain requests to the business. It should not claim to book an appointment on its own.
| Before the pilot | At the review |
|---|---|
| Name the website and approved sources | Check that the widget uses the right business information |
| Write the common questions together | Test them again with the client watching |
| Agree what the chatbot must not do | Try missing details and requests outside the scope |
| Choose who receives enquiries | Follow a test enquiry through to the team's inbox |
| Name the content approver | Confirm how future changes will reach you |
| Set the pilot fee or trial terms | Decide whether to continue, change the scope or stop |
The client can then approve a useful piece of work. You also have a clear reason to stop expanding a small pilot into a much larger project.
Answer the questions that can hold up a sale
A useful demo will still raise questions. Answer them with something the client can see or check.
| The client asks | A useful response |
|---|---|
| What if it gets an answer wrong? | Show a missing-answer example, the source it uses and the route to a person |
| Why pay you when there is already a subscription? | Point to the content review, tests, installation and handover in your quote |
| Will I keep control? | Explain account ownership and show how approved management access can be removed |
| Can the monthly fee be fixed? | Define the included care time and how extra usage or a new integration is approved |
For Harbor Dental, the appointment test is especially useful. An enquiry sent to reception is easy to verify. A claim that an appointment is booked requires a connected booking system that really performs that action.
Leave the client with a usable handover
At launch, send a short record of the website, account owner, training sources and contact route. Include who handles content updates and who answers visitor conversations. Write down how the client contacts you about a problem.
Check that the client can sign in using their own details when they own the account. Let them know how to remove your access. Agree what happens to any ongoing service fee if they move to another designer.
For a reseller arrangement, explain that the agency handles the software invoice and first-line support. Keep that responsibility visible in the service agreement. A branded dashboard should not leave the client unsure who to contact.
Check the result after launch
Review real questions and the fixes they reveal. Record maintenance time, missing answers and useful enquiries. Compare those observations with what you promised.
Use the first project to improve the next quote. If support takes twice the planned time, change the scope or price before adding more clients.
A useful first project gives you a service you can explain, price and repeat. Explore Boei for agencies when you are ready to build for the first client.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to build the chatbot software myself?
No. You can use an existing platform and charge for configuration, installation and ongoing work. Choose the platform around the client's task.
Should I start with a white-label platform?
Only if the client service needs it. Account access and a working chatbot can matter more than a branded dashboard on your first project.
Can I guarantee more leads?
Don't guarantee an increase without evidence and a clear way to measure it. Agree a useful task and review what actually happens.