Tweet

3 Rules for Successful Up Sells

Guest post by: Mike Brooks

Article Overview: If your product or service allows you the chance to up sell your customer at the point of sale (and seriously, what product or service doesn’t??), then you instantly double and even triple your income if you know how to properly suggest and get your prospects and customers to buy more.

3 Rules for Successful Up Sells

First, let’s talk about what NOT to do:

1) First of all, you absolutely have to ask for the up sell in order to get it. I know that sounds like a “duh!” comment, but take it from me – out of the thousands of sales reps I listen to each year, a very small percentage actually do.

2) Ask for the up sell as an afterthought. As you’ll see, timing is everything with the up sell. Don’t wait until the very end of the sale to suggest one. You have to make it part of your original product offering as you’ll see.

3) Ad lib it. You absolutely have to be prepared, polished and assumptive when asking for the up sell. Again, this is where many sales reps fall short as you’ll see…

OK. And now here are the 3 rules for successful up sells:

1) The first thing you need to do is know exactly what up sell item or service you’re going to sell with what product. If you sell many different types of products or services, then you may have a pair them in advance and be ready to offer the product that most likely fits or goes with what it is you’re selling.

Take some time this week and map out exactly what specific product or service you’re going to up sell with which product you’re selling. And then stick to that and pitch that over and over again.

Case Study: I consulted with a blood plasma company once that sold everything from blood plasma, to flu shots, to disposable supplies. There was a lot to choose from in terms of up sell. We hired a new rep and he quickly became the number one producer because he decided to up sell the same bottles of blood plasma whenever someone bought blood plasma. In other words, he didn’t try to them sell them gloves or needles. Here’s how it went for him:

If the client bought two bottles, he would always say, “That’s great. You know, we happen to have two more bottles of that left with the same expiration date. They come in a case of four – would you like me to just send you our last four bottles?”

Over 60% of the time they would!

2) And that leads me to rule #2: Be prepared with a scripted approach. The up sell is one of the easiest and most important parts of your presentation to script out. So many sales reps (like 80% of them), ad lib the up sell (whenever they think about it at all), and often aren’t convincing nor persuasive.

But the top reps have taken the time to script out the most compelling up sell pitch they can, and then they deliver it with confidence and in an assumptive manner. This makes a huge difference. Here are some great ways to start your up sell script:

“________, I’ll tell you what many of my clients are also taking advantage of….”

“That’s a great choice. And did you know we’re running a special offer on two or more cases? Yes, you can get free (shipping, package of wipes, promotional posters, etc…)…”

“_________while that policy is perfect for you, the smart way to go is to increase your coverage to 2 million dollars for just a $100 more a year. That would be your best move on this….”

3) The third rule is that timing is everything! The best time to suggest the up sell is right after your prospect or client has said yes to an order. Don’t talk past the close, don’t go over any other details, just go right into your up sell pitch.

The reason for this is that your client is in the “buying zone” at that moment and that is when you make your up sell offer. Don’t worry, they won’t cancel their first order – that’s in the bag. What you want to do now is suggest an up sell (that you’ve scripted out and that is compelling) at this exact moment and then hit your mute button and listen.

There you have it. The three rules to effective up sells. Try them today and watch your sales – and your confidence – soar!

Related Articles
  Rule 20 Rules are Made to be Broken
  Create High Impact Copy
  Failure Comes From Not Following Your Additive Rules
  Q: How can I make my employees accountable?
  The Rules Apply
  Mobile Home Parks - How to Properly Enforce the Rules
  Letting go of our rule books
  Do You Pay Taxes On eBay Income
  Time to Break Some Rules
  Leadership Strategy - One Size Success Does Not Fit All
  Sales Skills – Personal Sales Techniques
  Is Email Hiding Your Personality?
  Using Web 2.0 to Customize Your Sales Process
  Create your own opportunities
  The New Rules of Success
  Selling the Soul of the Business
  Ten Viral Marketing Best Practices
  E-Mail Tip #11 - Create a Set of Rules for Your Organization
  Are Your Rules Made To Be Broken?
  Franchise Opportunities for the 50 Plus Entrepreneur

