Ep: 21 How Service Providers Can Generate Hidden Revenue Before Year-End
“This is literally hidden revenue in your business.”
Emylee
If you’re a service provider staring at your revenue gap and quietly spiraling about how many new leads you need to hit your year-end number, pause. Breathe. I want to walk you through the exact process I use (and teach inside Sold Out Services) to make money without getting a single new client. This is the same hidden-revenue strategy that helped one of my marketing agency clients generate $66,000 in contracted revenue in six weeks, just by auditing the clients she already had.
If you’re trying to end the year with more cash, more clarity, and less frantic “where are my leads” energy, this episode is your roadmap.
What You’ll Hear in This Episode
How I think about hidden revenue inside your existing client roster
The exact audit process I have clients go through
Why legacy clients need a different approach
How to ethically raise rates and adjust scope
Why this is the perfect time of year to do it
The real story behind a six-figure agency bumping revenue without extra leads
The mindset shifts you need before sending a single price-increase email
Stop Thinking You Need New Leads
Every time service providers hit a revenue ceiling, our brains immediately jump to new business. More leads, more sales calls, more rooms to get into, more referrals. We forget the most obvious thing in the world. You’re already sitting on money. Real revenue. Ready to be pulled out of the containers you’re already delivering.
I call it hidden revenue for a reason. It’s literally there, buried inside old scopes, outdated retainers, legacy pricing, and clients who have evolved while your contracts haven’t. And the only reason you haven’t accessed it yet is because you haven’t looked.
This isn’t about squeezing your clients. It’s about aligning your pricing and scope with the actual results you’re delivering right now.
Do the Audit. Yes, the Whole Thing.
Here’s exactly what I have clients do, and what I want you doing this week:
Step 1: List every active client.
Name, start date, what they originally came in on, what they paid, and the original scope. No skipping.
Step 2: Document what you’re actually delivering today.
Most of you are massively over-delivering without noticing.
Most of you have let retainers drift from what was initially agreed on.
Most of you are doing work based on what they need now, not what they bought then.
Step 3: Pull their results.
This matters more than you think.
Because when you communicate price changes or scope shifts, you need to anchor it in results.
I want you to literally answer:
“What has this client achieved from working with me?”
Even if the original scope didn’t deliver the current result, the impact is still yours.
Step 4: Identify your legacy clients.
Legacy = more than 24 months.
If they’ve only been around a year, raise their rate like you should have at month 12.
Legacy clients need a different approach. Their pricing often needs to be adjusted, but it needs to be done thoughtfully and realistically. You can’t triple someone’s rate just because you avoided raising it for two years.
Step 5: Decide who stays, who exits, and who needs a new scope.
Some containers need to shift.
Some need to close.
Some clients need to be referred out.
Some clients just need a grown-up conversation and an updated agreement.
This is the part most service providers avoid because it feels emotional. But this is business. And you get to approach it with ethics, empathy, and alignment.
How to Shape the New Pricing
Here’s where people get stuck.
You look at a legacy client paying $450 a month and think, “There’s no world where they pay $1,500.” And you know what? Maybe not. But that doesn’t mean their rate can’t be updated. And it doesn’t mean their scope can’t shift.
If $950 feels aligned for what they would actually pay, then build a scope that fits that number.
Reduce deliverables.
Shift strategies.
Remove outdated pieces they don’t even need anymore.
This isn’t about forcing every client into your shiny new package. It’s about aligning scope with the real investment and the real impact.
How to Actually Communicate These Changes
There’s no one-size-fits-all template. That’s why I load multiple scripts inside Sold Out Services, but here’s the real truth:
The script won’t work if your mindset is trash.
If you’re scared, avoidant, apologizing for raising your rates, or waiting for clients to get mad, it will show. You have to anchor into the fact that rates change, deliverables evolve, and this is a normal part of running a service-based business.
Once you’re grounded, here’s how to think about communication:
Pick the best channel for each client.
Some can get a simple email.
Some need a call.
Some need a full meeting with data, results, and recommendations.
Some need a soft intro conversation first.
This is why you cannot mass-email your client list. This is a relationship business. Treat it like one.
Use results as your anchor.
Remind them what you’ve accomplished together.
Show them the data.
Help them connect the dots.
Be clear about dates.
Price change effective when?
Scope change effective when?
Agreement update due by when?
A simple timeline saves you so much drama.
The $66,000 Case Study
One of my marketing agency clients followed this exact process. We started in mid-November. She spent November auditing and organizing. She spent December and early January having individual conversations with each client.
She contacted 13–14 clients.
11 or 12 stayed.
A couple exited.
And still…
She generated $66,000 in contracted revenue over six weeks.
That money was sitting in her business the whole time. She just finally reached out and grabbed it.
Why You Need To Do This Now
End of year is the BEST time to have these conversations.
Clients expect price changes.
Budgets reset.
New-year energy is on your side.
You are inside the perfect 30–45 day notice window right now.
Audit this week.
Communicate next week and the first two weeks of December.
And give yourself a runway to step into 2026 with more cash and fewer mismatched retainers.
Chapters
00:00 Why this is the perfect time for hidden revenue
01:00 The lead problem you don’t actually have
04:30 The client audit that changes everything
07:50 How to identify legacy clients
10:55 Deciding what to keep, change, or exit
14:00 How to shape realistic updated pricing
18:30 What to say when you communicate changes
24:05 Why mindset matters more than the script
28:00 The $66K hidden revenue case study
32:40 Your holiday cash-injection plan
Interested in Being on the Show or Working with Emylee?
Are you a service provider with a bold perspective to share? Apply to be a guest.
Ready to transform your service into a productized, scalable offer? Apply for Sold Out Services.
If you’d like to see a library of all published episodes in a gallery with easy-to-find links to all listening platforms be sure to check out the Sell The Damn Service Episode Library.
