Tweet

Making it Easy for Customers to Say "Yes". How to Make Cross-Selling Work.

Written by: Ian Brodie

Article Overview: “Would you like fries with that?” Some say those are the six most profitable words in business. And cross-selling can indeed ramp up the profitability of your sales. Yet at the same time, clumsy cross-selling attempts can turn-off customers in no-time and leave a sour taste that damages customer retention. This article explores the circumstances in which cross-selling can effective - and how to make it work.

Making it Easy for Customers to Say "Yes". How to Make Cross-Selling Work.

“Would you like fries with that?”

Some say those are the six most profitable words in business. And cross-selling can indeed ramp up the profitability of your sales.

Yet at the same time, clumsy cross-selling attempts can turn-off customers in no-time and leave a sour taste that damages customer retention.

So when does cross-selling work - and what are the most effective cross-selling strategies?

In my experience, the first secret behind an effective cross or up-sell is that cross-selling works when it’s actually helpful to the customer. When it makes the customer aware of valuable or useful options they didn’t know they had (or in the case of “would you like fries” - when they had forgotten or overlooked the option). When the salesperson or server is genuinely thinking about what might be useful to the customer - then the cross-sell will be seen more positively.

As I wrote in "In Praise of Passion", everyone’s BS detector is set to max nowadays - and a mechanistic, pre-programmed, corporately mandated script will be seen through in an instant.

So why does “would you like fries with that?” work? It’s the same pre-programmed script in every outlet. Well, in this case, there’s no pretense about the cross-sell. There’s no fake sincerity in the simple six words. Just a reminder that you’ve got the option of fries. And it takes advantage of the second secret of the effective cross-sell (in fact it’s one of the secrets of all sales): they’ve made it easy to say yes. There’s no complex choice to work through, no expensive options to evaluate. Just a yes or no to something you knew you wanted anyway.

In Malcom Gladwell’s "Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking" he highlights an experiment where researchers wanted to examine the impact of breadth of choice on decision-making. They set out two booths showcasing different types of jam. One with 6 selections, the other with 24. Conventional economic wisdom says that the more choices customers have, the more likely they are to buy, because it is easier for them to find the product that perfectly fits their needs. But the researchers found the opposite to be true. 30% of those who stopped by the 6 choice booth ended up buying some jam, while only 3% of those who stopped by the 24 choice booth bought anything. Contrary to economic theory, in the real world too much choice paralysed their decision-making. In particular, because the effort involved in making the choice was far greater than justified by the payoff (a better jam is hardly a life-changing decision).

The same applies when cross-or up-selling - particularly for a small, simple sale. Make it simple for the customer to say yes and don’t over-complicate with too many choices.

Case in point: I regularly stop by for a coffee in my local Cafe Nero (a kind of UK Starbucks with more of an Italian flavour). Historically, whenever I’ve bought a coffee they’ve always asked “would you like a cake or muffin with that?”. And I’ve always said no. Too much choice. I’ve never had enough energy to think through what exactly I might want. But recently, they’ve started tailoring the cross-sell - and making it more specific. Last time in I was asked if I’d like a Raspberry and Vanilla Chocolate muffin - the time before that it was some Passion-cake. It was far easier for me to say yes to that proposition. Nothing too deep to consider and weigh up. Just would I like one or not (and I have to admit, I succumbed to the passion-cake). And by tailoring each offer they’re showing some genuine (albeit small) concern for me rather than just trotting out the corporate script.

Ian

Related Articles
  The Names of Your Customers Are Important
  Why PayPal Works Well for Online Business
  Keeping Online Customers Away From Your Compettition
  Successful Telephone Calls
  5 Guaranteed Ways To Retain Online Customers & Keep Them Away From Competiton

Article Tags: attempts, booths, breadth, bs, cross selling, customer retention, damages, economic wisdom, fries, jam one, malcom gladwell, passion, pretense, profitability, reminder, salesperson, selling strategies, sincerity, six words, sour taste



Related Forum Posts
Re: Two Useful Books To Help You Focus On The CLIENT - Hi David, To add to your thread, I'd like to recommend Jonathan Tisch's "Chocolates On The Pillow Aren't Enough: Reinventing The Customer Experience". Tisch's book includes content on "Welcoming Customers", "The New Art of Customization", "The Challenges of Customer Diversity" and "Offering Something Extra to Your Customers" to name a few.
20% increase - One of my businesses uses a system to help business owners manage customer relationships and encourage more referrals. I'm finding that this economy is making business owners take a second look at their business and it's assets (aka customers) to see how they can leverage them. Make those Customers (one-time sale) into Clients (repeat sales). I'm finding them more open to having this discussion with me and the results are speaking for itself. Everyone I've worked with so far has seen at least a 20% increase in sales or referrals within 4-6 months all done by managing an existing relationship.
Making Money in 2011 - Hello forum members! As we draw closer to the new year I thought it would be appropriate to change the title of our forum category "Making Money in 2010" to "Making Money in 2011" - I'm looking forward to some interesting discussions and wish everyone a prosperous New Year!
Re: Quote of the Day - "The only people witho - Thanks for sharing this Evan, there are some very powerful quotes in there, I particularly like this one:- You are now at a crossroads. This is your opportunity to make the most important decision you will ever make. Forget your past. Who are you now? Who have you decided you really are now? Don't think about who you have been. Who are you now? Who have you decided to become? Make this decision consciously. Make it carefully. Make it powerfully. regards, Mal.
Re: e-Commerce and e-Payment providers - When I came back to Japan in 1999 I sometimes used to ask my students if they would buy anything on the Internet and at that time most thought it was too risky. I'd encourage them to try by using well known sites such as Amazon.co.jp and also pointed out that using a credit card on a reputable site was safer than using it at a restaurant. I can't remember the last time I had that discussion or when the "tipping point" occurred in Japan. To answer your other question, I use Paypal for several reasons: 1. Brand familiarity 2. Easy to use 3. Free to withdraw 50,000yen+ to my Japanese bank account - a huge benefit (but maybe other systems also offer that...?) 4. Easy to cancel subscriptions On the down side, their transaction fees are quite costly, they are difficult to contact and when disputes arise you can sometimes lose even when you can prove via your tracking service that the disputed item was "delivered" to the customer's address!


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

••••••>SEO Tip Of The Day: HTML Validation

Intro to Search Engine Optimization

Effective Leadership

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.