Acquisition Systems for B2B Service Firms · Since 2007
You don't need more marketing. You need a system.
ST8 builds and operates AI-augmented acquisition systems for premium B2B service firms. Turning ad spend into booked work and closed revenue, measured to the dollar.
20 years operating·Google Partner·Meta Business Partner
Integrated with the tools your industry runs on
Field Service
Field Service
CRM & Automation
CRM & Marketing
Paid Search
Paid Social
The Problem
Most growth problems aren't about more leads. They're about what happens after the click.
Marketing agencies sell traffic. Service operators run on revenue. Those are not the same thing.
What most agencies optimize for
- Impressions
- Clicks
- Keyword rankings
- Vanity metrics
- "Engagement"
What you actually run on
- Appointments booked
- Jobs scheduled
- Contracts won
- Recurring revenue
- Predictable pipeline
You don't need more marketing. You need a system that turns interest into revenue.
The ST8 Acquisition System
Four pillars. One outcome.
The methodology we've refined over 20 years of building acquisition systems for service businesses. Each pillar works alone. Together they compound.
01
Precision Paid Traffic
High-intent search and local targeting, optimized for buyers — not browsers.
- Google + Meta managed
- Conversion-first creative
- Geo + audience targeting
02
Organic Demand Capture
Show up clearly and credibly when prospects search you, your service, or your category.
- SEO + local search
- AI / LLM discoverability
- Reputation + reviews
03
CRM & Automated Follow-up
The fortune is in the follow-up. We own the click → lead → booked call → sale path.
- Missed-call text back
- Email + SMS nurture
- Retargeting flows
04
Revenue-Tied Reporting
Numbers a board would respect. No noise, no fluff — just what's working and what to cut.
- Cost / booked appointment
- Revenue per channel
- Pipeline + ROAS
Where We Dominate
Built for premium B2B service firms.
We work where our expertise compounds and the case studies are named. Environmental services is our flagship category. Professional advisory and category-leading multi-location operators round out the work.
Flagship Vertical
Environmental & Restoration Services
Mold, asbestos, IAQ, water and fire restoration. Multi-branch operators, $5M–$100M revenue, urgent-demand category where speed, reputation, and local search dominance win the job.
- · Mold & asbestos remediation
- · Water & fire restoration damage
- · Indoor air quality & testing
- · Multi-location & multi-state operations
- · Commercial & insurance-claim workflows
Alliance Environmental Group · AirTek · Mintie Corporation12 California branches · $120M annual revenue · 35% YoY growth
Featured Specialty
B2B Professional Services
Strategy consulting, professional advisory, legal, technical B2B, and enterprise software. Engagements where the operator profile, growth ambition, and senior-led work justify a premium acquisition system.
- · Strategy & brand consulting
- · Enterprise software & ERP
- · HR & compliance services
- · Law firms & advisory
Tomerlin ERP · Kelton Global2× organic traffic · page-one rankings · integrated stacks
Featured Result
12 branches. $120M in revenue. 35% growth, year over year.
Alliance Environmental Group
From scattered marketing to a single revenue system.
Alliance is one of the most experienced remediation companies in the West, operating across 12 California branches with $120 million in annual revenue. They didn't need more marketing. They needed a system.
We worked with their team to built dedicated landing pages for every service line, layered aggressive SEO and paid search on top, and connected the entire funnel to a CRM that tracked every click through to revenue. Today, they grow 35% year over year — predictably.
3 states
More Results
Twenty years of named numbers.
A selection of operators whose acquisition systems we built or now run.
Lead GEneration -
Inbound pipeline replacing referral-only growth.
Booked-call pipeline
From scratch in 90 days
Enterprise Software · B2B
Independent Epicor Kinetic consultancy. Search-dominant in their category.
+200%
Organic keywords (YoY)
Strategy Consulting
Premium consulting brand. Built the authority engine and paid pipeline.
Whitepaper engine
SEO + email nurture
Architecture · Reputation B2B
Award-winning Brazilian studio. Curated inbound for institutional commissions.
Curated inbound
Institutional pipeline
In their words
What clients actually say.
A few of the operators who let us run their acquisition systems.
"ST8 has increased my organic keywords by over 200% and my traffic by 50% — with an amazing jump in top-three rankings. The appearance of my website has gone from good to excellent and professional."
Monte Tomerlin
President · Tomerlin ERP
"They have the finger on the pulse and consistently deliver conversion-centric marketing — great results on both SEO and SEM for Alliance Environmental Group."
Vinay Panday
Marketing Director · Alliance Environmental Group
"Excellent job all the way around. Keep up the good work!"
Peter Diamandis
Founder & Executive Chairman · XPRIZE
How We Work
Three ways to run your acquisition system.
