Taking advantage of opportunities to generate add-on sales to your customers, is a straight forward way to grow. Upselling is the strategy of selling additional goods and services to customers just before they complete their purchase.
What else might you sell a customer at the point of sale? To what extent does the idea of upselling apply to your business and what are some opportunities for you to do this?
Everyone is familiar with the fast food version of this. “Would you like fries with that?” However, this may be used effectively with almost all businesses.
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If we buy a new digital camera, it is only logical to also get the expanded memory card and batteries. A special water repellant shoe polish may be offered to customers buying a new pair of shoes. Of course for those purchasing new pants, perhaps a new belt will be appropriate.
What additional services, or “extras”, can you offer at the point of sale?
Upselling doesn’t only apply in retail settings; it applies to sales situations in almost all different industries.
In a massage therapy clinic, you might have some of essential oils used during the customer’s massage available when (and where) they pay. Another alternative might be Epsom Salts to relieve muscle aches when at home.
If you are an architect, you can offer 3-D modeling, in addition to your basic service. This might be very useful to a developer, to aid in the sales process.
An interior designer who also buys furnishings on behalf of a homeowner may provide a listing of the furniture purchased, complete with pricing, warranties, care instructions, etc.
A computer company may offer a similar service, documenting all the computers, servers and programs at a customer’s location … as a valued addition to their regular maintenance service.
If you don’t have anything else to upsell to your customer, consider negotiating with another company to let you sell its add-on product or service and make a commission on each sale.
Once you create an “upgrade” option, describe it in a way that helps customers justify the additional expenditure in their minds. The key is to build a higher perceived value into the product, then use an upselling script or story to communicate that higher value.
Perhaps the easiest upsell of all is maintenance contracts; technical support, warranties, and other long-term contracts that help customers maintain the value of their purchase and protect themselves from loss. This includes the loss of time, as in the case of technical support.
When writing your upselling story, be sure to get agreement from the customer by adding phrases like, “Shall I set it aside for you?” “Would you like to schedule that right now?” “Can I add that to your order?”
Have your staff rehearse and strive to say the story the same to every customer. Then the results will be amazing.
Remember: You will only generate extra income if you get the customer’s buy-in at the time of purchase. That’s the best time to add-on, when the wallet is already out.
A lot of good stuff on the interweb about this;
If Jiffy Lube Can Upsell, Why Can’t You? – Integrators should take lessons from service providers who sell customers more than they expected.
Episode #4 – Upsell Lessons from Universal Studios, Blogging, The … – Episode #2 – Maverick Marketer Andrew Lock reveals a fascinating upsell lesson from Universal Studios, blogging, the mortgage guy, and demos an instant domain search utility. Having trouble viewing this video? Try the Quicktime version.
How To Upsell – Here’s the secret to follow-up sales.
The Keebler cookie upsell moment – Which reminds us that most marketers fail to structure their own upsell moments. Every time a customer uses your product, you have an opportunity to get them to use more. We recently spoke with a gift company and suggested they send …
King of the upsell – It has got to be said – they are king of the upsell. To get my 10 copies of postcards I was faced with an upsell opportunity no less than 11 times. And I liked it! I respected it, because it was targeted, (border line) appropriate and …