The Upsell Machine: Turning Client Requests Into Billable Work

The Upsell Machine is what teaches the AI where your paid services begin. Two fields, ten minutes, and every quote, proposal, and plan your workspace produces from then on is grounded in what your agency actually sells and what it actually charges.

That's the whole setup. What it unlocks is considerably larger: pricing that comes from your rate card instead of market averages, proposals with real scope boundaries, work outside your speciality redirected rather than accepted, and client requests that fall inside it routed to you for a decision instead of quietly handled.

What It Does for Your Agency

Scope creep gets quoted, not absorbed

Work beyond an agreed scope is routed through change control and priced at your rates. It is never folded in silently, and never implied as free. When a request would change strategy, audience, or scope, the cost and timeline are surfaced for sign-off before the work begins rather than discovered afterwards.

Your prices come from your rate card

Quotes and proposals are priced from your own pricing context, phase by phase, showing the basis — per client, per project, or retainer — so the number is defensible rather than a guess. The AI is barred from inventing a rate or a discount your context doesn’t support. Where a figure genuinely isn’t on file, it says the price is to be confirmed rather than making one up.

Proposals arrive with their edges drawn

Every proposal states scope in two halves: what’s included as real deliverables, and an explicit out-of-scope list naming the adjacent things the engagement doesn’t cover. Revision rounds are capped and the number is written into the document, with a change-control line saying further work is quoted separately at your rates. That’s the boundary most agencies only draw after they’ve been burned.

Work you don’t want gets redirected

If your profile says you refer something on, it isn’t quoted. The AI says so and points at the referral path instead. The same rule applies when the work is planned rather than priced — out-of-speciality work is redirected rather than folded into a plan.

Requests inside your speciality come to you

A client request that falls within your stated services is held for your approval instead of actioned. Requests outside it get routed as far as the AI can carry them. Your service line stays yours to decide on.

Opportunities surface while the work happens

When the AI notices an opportunity during ordinary team work, it records an internal, hidden, tagged task, mentions it once with a link, and carries on. Nothing is pitched at your client on your behalf. You can also ask outright, and get opportunities tied to specific projects and sites rather than offered in the abstract.

Everything client-facing stays yours

Quotes and proposals go out from your agency, in your brand and voice, using your white-label settings where they’re set. The AI is never named. An expansion is framed as growth on an existing account rather than a new relationship.

Where You’ll See It Working

• Quotes — when a client asks what something would cost, the answer is scoped against your services and priced from your rates.
• Proposals — branded documents built around the client’s real need, priced phase by phase, with exclusions and a revision cap.
• Planning — before work is shaped, your speciality and referral boundaries are treated as constraints on what gets proposed.
• Opportunity spotting — during team work, and on request from the chat.

Step-by-Step Guide

Step 1: Opening the Upsell Machine

1. From the main dashboard, select Settings.
2. In the menu on the left, under AI Web Agency, select Upsell Machine.
3. Confirm the page header reads Upsell Machine, with the description explaining that the AI uses this to identify opportunities for your team and to know when to bring you in rather than act autonomously.

Step 2: Writing Your Agency Profile

The larger of the two fields, and the one that does most of the work. On screen it asks you to describe who you are, the services you offer, and the work you do best.

1. Select the Agency Profile text area.
2. Describe what your agency does, in the words you’d use with a new hire rather than a client.
3. Name the services you actively sell. Be specific — “we handle all SEO strategy and content” gives the AI far more to work with than “we do marketing”.
4. Name what you don’t do, and what you refer out.
5. Select Save Changes. A confirmation appears briefly once the change is stored.

Say What You Don’t Do, Not Just What You Do

Step 3: Adding Your Rates and Pricing Context

A single line describing how you charge. The field’s own example reads: We charge $120/hour for development and around $2,500 for custom design projects.

1. Select the Rates & Pricing Context field.
2. Describe your pricing structure — hourly, per project, retainer, or a mix.
3. Include the figures you’re comfortable having quoted to a client.
4. Select Save Changes. A confirmation appears briefly once the change is stored.

One Line Is Enough, but Make It Specific

Step 4: Putting It to Work

1. Open the chat rail on your project dashboard.
2. Select the Find upsell opportunities prompt, or type your own request.
3. Read the result. Each opportunity is tied to a specific project or site.
4. Ask for a quote or a proposal on any worth pursuing.

Ask, and It Answers From Your Profile

Step 5: Keeping It Current

1. Return to Settings > AI Web Agency > Upsell Machine whenever your services or rates change.
2. Update both fields to match.
3. Select Save Changes.

FAQs