Every engagement is scoped to what you actually need. Here's how we typically structure the work.
Acquisition System Audit
A one-time deep audit of your existing acquisition system. Best for teams with in-house execution capability who need an expert diagnosis and prioritized action plan.
- Full acquisition system diagnostic
- GA4 + GSC + CRM data review
- Bottleneck list ranked by impact
- 90-day prioritized action plan
- Written recap + 60-min walkthrough
Acquisition System Build
A 90-day fixed-scope engagement to design, build, and launch your complete acquisition system. Best for teams who need infrastructure built right the first time.
- Website redesign or rebuild
- Full SEO + technical foundation
- Paid acquisition setup (Google + Meta)
- CRM implementation & email flows
- Reporting dashboard + handoff
Acquisition System Operator
We embed as the operator running your acquisition system day-to-day. Best for founders who want a strategic partner shipping work, not just advising.
- Weekly operating cadence with the founder
- Full-team execution across all channels
- SEO, paid, email, CRM owned end-to-end
- Vendor & team management
- Monthly board-ready reporting
The Person Behind the System
Twenty years building acquisition systems for service businesses.
I'm Gustavo Morais. I founded ST8 in 2007 in Santa Monica to do one thing well: build the marketing system service businesses actually need, not the one most agencies sell.
Over 20 years, I've worked as a senior fractional CMO and operator across environmental services, professional services, medical practices, and high-ticket consumer brands. We run the strategy, the design, the ad ops, and the analytics.
The Growth Score
Score your acquisition system in three minutes.
Twelve questions. Instant benchmarked report. We'll show you exactly where revenue is leaking, what to fix first, and what it would take to fix it. No sales call required.
- 12 questions
- Instant scored report
- No call required
- Free
Frequently Asked
Direct answers to direct questions.
What is an acquisition system?
An acquisition system is your entire infrastructure for turning strangers into customers — website, SEO, paid, CRM, email flows, reporting — designed to work as one connected engine, not a stack of disconnected services. Most agencies sell you tactics. We build you the system that runs them.
How is this different from a traditional marketing agency?
Most agencies sell tactics — SEO packages, ad management, redesigns — and hand you the leads to convert on your own. We build and operate the whole system end-to-end, and we measure success in booked revenue rather than clicks or impressions. We also stay deliberately small so we never become a bloated agency selling the same template to every client.
What does it cost?
We don't publish a rate card because every engagement is scoped to what the business actually needs. The Audit, Build, and Operator engagements each have different price points, and we quote against your specific situation. Book a free 30-minute discovery call and we'll walk you through it. If we're not the right fit, we'll say so.
Do you only work with environmental services companies?
No. Environmental services is one of our flagship verticals, but we also work with premium B2B service firms across professional services, creative practices, thought leadership brands, and category-leading operators. The common thread isn't the vertical — it's whether the work fits our model: high-consideration B2B, real revenue at stake, and a founder who wants a partner shipping work, not a vendor selling tactics.
How do the three engagements — Audit, Build, and Operator — differ?
The Audit is a one-time diagnostic of your existing acquisition system, delivered as a written 90-day action plan you can execute in-house or with any partner. The Build is a fixed 90-day engagement to design and launch your system end-to-end. The Operator is ongoing — we run the system day-to-day alongside your team. Most clients start with the discovery call and we recommend the right one based on where you are.
Will you replace our existing marketing team or CMO?
No. Most of our clients have some marketing capability already — a CMO, a marketing manager, or a mix of in-house and freelance. We work alongside them, not around them. In the Operator engagement, we handle execution and infrastructure so your existing team can focus on strategy and brand. If you don't have a team yet, we can be your whole marketing function until you're ready to build one.
Am I actually working with Gustavo, or handed off to juniors?
You're working with Gustavo. Every engagement is founder-led — he's on the strategic decisions, the reviews, the reporting cadence, and the tough calls. There's a small team behind the scenes doing execution, but the person you talk to at booking is the person you'll talk to a year in.
How fast will I see results?
Most clients see meaningful traction within 30-60 days and full system optimization within 90. We move fast because we've been refining this playbook for nearly 20 years — not because we're experimenting on your budget.
Do you work nationwide?
Yes. We work with operators across the U.S. and occasionally internationally. We're headquartered in Santa Monica, California.
Can you integrate with my existing CRM?
Yes. We integrate with GoHighLevel (our operational default), HubSpot, Salesforce, Zoho, Pipedrive, and most major CRMs. If it has an API or a Zapier connection, we can plug into it.
Ready to see what a real acquisition system looks like?
Book a paid Acquisition Audit. We'll diagnose what's working, what's broken, and exactly what it would take to fix it — credited toward your first month.
