Keep Money in
Your Pocket.
An honest look at what your ordering setup is costing you right now, run on your real numbers, not ours.
SAY: Do not read this slide. Say your name and one sentence: "I am not here to pitch you a product. I am here to show you a number, and if the number is not interesting we are done in ten minutes."
ASK: How long have you been open? Who handles the DoorDash account?
WATCH: You are buying permission to ask about money. Get it now or slide 4 does not work.
SAY: Read line one and line three together, then STOP TALKING. Double digits out, single digits kept. When he speaks first, you have won the frame.
ASK: Does that match what you are seeing? Have you ever added up the fees past the headline commission?
WATCH: Two lines do the heavy lifting. The 35 to 40% line, because almost no owner has stacked the marketing fee, the service fee, and the tablet fee on top of the commission. And the 92% line, because that is not a market, that is a duopoly. He is not negotiating with anyone.
SOURCES: ALL FIVE VERIFIED. 15 to 30% is DoorDash's own pricing page. 35 to 40% is Toast and Restaurant365, and it is the conservative end (some sources say 45%). $16K is arithmetic, $6,000 x 12 x 22%. 92% and 67% are Bloomberg Second Measure, March 2024. If he pushes on 67%, do NOT defend the decimal: "Fair. Call it two thirds. Does that change your math?" The concession buys credibility and the answer is no.
You raise prices to survive the fee.
Then the fee eats your repeats.
To cover a 25% commission, most owners mark up their delivery menu. It is the only rational move. Here is what DoorDash found when they studied it.
SAY: He knows about the commission. He has never been shown that the markup he uses to survive it is what kills his reorders. And DoorDash is the one saying it: "This is their number, not mine. It is on their own merchant site."
ASK: Have you marked up your delivery menu? By how much? (Almost every owner has. Let him admit it.)
WATCH: SAY "UP TO." Do not drop those two words. DoorDash's exact language is "up to 37%" and "up to 78%." State them flat, and if he pulls up the page while you are sitting there he finds the words "up to" and you stop being the person who told him the truth. The rest of the deck dies with it. Two words. Say them.
SOURCES: Verified against DoorDash's own merchant site. Invite him to look it up while you sit there. That confidence closes the point. This is the emotional turn of the deck. Do not rush it.
Let us run it on your numbers
SAY: THIS IS THE WHOLE CALL. Type HIS numbers. Narrate nothing. Let the black row land, then be quiet. If he pushes on row 2: "That one is an estimate, and I set the drop conservatively. Row 1 is just arithmetic. Even if row 2 were zero, look at row 1."
ASK: Roughly what are you doing a month through the apps? What is a typical ticket? Which plan are you on? If he does not know, have him open the merchant portal right there.
WATCH: Row 1 = sales x rate. Row 2 = (sales / avg ticket) x 30% repeat rate x the drop you set, valued at avg ticket. Green = commission recovered after processing, plus reorders won back. Know it cold. Never guess his revenue for him.
SOURCES: Processing is 2.9% + $0.30, which matches DoorDash's own published rate for their direct Online Ordering product, so the green row is not flattering us. NOTE: Applova publishes its own delivery commission calculator at applova.io. Run a prospect's numbers through both before the call so he never gets two different answers from the same company.
The clock is not on your side
SAY: SKIP if he is already leaning in. This is for the owner who says "let me think about it." Point three stings most, and it carries the duopoly number from slide 2.
ASK: If they raised your rate five points next quarter, what would you actually do about it? (There is no answer. That is the point.)
WATCH: Do not manufacture urgency. Owners smell it. The facts are enough.
SOURCES: The 3 to 9% here matches slide 2 exactly. Never quote a different margin range on the two slides.
Own the customer, own the repeat
On the marketplace, the app owns the guest and charges you again on every reorder. On your own channel, you keep the name, the number, and the order history, and you market to that guest for free.
SAY: You are not selling cheaper software. You are selling ownership of an asset he does not currently own.
ASK: How many of your DoorDash customers could you text right now if you had a slow Tuesday? (Zero. Let him say it out loud.)
WATCH: Best question in the deck. Do not rush past it.
