If you´re not regularly upselling and cross-selling, perhaps you:
# Feel that you´re already getting "enough" business from you customer?
# Convince yourself that it´s safer to "leave well enough alone"?
# Think that your customer knows your company well enough to request more of your product if he or she wanted it?
# Assume that your customer has a reason for passing up part of your product line without having discussed it?
# Lack the courage to suggest a larger order, after selling your customer a single product?
Other barriers to upselling and cross-selling are identical to those that hinder the primary sales call:
We don´t listen for opportunities throughout the sales call.
We sell features instead of benefits.
We oversell without meeting customer expectations.
Remember that your goal is to develop a long-term partnership with your customer. Upselling and cross-selling are important factors in fostering and maintaining that relationship. In fact, upselling and cross-selling should be part of your sales call objectives. But, you´ll need to be creative:
Brainstorm with your supervisor, your colleagues, your product manager and your marketing manager.
Read trade publications that reflect trends in your customer´s business that could have an impact on his/her needs.
Probe for your customer´s business problems, and explore ways in which your product or service line can solve them.
Talk with customers who use and are satisfied with a wide range of your products to determine how each item is used.
You´ll continue to use open and closed probes. But, now that you´re armed with facts you received throughout the call, you are more informed - and your probes should reflect this.
Use open probes to get your customer talking about his or her situation. An open probe might begin with the words, "How do you handle…" "Tell me more about…" "What results do you expect from…" or "What are your objectives for…" Generally, closed probes take the form of questions that can be answered with a "yes" or "no."
Closed probes are used to obtain an agreement, a commitment, or a tightly controlled response. For example, "Would you agree that…?" "Would you like to improve…?"
After you´ve closed the sale, use an open probe, leading with words like, "what else…" or "how else…?" "Would you like to improve…?"
Following your customer customer´s response, use a closed probe to narrow the focus. Then, confirm your customer´s need with a question, such as, "so, what you´re looking for is…" "It sounds like you could use…"
The confirmation should lead to matching the benefits of your product line that fill your customer´s needs. (Make sure you´re very familiar with the difference between a feature and benefit. See Part Three of this series.)
Now, switch to a bridge, such as "How does that sound?" and, follow up with a trail close: "If I gave you a price break on that item combined with your original order, would you be interested?"
Presuming your customer has been receptive thus far, use an assumptive close, like, "We´ll add that item to your original order and get it right out to you Wednesday morning."
Referrals are powerful sales tools. After every call, ask if you customer knows anyone else who would be interested in product. Check, too, to see if your customer will allow you to use his or her name in a referral. Then, use that referral immediately.
"The speed and effectiveness with which you solve problems set you apart from the competition and help you build a customer-oriented reputation."
Add Up-selling and Cross-selling to Your Sale Cycle - To learn more about this author, visit John Brennan's Website.
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John Brennan
(Visit John's Website)
John Brennan Ed.D.
Dr. Brennan is President of Interpersonal
Development, LLC, a training and
development firm. Interpersonal
Development has provided sales training
and coaching to more than 3,000 sales reps
from over 100 companies.
A native of Australia, Dr. Brennan
received his doctorate from the University
of Rochester. His dissertation researched
the effectiveness of Behavioral Modeling
Technology in training people in
interpersonal skills. While he has spent
most of his career designing or delivering
training, he was also a Vice-President of
Sales of a training and development
franchise with operations in 25 markets.
Dr. Brennan has designed and delivered
sales training in North America, Asia,
Europe, Australia and the Middle East. He
has been a guest speaker at numerous
national and regional professional
conferences.
When Microsoft wanted Best Practices
articles on sales for their web site, they
called Dr. Brennan. The results are at office.microsoft.com/e
n-us/FX011387391033.aspx
His firm’s clients have included Volvo,
The Prudential, Merrill Lynch, Eastman
Kodak, Gannett, Equifax Europe, the
Economist Group and countless small
businesses.
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