Got asked by 5th client: “What else can you do?”
Had no answer. Left money on table.
THE SITUATION:
Happy client. Automated their invoices. Saved them 8 hours weekly. Asked what else I could help with.
Me: “Uh… more document stuff?”
Them: “What about our customer data in spreadsheets?”
Me: “I can learn that…”
Lost the upsell.
THE REALIZATION:
Nail one service first. Then add complementary service that existing clients naturally need.
THE SECOND SERVICE OPTIONS:
After document automation is working, clients ask about:
OPTION 1: DATA SYNCING
Problem: Data scattered across tools (Sheets, CRM, accounting)
Solution: Automated data sync between systems
Your skillset: Already know Make/n8n workflows
Revenue: $800-1,500 setup, $150-250/month
OPTION 2: REPORT AUTOMATION
Problem: Spend hours creating weekly/monthly reports
Solution: Automated report generation from their systems
Your skillset: Data aggregation, formatting, email automation
Revenue: $600-1,200 setup, $100-200/month
OPTION 3: NOTIFICATION/ALERT SYSTEMS
Problem: Miss important events (inventory low, payment due)
Solution: Smart alerts based on their data
Your skillset: Monitoring workflows, conditional logic
Revenue: $500-900 setup, $80-150/month
OPTION 4: FORM-TO-WORKFLOW
Problem: Manual follow-up on form submissions
Solution: Automated workflows from form data
Your skillset: Webhooks, routing logic
Revenue: $800-1,400 setup, $120-200/month
MY CHOICE: DATA SYNCING
Why: Existing clients already use multiple tools. Natural next problem after documents automated.
THE UPSELL APPROACH:
Month 3 with client: “How’s the invoice automation working?”
Them: “Great! Saving tons of time.”
Me: “That’s awesome. What other manual work takes up your time?”
Them: “Honestly, keeping our CRM and QuickBooks in sync…”
Me: “I can help with that. Want to see how?”
Soft approach. Solve their next pain.
THE RESULTS:
Upsold 4 existing clients with data syncing
New revenue: $800/month additional MRR
Build time: 3-5 hours per client (similar to document automation)
Plus: 2 new clients found me specifically for data syncing, stayed for document automation too.
THE TIMING:
Don’t add service #2 until you have:
– 3+ document automation clients
– Template library working well
– Confident delivery process
– Spare time to learn
I waited until month 6. Good timing.
THE LEARNING CURVE:
Document automation → Data syncing: 1 week learning
Reused: 80% of workflow skills
New: API connections, field mapping
First project: 8 hours
Current projects: 3 hours
Same pattern as document automation: Templates get faster.
THE LESSON:
One service done well beats three services done poorly. Master first service. Then add natural next service for same clients.
Don’t expand from pressure. Expand from client demand.
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