WANT to make more sales in your business? Want to increase the profits? Then you need to implement these sales strategies into your arsenal: cross-selling and upselling.
What is upselling and cross-selling?
Upselling means selling a more expensive product or service to your client based on their requirements.
Cross-selling means offering a complimentary product to one already being purchased. This could be a tie-clip with a tie or a back-up hard drive with a laptop.
How can you implement these into your sales strategies?
- Speak to your customer
If you run a physical shop you can speak directly to your client and get to know what their needs are so that you can offer the prime solution for them. If they are purchasing a shirt for a special occasion you can offer a bit more expensive one which won’t wrinkle as much.
- Have appropriate inventory
It is important that the items you sell are priced well. You don’t want to have one pair of shoes that cost R50 and another pair that costs R5 000. This would make upselling and cross-selling difficult. It is better to have goods which are similarly priced like R50, R100 and R150.
You could also offer complementary items which enhance the product being bought. For example, if you sell shoes, you may also stock socks or shoe-shining equipment.
- Follow the 25% rule
When considering whether to upsell or cross-sell a product to your customer it shouldn’t be for more than a quarter of the price of what they are already purchasing. If you offer something which is a lot more expensive than what the client already requested, you can lose the sale.
- Don’t be pushy
When offering the upsell or cross-sell don’t be pushy. If the client says “no” than politely move on with the sale and don’t visibly show your disappointment.
- Know your products
It is important to know the features of all the products you have in your shop so that you can offer the best option to your client. You will also be able to answer their questions quickly and professionally which will increase their trust in you.
Furthermore, it is important to educate your salespeople about the features so that they can offer the best service to your customers.
- Sell the benefits
It is important to focus on the benefits especially when you do an upsell. The reason for this is that people are more focused on the benefits of a product to their needs then they are focused on the features of the product.
For example, instead of focusing on the megapixel count of camera, it is better to let the customer know how good the image will be when they take the photo and what size they can output the image at when they finished taking it.
- Use peer or expert opinions
If you have bought anything on an e-commerce site, you may have seen below the item you wish to purchase a line that says “people who have purchased this have also purchased this”. Customers also trust the opinion of fellow customers more than you as the seller.
- Offer bundles
If you have products or services which work well in a bundle, then you can offer these to your customer. By highlighting the benefits of purchasing the bundle now rather than the two products individually would encourage people to make a greater purchase.
By incorporating these points into your sales strategies you will be well on your way to making greater sales.
Article courtesy of the National Small Business Chamber (NSBC) www.nsbc.org.za/