White-Label Chat Agents: Start an AI Agency

Most people overthinking their "AI startup" are building the wrong thing entirely.

They want to train foundation models, build the next ChatGPT wrapper, raise a seed round. Meanwhile, there's a brutally simple model sitting right in front of them: deploy white-label AI chat agents for local businesses, charge $500/month recurring, and keep nearly all of it.

No employees. No office. No inventory. Your overhead is a laptop, a platform subscription, and the ability to have a conversation with a business owner about their problems.

I'm going to walk through exactly how this works, what to build, what to charge, where to find clients, and what the margins actually look like. If you can follow instructions and talk to humans, you can have this running within a couple of weeks.

Why This Model Actually Works

Local businesses are drowning in a specific problem: they can't answer every inquiry that comes in. A realtor misses a lead at 10 PM. A gym loses a signup because nobody picked up the phone during the lunch rush. A restaurant gets 40 calls about hours and menu items that could be handled by a trained parrot.

These businesses know AI exists. They've seen ChatGPT. They have no idea how to deploy it on their website or connect it to their booking system. They don't want to learn. They want someone to just... handle it.

That's you.

Here's why the economics are almost offensively good:

Your cost per client: $30-80/month (platform fees + API usage) Your price per client: $400-600/month Your margin: 85-92%

At 20 clients, you're pulling $8,000-10,000/month with maybe 10-15 hours of maintenance work per week. At 50 clients, you're north of $25,000/month. At 100, you're clearing $50,000/month recurring and probably need to hire your first person.

The key phrase there is recurring. You're not doing one-off website builds where you chase the next project. Once the bot is deployed and working, clients pay you every month because the thing is answering their customers, booking their appointments, and qualifying their leads 24/7. Turning it off would be like firing their best employee.

What You're Actually Building

Let's be specific. You are not building AI from scratch. You're using existing platforms to create branded chat agents that sit on your clients' websites (and sometimes their SMS, WhatsApp, Instagram, or phone lines).

A typical deployment looks like this:

• Chat widget on the client's website that answers FAQs, qualifies leads, and books appointments
• Trained on the client's specific data: their services, pricing, hours, policies, staff bios
• Connected to their existing tools: Google Calendar for bookings, their CRM for lead capture, email/SMS for notifications
• Your branding removed, their branding applied: the client's customers never know a third party is involved

The agent handles the repetitive 80% of customer interactions. The complicated stuff gets routed to the business owner with full context.

The Tools

You don't need to evaluate fifty platforms. Here's what actually matters:

For most people starting out, use Botpress or Voiceflow.

Botpress gives you an agency plan at ~$495/month that includes unlimited bots and white-label dashboards. That means one subscription covers all your clients. Voiceflow is similar at $625/month for the Pro Agency tier. Both are drag-and-drop, no-code builders that can be customized deeply if you want to get technical.

If you want to go cheaper while you're testing the model, CustomGPT.ai starts at $49/month with full white-label capability. Less powerful, but enough to prove the concept and land your first 5-10 clients before upgrading.

For voice AI specifically (restaurants getting phone calls, for example), Synthflow at $99-499/month handles phone-based AI agents.

Here's a quick comparison of what you'll actually pay:

Platform	Your Monthly Cost	White-Label	Best For
Botpress	$495/mo (unlimited bots)	Yes, custom domains	Chat agents, complex flows
Voiceflow	$625/mo (unlimited agents)	Yes, embeddable widget	Multi-channel, voice+chat
CustomGPT.ai	$49-499/mo	Yes	Simple chat, fast deploy
Synthflow	$99-499/mo	Yes	Voice/phone AI agents

My recommendation: start with Botpress or CustomGPT.ai depending on your budget, land clients, then invest in more sophisticated tooling as revenue justifies it.

What a Build Actually Looks Like

Let me walk you through deploying a chat agent for a hypothetical client: a real estate agent named Sarah who wants to capture leads on her website after hours.

Step 1: Knowledge base setup (30-60 minutes)

You take Sarah's website content, her listing descriptions, her FAQ page, her bio, and her service area information. You feed all of this into Botpress as knowledge base documents. The AI now "knows" Sarah's business.

In Botpress, this is literally dragging files into the Knowledge Base section, or pasting URLs for it to crawl. No code.

