Successful Upselling and Cross-Selling

Strategies for Successful Upselling and Cross-Selling in Sales

Now that you know the importance of upselling, the question is how to implement a successful upselling strategy to grow your business. Upselling is a delicate matter, but if proper care is taken, you will find a great untapped market. Here are some strategies to upselling:

Trust is Vital

Customer relationships are all about trust. You build this trust by getting to know their wants and needs. When you come to understand your customer, you can easily anticipate their needs and offer them the products and services right for them. How do you come to understand them? Communication. It is vital to keep engaged and in contact with customers, and potential customers in order to understand what they want. Customers' trust will then earn a more expanded business.

Track the Customer Journey

In order to make sure you are upselling the right products to the correct customer at the proper time, it is important to flag potential upsells by tracking the customer journey. Customers tend to communicate through more than one medium when they are serious about purchasing, so keep track of them through a CRM. An integrated CRM will let your entire company to both understand the specific customer and allow anyone to both cross-sell and add to the customer journey.

Customer journey data can predict the likelihood of responding to an upsell offer. Customers have come to expect personalised and relevant information. In order to upsell successfully, you need to make a relevant offer to that specific customer based on preferences and recent interactions.

Be a Sales Consultant Versus a Salesman

Become an expert in what your customer needs. This way, instead of simply trying to “sell” a product to a potential client, you can suggest ways that your other products can serve your customer. Understand your customer’s business and how it relates to your product. Find places that they could improve by using your product or service. You are in the perfect place to make suggestions because you are a product expert and have insights to offer that they can’t find elsewhere. This expert understanding can make you come across as a sales consultant versus just a salesman.

Be Relevant to the Customer

Although upselling and cross-selling can be great tools for the customers, few things annoy the customer more than wading through products and services that do not relate to them or their experiences. Relevance is key in upselling and cross-selling. Is your customer buying a house, starting a business, starting their first job? These are important factors to keep in mind when considering what products or services will or won’t work for them specifically. Don’t try to sell an car loan to someone that is coming to you about a business loan.

It comes down to knowing your customer. Keeping track of your customer and their needs will help to ensure that you are making relevant recommendations that will enhance your relationship.

Upselling and Cross-Selling: Tapping into Your Best Market

If your business is not utilizing upselling and cross-selling, you are leaving money at the table. Offer your customers relevant products to make sure that they are getting your full range of services and you are getting the best ROI possible.