How to manage a business
Up selling and cross selling are both ways to grow the connection you already have with your customers,its a good way to grow business revenue while increasing the value of your company to customers.
Upselling involves persuading a customer to spend more on an item than intended; making the customer buy a more expensive version or an upgrade of the original item.
For example –
*Selling a board marker to a customer buying a white board.
*Selling a more expensive model of a machine requested to a customer because it has higher capacity or functions.
Cross selling involves selling other products and services to a customer based on his original purchase.
For example –
Selling shoes ,purses and other dresses to a customer who already bought a dress.
 |
| photo credit : www.vwo.com |
Upselling and cross selling are sales techniques regularly practiced by most online stores, It can be a good way to retain already acquired customers. It is therefore important to understand that both techniques should be approached differently. During a cross sell, the product/service is presented to the customer as a need ,during an upsell,the product/service is presented to the customer as having extra value.
 |
| photo credit : www.beeketing.com |
Here are tips to help you effectively upsell and cross sell
1) Study your audience,anticipate the needs of your customers then carefully select a limited number of specific products /services to suggest. Try not to bombard/overwhelm or confuse them with irrelevant offerings as this might upset customers causing them not to go through with the purchase in the end. Always make suggestions that fit the customers’ original purchase,stick with just a few well targeted suggestions to increase your chances of a successful sale.
2) Do not exaggerate whats on offer, let the customers know exactly what they are getting ,be honest throughout the transaction,Do not hide any costs, this usually makes the customers comfortable enough to finish up the transaction.
3) Ensure the upsell solves a problem; upselling and cross selling must be designed to improve customer satisfaction and experience.
4) Be tactful when upselling or cross selling. Know the appropriate time in the customers’ journey to upsell or cross sell,try not to lose the entire sale in the process.
5) Upselling and cross selling is a good way to retain already acquired customers.
To do this simply
– Keep a database of your existing customers
– Document customer behavior everytime there’s an interaction with your business
– Based on these behaviors, pick out products/services that suit them or that they might be interested in; cross sell/upsell these products/services to them.
6) Obey the rule of 25, restrict the price of products/services you are trying to upsell or cross sell to not more than 25% of the original product. Do not try to sell a 15million Naira car to someone trying to buy a 3 million Naira car, a car within the 3 – 3.75million Naira range will be more appropriate.
7) You can create bundles when upselling or cross selling, simply put together relevant items in a bundle . It can be more convenient to buy 3 items you need in one go instead of making separate purchases.