Step 2: Conversation flow design (1-2 hours)

You build the core flow:

• Greet the visitor
• Ask what they're looking for (buying, selling, just browsing)
• If buying: ask about budget range, preferred neighborhoods, timeline
• If selling: ask about property type, desired timeline, whether they've gotten a valuation
• Capture name, email, phone number
• Book a call on Sarah's calendar or tell them Sarah will follow up within 24 hours

In Botpress, this is a visual flow builder. You're connecting nodes, not writing code. Though if you want to add custom logic, you can drop in code cards:

// Example: Route high-value leads differently
const budget = workflow.budget;

if (budget === 'over_1m') {
  workflow.priority = 'high';
  workflow.notifyImmediately = true;
} else {
  workflow.priority = 'normal';
  workflow.notifyImmediately = false;
}

Step 3: Integrations (30-60 minutes)

Connect the bot to:

• Google Calendar (via Zapier or native integration) so it can book consultation calls
• Sarah's CRM (HubSpot, Follow Up Boss, whatever she uses) to push lead data automatically
• Email/SMS notifications so Sarah gets an alert when a hot lead comes through

A basic Zapier integration to push leads looks like this:

Trigger: Botpress → New Conversation Completed
Filter: Lead captured = true
Action 1: Create contact in HubSpot (name, email, phone, budget, timeline)
Action 2: Send SMS to Sarah via Twilio ("New lead: John, $500k budget, buying in Westside")
Action 3: Send email to lead ("Thanks for chatting! Sarah will be in touch within 24 hours.")

Step 4: Widget deployment (15 minutes)

Botpress gives you an embed code. You paste it into Sarah's website. If she's on WordPress, it's a plugin or a snippet in the header. If she's on Squarespace, Wix, or anything else, it's a code injection in site settings.

<script src="https://cdn.botpress.cloud/webchat/v2/inject.js"></script>
<script>
  window.botpress.init({
    botId: 'your-bot-id',
    clientId: 'your-client-id',
    hostUrl: 'https://cdn.botpress.cloud/webchat/v2',
    messagingUrl: 'https://messaging.botpress.cloud',
    botName: 'Sarah\'s Home Finder',
    stylesheet: 'https://yourdomain.com/custom-styles.css',
    // Custom colors matching Sarah's brand
    themeColor: '#2E5090',
    textColorOnTheme: '#FFFFFF',
  });
</script>

Step 5: Testing and handoff (30 minutes)

Run through the flows yourself. Test edge cases. Make sure the calendar booking works. Make sure the CRM gets the data. Then record a 5-minute Loom video showing Sarah how the chat works and what she can expect.

Total time invested: 3-5 hours for the first build. It gets faster. Your third or fourth client in the same vertical takes 1-2 hours because you're reusing the template.

How to Price This

I've seen agencies charge anywhere from $200 to $2,000/month per client. Here's how I'd think about it.

Setup fee: $500-1,500 one-time. This covers your initial build time and makes the client take it seriously. People who pay nothing treat the project like nothing.

Monthly recurring: $400-600/month for SMBs. This is the sweet spot. It's high enough to be real revenue for you, low enough that it's a no-brainer for any business doing even modest volume. A realtor who closes one extra deal per year from bot-generated leads has paid for 10 years of your service.

Do the math for the client:

• Average gym membership: $50/month. If the bot converts 10 extra members per month, that's $500/month in new revenue. Your $500 fee pays for itself month one.
• Average real estate commission: $10,000+. If the bot generates one extra closed deal per quarter, that's $40,000/year from a $6,000/year investment.
• Average restaurant covers: If the bot handles 200 calls/month that would have gone unanswered, and even 10% of those convert to reservations at $40 average ticket, that's $800/month in recovered revenue.

When you frame it as ROI, $500/month feels like stealing.

Your margin math at 30 clients:

Line Item	Monthly Cost
Botpress Agency Plan	$495
Zapier (Teams)	$100
Twilio (SMS notifications)	$50
Misc tools	$55
Total overhead	$700
Revenue (30 × $500)	$15,000
Net profit	$14,300
Margin	95.3%

That's not a typo. Your costs barely scale with clients because you're on unlimited bot plans. Client #30 costs you almost nothing more than client #1.

Finding Clients

Here's where most people stall. They build the bot, set up the website, design the logo, and then sit around waiting for inbound leads that never come.

Don't do that. Go outbound. Here's the exact playbook:

Vertical Focus

Pick one vertical to start. I'd recommend real estate agents or gyms. Both have:

• High customer inquiry volume
• Clear ROI story
• Budget to pay $500/month without blinking
• Simple, repeatable bot templates

The Outreach

Step 1: Go to Google Maps. Search "real estate agent [your city]" or "gym near [your city]." Make a list of 50 businesses.

Step 2: Visit each website. Note what their current chat/contact situation looks like. Most will have a contact form and nothing else. Some will have a garbage Drift or Intercom widget they're paying too much for.

Step 3: Build a demo bot for that vertical. Don't wait for a client. Build a generic "Real Estate Lead Capture Agent" that you can show anyone.

Step 4: Send personalized outreach. Email, LinkedIn, or even walk in. Here's a template that works:

Subject: Quick question about your website leads

Hey [Name],

I was looking at your website and noticed you don't have a way to capture leads after hours. I build AI chat agents for real estate agents that qualify buyers and sellers 24/7 and book them directly onto your calendar.

One of my clients saw a 300% increase in qualified leads within the first month.

I built a quick demo for your market - want me to send it over? Takes 2 minutes to look at.

