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Chaz is currently traveling out of town. In his stead, we are
providing you this article that offers some great marketing tips
for your business. Assignment for Success,
along with Active 8 and Little Known Facts, are
very progressive and wish to impart as much good business
marketing information possible to you whenever we run across
something we think is of value. Enjoy!
Would
You Like Fries With That?
The power of up-selling and cross-selling.
Recently while navigating an online bookstore I came across the
James Frey book popularized by Oprah's book club: A Million
Little Pieces. As I read about this book I was informed that
"readers who bought A Million Little Pieces also bought the
book, "Lies My President Told Me and Pinocchio."
Folks, I was being cross-sold, yet I wasn't cross about it. The
reality of business is that customers want to be sold. They love
to buy for their own reasons. Not manipulatively bombarded with
sales pitches or indiscriminately pressured with endless
offerings, but intelligently informed, guided and suggested with
related, logical and natural purchases that further their goals.
Up-selling and cross-selling are two sales techniques used by
professional sales and service staffs to increase sales. Are you
making the most of suggestive selling?
UP With Selling
Up-selling refers to situations where your customer buys a
product or service, and you encourage them to spend more for
additional features or packages. They are upping the amount they
are spending, albeit for more or better services or products.
Consider the customer seeking a point-of-sale solution for
handling charge cards, yet opts to purchase a deluxe POS model
for more money when learning of additional capabilities,
security and flexibility.
You are shopping for a bare-bones SUV. The salesperson informs
you soccer moms tell him they love having the model with the DVD
player in the backseat for the kids. Thus you buy that model
with a fancy video system and then extended warranty too.
Sales Crossing Ahead Cross Selling refers to situations where a
customer buys a product or service, and is simultaneously sold
related items that often complement their purchase. For example:
A customer buys a computer and is then sold training services or
tutorial software to go with it at additional cost. Ditto when a
man buys a suit and is then offered a color coordinated silk tie
and dress shirt to go with it.
While we think of these as advanced sales techniques, they are
actually rooted in the power of suggestion. People, once they've
decided to buy, are naturally swayed by more and better options,
additional value, and the excitement following their initial
purchase.
Many customers don't know about additional items or options, or
how well they complement the initial item they bought.
Up-selling enhances their initial purchase, making them more
powerful, capable and effective. Cross-selling similarly
enhances their purchase, often maximizing its impact on their
business.
Suggestive Selling
Salient in our lives,
quite frankly, we've been up-sold and
cross-sold every day. And it's not necessarily a manipulative
process. Consider the following examples: - "Would you like
fries with that order?" - "For just 49 cents we can super-size
that for you." - "When you buy 2 today you get 1 Free!" - "Would
you like to purchase our extended warranty coverage on this?
It's only...."
I've worked with customer service staffs afraid to sell, others
who felt it was manipulative and smarmy to sell. Yet here's a
secret: It's really a form of service!
Service Through Sales
When you up-sell and cross-sell - You are making informed
suggestions as a knowledgeable rep - You are apprising customers
of options they may not be aware of - You are often anticipating
future needs - It's a way to further help your customer.
To be more powerful, to enjoy more benefits, to maximize the
usefulness of the products or services they're acquiring.
Remember this, when you are the rep who is selling and serving:
- You are in the business of solving problems, generating
solutions and making customers happy, or even happier.
- You are the subject matter expert when it comes to the
products and services you are representing.
- To the extent you listen and understand the situation of your
clients, customers or constituents, you are ideally suited to
provide solutions, recommendations and remedies.
- To withhold this from others would be selfish, and poor
service. Any time you can fulfill more needs, address more
issues or solve more problems you are easing your
client's/customer's life. After all, they already trust you,
like you, and are doing business with you.
So, how does one UPSELL or CROSS-SELL? It's easy.
Let's Play Bridge
After you've completed the initial transaction or gotten the
initial indication your customer wants to buy, you can then
bridge to the Up- or Cross-Sell: Mr. Randle, while I have you on
the line, were you aware you can work in multiple advanced
speech manuals at the same time?
Oh, by the way Ms. Kennison, did you know that the book you
bought for new hire also has a companion CD for just $9 more?
Mr. Younger, I'd like to take a moment to inform you of a new
nationwide program just for businesses such as yours.
Incidentally, were you aware that you are 2/3's of the way
toward qualifying for a discount on shipping of your office
supplies?
Using BRIDGE statements allows you to transition from your
initial sale to up-sells and cross-sells. Look anew at the
offerings you're selling. For each, what is an up-sell? What can
you cross-sell with it?
Make sure your salespeople know the migration paths so they can
suggestively up- and cross-sell with ease. In closing, I'd like
to thank you for your engagement with this material.
Before concluding, could I interest any of you in a related
article on up-selling and cross-selling? Perhaps you'd prefer a
training course on suggestive selling? Shall I customize that
for you? Consider yourself super-sized!
About the Author:
Craig Harrison's Expressions Of Excellence! It helps
professionals express their sales and service excellence with
style. Contact him at (510) 547-0664, via
sales@craigspeaks.com
or through
www.ExpressionsOfExcellence.com.
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