$1,000 to $3,000 a month: the real proposal we sent a dog board-and-train business

The client runs a board-and-train dog training business out of the Houston, Texas suburbs. Dogs live at the trainer's own property for a set number of weeks, one week up to six depending on the program, while they work through obedience, anxiety, reactivity, or aggression cases. Clients get photo and video updates during the stay and unlimited follow-up lessons afterward.

This is a high-ticket, low-frequency purchase: a single booking can run into the thousands of dollars, and most pet owners only need it once or twice in a dog's life. That combination makes the client's existing reputation and visible proof of results more important to a buying decision than it would be for a lower-ticket, repeat-purchase business.

The client asked for a proposal covering search engine optimization, answer-engine optimization aimed at AI chat tools, and Google Ads management with a spending cap that rises at each pricing tier, plus email marketing. A new 10-page marketing website was built as the centerpiece deliverable, along with hosting and ongoing maintenance, a refreshed Google Business Profile, and access to a client dashboard for tracking results.

Two full design directions for the sample website were produced before the proposal went out: one built around the client's existing color palette and logo in a warmer, more traditional style, and a second, more minimal direction built after research into current pet-service website design. Both kept every price, hour, and service detail exactly as published on the client's own site.

The number sent to the client ladders from $1,000 a month up to $2,000, then to $3,000, all USD. The step from one tier to the next is tied to a revenue or lead-volume target that the agency and client agree on directly, rather than a public formula printed on the page.

An earlier draft had considered a different mechanism: reading a specific number of paid bookings each month from the client's own online booking platform and stepping the fee up automatically at fixed booking counts. That version was set aside before the proposal was sent in favor of a target agreed with the client in conversation, which gives both sides room to account for seasonality in a business where demand for board-and-train stays can swing sharply by time of year.

The sample website did not invent any client testimonials, reviews, or case studies. The client's own site did not display any reviews at the time of the audit, since its review widget pointed visitors to an outside page rather than showing quotes directly, so none were fabricated to fill that gap on the sample.

Staff bios were also kept honest. Marketing copy across the client's own site referred to trainers in the plural, but only one trainer was named or pictured anywhere on the business's public materials, so the sample matched that exactly rather than inventing a team the client had not shown.

The proposal was sent to the client in September 2026, after a round of owner review that included cutting an early draft's wording down to a shorter, plainer pitch. Along with the price and scope, the sender flagged two findings worth raising on a follow-up call: a Google Business Profile still listed under the business's previous name, and two social media icons on the client's own website linking to accounts that no longer matched its current handles.

The record available stops at the send itself; whatever happened on the client's end after that was never captured in the file this page draws from.