[Your name]

Step 5: When they say yes (and a surprising number will), send them a link to your demo bot, personalized with their city/neighborhood names. Let the product sell itself.

Step 6: Close on a call. Walk them through the demo. Explain the ROI. Offer a 30-day trial at full price with a money-back guarantee if they don't see results. This removes risk and almost nobody actually asks for the refund because the bot works.

Scale Channels

Once you've proven the model with 5-10 clients via outbound:

• Referral program: Offer existing clients one month free for every referral that signs up. Realtors know other realtors. Gym owners know other gym owners.
• Local business groups: BNI, Chamber of Commerce, Facebook groups. Do a 10-minute presentation on "How AI is helping local businesses capture leads 24/7." You'll get 3-5 conversations from every talk.
• Partner with web designers and marketing agencies. They already serve these clients and don't offer AI. You become their AI department. Give them 20% of monthly recurring as a referral fee.

Delivering and Retaining

The money is in retention. Every month a client stays is another $500 you didn't have to sell. Here's how to keep churn near zero:

Monthly reports. Every client gets a simple report: conversations handled, leads captured, appointments booked, common questions asked. Botpress and Voiceflow both have analytics dashboards. Export the data, put it in a branded PDF or Loom video, send it to the client on the 1st of every month. This takes 15 minutes per client and makes them feel like they're getting massive value.

Quarterly optimization. Review the conversation logs. Find where people drop off. Add new FAQ answers. Update seasonal information. This is 30 minutes per client per quarter and makes the bot continuously better.

Upsell paths. Once the website chat is working:

• Add SMS/text follow-up ($100/month more)
• Add Instagram DM automation ($100/month more)
• Add voice AI for phone answering ($200/month more)
• Add review collection and reputation management ($150/month more)

Your average revenue per client can grow from $500 to $800-1,000 within 6 months without finding a single new customer.

The Real Numbers at Scale

Let's project what 12 months looks like if you land 5 new clients per month and keep churn at 5%:

Month	New Clients	Total Active	Monthly Revenue
1	5	5	$2,500
3	5	14	$7,000
6	5	27	$13,500
9	5	39	$19,500
12	5	50	$25,000

$25,000/month recurring at month 12 with about $1,000 in platform costs. Five new clients per month is roughly one per week, which is entirely achievable once you have a demo, a pitch, and a handful of case studies.

Some agencies are doing this at much larger scale. The case studies from Botpress and Voiceflow show partners hitting $100k MRR within 6-12 months. One GoHighLevel partner reportedly crossed $1M ARR bundling AI chat into their broader marketing package.

You don't need to hit those numbers for this to be life-changing. Thirty clients at $500/month is $15,000/month in near-pure profit, working maybe 20 hours a week once systems are in place.

Common Objections (And Why They Don't Matter)

"Won't AI hallucinate and say something wrong?"

Modern knowledge-base chatbots are grounded in the documents you provide. They don't freelance. If someone asks a question outside the knowledge base, the bot says "I'd recommend speaking with [client name] directly" and captures their info. You can also set strict guardrails in Botpress to prevent off-topic responses entirely.

"What if a platform shuts down or changes pricing?"

This is a real risk, which is why you own the client relationship, not the platform. If Botpress doubles their price tomorrow, you migrate to Voiceflow or CustomGPT.ai. The client never knows. Your brand is on the widget, not the platform's.

"I'm not technical enough."

If you can use Canva, you can use Botpress. The entire point of these platforms is that non-developers can build sophisticated agents. Watch three YouTube tutorials and you'll know enough to build your first bot. Get technical later if you want to, but it's not required to start.

"The market is going to get saturated."

There are roughly 33 million small businesses in the US alone. Right now, maybe 2-3% have any kind of AI chat on their website. Even if the market gets 10x more competitive, the addressable market is enormous. And your advantage is local relationships and vertical expertise, both of which are very hard to commoditize.

What To Do This Week

1. Pick a vertical. Real estate or gyms are the easiest starting points. Don't overthink this.

2. Sign up for Botpress or CustomGPT.ai on their free tier or cheapest plan. Build one demo bot for your chosen vertical. Spend 3-4 hours making it actually good.

3. Make a list of 30 local businesses in your vertical. Visit their websites. Note their current lead capture setup.

4. Send 10 outreach messages. Email or LinkedIn. Use the template above or your own version. Attach or link to your demo.

5. Book demos. Walk interested prospects through the bot live. Show them what it looks like on their website. Quote $500/month with a $500 setup fee and a 30-day guarantee.

6. Deploy your first client within two weeks of starting. Use that first client as a case study for the next 10.

The entire model is embarrassingly simple, which is exactly why it works. You're not competing on technology. You're competing on execution, trust, and the willingness to actually pick up the phone and talk to a local business owner about their problems.

Most people reading this won't do anything. They'll bookmark it, think about it, and go back to scrolling. The ones who send those 10 emails this week will have a functioning agency within 90 days.

Your call.