SOURCES: Applova's own data, but now confirmed published on applova.io: 1,200+ restaurants, 4x repeat customers. The old 1,470+ figure from earlier decks is DEAD. The live site says 1,200+. Use 1,200+ only. Still, lead with the RENTING vs OWNING argument, which needs no statistic. Never make 4x the load bearing claim.
Four ways to stop the bleed
SAY: DO NOT FEATURE DUMP. Point at ONE card, the one matching the bleed you just quantified on slide 4. Name the other three in one breath and move. This slide is about his money, not our product line. Never say the word "ecosystem" out loud.
ASK: Which of these four would change your Tuesday?
WATCH: The DoorDash Drive line kills the biggest objection before it is raised. Say it even if you skip everything else here. If he pushes back on the kiosk with "my people upsell fine," do not reach for a stat: "Your best closer upsells. Your Tuesday night kid does not. The kiosk is your best closer, every shift."
SOURCES: +22% AOV and DoorDash Drive with no marketplace fees are both published on applova.io. "Live in 72 hours" applies to the WEB STORE ONLY. Kiosk and POS are about a week. The branded app is 2 to 3 weeks because Apple and Google control the review. Do not let the 72 hour tag bleed onto the other three cards.
Real restaurants. Real numbers.
SAY: Thirty seconds maximum. This answers one unspoken question: are you a real company. Answer it and move.
ASK: Nothing.
WATCH: Skip entirely if he already trusts you.
SOURCES: Every figure on this slide is now CONFIRMED PUBLISHED on applova.io: 1,200+ restaurants, $480M+ processed, 4x repeat, +22% AOV, 32% revenue growth, 30% front of house labor reduction, 34% upsells accepted. It is still Applova's own data, not third party audited, but the deck matches the public site exactly, so nothing here can be contradicted by a prospect who goes and looks. The old 1,470+ number is retired. Never use it.
What actually happens after launch
SAY: Use ONE, the one answering his actual objection. Uppal if customers will not use a kiosk. Anderson if staff drowns in phone orders. Tran if he is the bottleneck himself.
ASK: Which of these sounds most like your Friday night?
WATCH: A testimonial that does not match his objection is noise.
SOURCES: All three are published on applova.io's public homepage with names, businesses, and cities. This is Applova's own marketing, already out in the world, so the legal exposure is low. Do not embellish them, do not add numbers that are not in the original quote.
Neither one is true here
SAY: Say this BEFORE he raises it. An objection you answer before it is spoken never becomes an objection.
ASK: What is on your counter right now, Clover or Square?
WATCH: If he exhales here, you are close.
SOURCES: Clover, Square, and GoDaddy POS integration is confirmed on applova.io. DoorDash Drive delivery with no marketplace fee is also confirmed there. Both are safe to say.
A commission is a cost that grows every time you have a good month. It punishes you for succeeding. A flat subscription is a cost that stops. Do twice the volume next year, and you pay DoorDash twice as much. You pay us exactly the same.
SAY: Slow all the way down. Read it. This is the line he repeats to his wife tonight.
ASK: Nothing. Let it land.
WATCH: Three seconds of silence after the last word.
No percentage of your sales. Ever.
SAY: Say the number plainly. Do not apologize, do not hedge. Then advance immediately. The price only feels expensive in the silence before the payback.
ASK: Nothing yet.
WATCH: Any hesitation in your voice and he hears doubt.
SOURCES: THE ONLY NUMBERS IN THIS DECK THAT ARE NOT PUBLIC ANYWHERE. Applova does not publish pricing on its site at all ("book a demo, we build a custom quote"). The zero commission claim IS published and is safe. The $139 to $199 and $350 to $1,299 are internal and must be checked against the live rate card before you say them out loud. Quoting a stale price and correcting it later costs you the deal.
When does this pay for itself?
SAY: Do not touch the slider yourself. Hand it to him. Use HIS number even if it is conservative.
ASK: What percent of those orders could you move to your own channel? Then: does that payback window look reasonable?
WATCH: This slide counts COMMISSION ONLY. The reorder recovery from slide 4 is on top. Say that. Then STOP TALKING. Whoever speaks first after the three-year number loses.
