It's understandable that most salespeople think of customer acquisition as they only way to grow revenue. Hell! I have fallen victim to that thought process in the past and still do, to some degree. but the truth is; it is more cost prohibitive to acquire a new customer than it is to open a new line of revenue with an existing one. The idea is to go back to folks you have already sold to and sell them something else that compliments their current purchase.
This is known as “Upselling” and it is a very important part of a successful salesperson’s process. Some organizations will even sell product at a loss to acquire a new customer, hoping to sell them another product later for profit.
When upselling is planned well and strategically executed, it can do wonders for your bottomline. Check this out: an existing client or customers is 5-10 times cheaper than acquiring new ones, it makes pure business sense. Install upselling as part of your business processes early on and design a sales and marketing plan that accounts for and strongly emphasizes upselling.
Here are some steps to take during and before upselling to ensure your success:
1. Do a survey
This is a pretty simple concept. Pick up the phone and call your top "frients" . These are clients you are friendly with. Ask about their lives, their day and also ask what other products they are thinking about that will complement the ones you sold them. Take note of the age and income groups of clients who mention certain products and this will help figure out what to offer to whom.
2. Pair your products like you pair your wine
I am not a wine drinker, but my wife is, and she teased me mercilessly the one time I bought a pound of tilapia and picked up a merlot from the grocery store to go with the fish. Apparently whites go with fish and reds with meat. Who knew? Treat your upsells the same way. If you sold your client a Major medical plan then typically the complimenting product will most likely be a dental plan.
3. Write a script
I will admit, this is a step that most folks will feel the need to skip. After All you know these clients right? You have a great rapport with them. Why would you have to write a script? To each his own. But I will tell you this; Just writing down a few probing questions to ask, framing your benefits explanation and mapping the upsell process down in an easy to understand manner will do wonders to help streamline the process for you and your team. This will obviously create uniformity and avoid any legal pitfalls in the process.