Article Tags: ad lib, afterthought, blood plasma, case study, disposable supplies, duh, flu, flu shots, gloves, many different types, map, needles, pitch, rsquo, sales reps



Related Forum Posts
Books for Women Entrepreneurs - There's a thread for good books in the Resources folder, but it doesn't target books for businesswomen particularly, so I figured I'd start such a thread here. It doesn't matter how successful you are in your business - it's always possible to learn something new. In subsequent posts I give Table of Contents and brief descriptions for various titles - most of them devoted to the businesswoman - and sometimes a review. If anyone else has read a review, or has read the book and found it useful, please comment! 1. The Old Girl's Network 2. Mother's Work 3. The 7 Greatest Truths About Successful Women 4. Pitch Like A Girl 5. Workplace Warrior 6. Treasure Hunt: Inside the Mind of the Modern Consumer 7. Contingency Planning & Disaster Recovery 8. She Wins, You Win 9. Napoleon On Project Management 10. Why Good Girls Dont' Get Ahead, But Gutsy Girls Do 11. Comeback Moms: How to Leave Work, Raise Children, and Restart your Career even If you Haven't Had a Job in Years 12. The One Minute Millionaire 13. Talking From 9 to 5 14. Soloing: Realizing Your Life's Ambitions 15. 101 Best Home Based Businesses for Women: Everything You Need to Know About Getting Started on the Road To Success 16. Work With Passion: How to Do What You Love for a Living. Revised and Expanded 17. Fail-Proof Your Business: Beat the Odds and be Successful 18. Confidence: How Winning Streaks and Losing Streaks Begin and End 19. Women Don't Ask: Negotiation and the Gender Divide 20. Millionaire Women Next Door: The Many Journeys of Successful American Businesswomen 21. Start Small, Finish Big: Fifteen Key Lessons to Start - and Run - Your Own Successful Business 22. Rewired, Rehired or Retired: A Global Guide for the Experienced Worker 23. The Martha Rules: 10 essentials for achieving success as you start, build or manage a business 24. The Essentials of Entrepreneurship: What it takes to create Successful Enterprises 25. Net Ready: Strategies for Success in the E-conomy 26. The Promotable Woman 27. Leave The Office Earlier: The Productivity Pro shows you how to do more in less time and feel great about it 28. The Work At Home Balancing Act: The professional resource guide for managing yourself, your work, and your family at home 29. Secrets of Six-Figure Women
Re: What's 1 word to describe what your business will be in 2012 - Successful.
Need a book recommendation for writing better - I'm always looking for ways to improve my writing skills, so I was just wondering if anyone could recommend a good copywriting or copyediting book? I was actually thinking of reading "The Copywriter's Handbook : A Step-by-Step Guide to Writing Copy That Sells" by Robert W Bly [u:w3cg00nn]OR[/u:w3cg00nn] "The Copyeditor's Handbook: A Guide for Book Publishing and Corporate Communications" by Amy Einsohn. Would anyone know if these books are any good? Thanks
Trump and Stewart - I really enjoyed Trump: The Art of the Deal and The Martha Rules. I think the best advice you can get is from people who have made it and not just consultants who haven't been there. Evan's site is great because of all the famous entrepreneurs and their advice directly from them. Donald Trump and Martha Stewart are 2 great examples of successful entrepreneurs and the books are written in their own words which I find extremely valuable and motivational.
AFL + Soccer Athletes - In Australia one of the most popular sports is Aussie Rules Football, but the principle I'm about to talk about is the same in all sports. The reason athletes get paid so much is because of competition between clubs. For example Club A will offer $1000 a week for an athlete to play for them but then Club B will offer $2000 until one club reaches a figure that they consider to be "reasonable" and obviously higher than the other club is prepared to pay. In saying this if a soccer athlete is worth the $4,000,000 transfer fee and $7,500 a game the management of the team obviously believe they are going to gain more revenue for the club in terms of more wins, supporters, media spotlights and higher morale in the team.


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.

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

Listen to Your Inner Melody

B2B PR – Planning for Success

Angel Investors Where Are You?

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.