SOURCES: Priced at the TOP of the Applova range ($199 a month, $1,299 setup), so every result here understates the savings. Say that out loud. An owner who catches you being conservative in his favor stops looking for the trick.
Everyone says "commission free"
SAY: SKIP unless he names a competitor. If he raises Toast: their zero only applies on their own POS, you still pay 3.5% on every online order, you cannot bring your own processor, and Toast can raise your rate on 30 days notice mid contract. Same promise, more strings.
ASK: Have you looked at anything else?
WATCH: Never disparage. State the published terms and let him do the math. The moment you editorialize, you sound scared.
SOURCES: Every competitor line is pulled from the competitor's own published pricing and verified. If a prospect challenges any of it, hand him the vendor's own pricing page. That is exactly why we quote their terms and not our opinion of them.
Twenty minutes, your menu, your math
SAY: Ask for the calendar, not for permission. "What does Thursday look like?" beats "would you be open to a follow up?"
ASK: Who else needs to be on that call with us?
WATCH: Ask for the close by end of call two. If he has seen his own number and still will not book, go back to slide 4 next call. Do not say "I opened with that number," because you did not. The title slide no longer carries it.
SOURCES: "Live within 72 hours" is confirmed on applova.io but it applies to the WEB STORE ONLY. Kiosk and POS run about a week, the branded app 2 to 3 weeks. Say "web store" or do not say 72 hours. Missing that promise on day one poisons everything this deck just built.
Where $28,000 to $92,000 comes from
| Assumption | Conservative | Lean in |
|---|---|---|
| Marketplace sales per month | $20,000 | $20,000 |
| Average ticket | $40 | $40 |
| Commission rate | 25% (Plus) | 30% (Premier) |
| Orders moved to his own channel | 40% | 80% |
| Reorder recovery (DoorDash caps at 78%) | 40% | 78% |
| Year one | ||
| Commission avoided | $24,000 | $57,600 |
| Less card processing (2.9% + 30¢) | ($3,504) | ($7,008) |
| Reorders won back | $11,520 | $44,928 |
| Less Applova, top of price range | ($3,687) | ($3,687) |
| Net, back in his pocket | $28,329 | $91,833 |
SAY: Nothing. This slide is for you, not him. Know it cold before you open with the number on slide 1.
ASK: Of yourself, before the call: can I walk every line of this from memory?
WATCH: The single soft line is REORDER RECOVERY. It rests on DoorDash's own "up to 78%" study, and it is the biggest contributor at the top end. If a prospect attacks it, retreat to the hard line and win anyway: "Set reorders to zero. You still keep $20,496 in commission on the conservative case. The rest is upside." That sentence saves the call.
WHY $50K WAS WRONG: The old floor of $50,000 silently required moving 60% or more of his orders in year one. That is not conservative, that is aggressive, and an owner who does the arithmetic will catch it. $28,329 is what a genuinely cautious first year looks like. Quote a floor you can defend and the ceiling sells itself.
You are doing about $20,000 a month through the apps, and a real chunk of that is walking out the door to DoorDash at 20 to 30% a pop. I can put you on your own branded ordering channel where you keep that commission, own the customer, and the same Dashers still deliver. For a shop like yours that is $28,000 to $92,000 back in your pocket in year one. Give me twenty minutes and I will show you the math on your own numbers.
SAY: This is the thirty second pitch that EARNS the meeting. It is not a slide you present. It is what you say on the phone, at the counter, or in the parking lot to buy yourself the twenty minutes that slides 1 through 15 fill.
ASK: "Give me twenty minutes and I will show you the math." Ask for the calendar, not for interest.
WATCH: Four beats, in order. His number. Where it goes. What you would do instead. The money back. Then the ask. Do not add a fifth beat. Do not name a product. If you say "kiosk" or "POS" here you have lost the thread, because he has not felt the bleed yet.
SOURCES: $28,000 to $92,000 is the Worksheet slide. Know it cold or say "somewhere in the tens of thousands" and earn the meeting anyway. A number you cannot defend is worse than no number.