Upselling is a great marketing strategy that, when used properly, can make your company be more valuable to customers while earning you profits. It has often times been viewed negatively because of ill-intentioned execution of just wanting to sell more.
It should be noted that there are two terms involved that are always used interchangeably (as they would be used in this article), and they are upselling and cross-selling. Upselling is a marketing strategy used to convince customers to buy a more expensive version of what they were already going to buy. For example, a customer comes in to buy a three-scoop ice-cream on a cone, and you convince them to buy the four-scoop one. Encouraging your clients to buy the more expensive one earns you more profit. That is upselling.
Cross-selling is a marketing strategy used to convince customers to buy different items in addition to what they are already buying. These items can be related to the product or service that the customer is already buying. For example, a customer is buying the three-scoop ice-cream, and you convince them to buy a vanilla shake with it. That is cross-selling.
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Know Your Products And Services
Customers like buying from people who know their products. It builds their confidence in their purchase and builds their trust in you. When you know your products and services inside out, it gives you the knowledge of how to highlight the products to your customers. This adds value to their purchase — whether it is a product upgrade or some extra products that complement the one they are buying.be a good idea to suggest a pair of straight bootcut instead, rather than a pair of tweed trousers. That is a faux pas and will lose you some valuable business.
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Know Your Customers
You should be able to gauge what your customers want or need once you see them. The choices they browse through when they are on your eCommerce website or your store can also give you an idea. Know the difference between the window shoppers and the serious buyers. Ask questions in a polite, non-invasive way, to let them know that you are there to help. This will help you to understand them and what they need, putting you in a better position to upsell without being too ‘selly’.
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Know When To NOT Upsell
Not upselling to a customer is also a great marketing strategy that many salespersons choose to ignore. Just because you see an opportunity to make extra profit, doesn’t mean that the customer needs what you are trying to sell to them. If a customer orders for a cup of coffee and seems to be in a rush, don’t waste their time by upselling something you know they don’t want. You might have a better chance of upselling by the time they go back. But if you annoy them by unnecessarily upselling then you risk the chance of them coming back to your store. By reading the customers and their attitudes and what they purchase, you should be able to tell when to back off. Aggressive selling doesn’t always pay off.
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Provide them With Value, Not Cost
It is not your job to convince the customer to pay $40 extra for a bigger TV. It is your job to convince them that a bigger TV might be a better option for them, backed up with a few relevant points. The customer will decide on their own if they can afford it or not, you just have to convince them that they will get more value from the purchase.
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Give The Customer Options
If the customer is still trying to make up their mind about getting that extra comb set to go with hair products they have already bought, help them out by showing them three different comb sets of varying prices and stating the value and quality of each. Giving the customers options to choose from makes it more likely that they will buy one when it is relevant to the initial product they bought. Again, give emphasis is the value they are getting, not the price of the items.
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Sell Them Quality
Upsell quality to your customers. Explain to them why the hardcover edition of that Nora Roberts book (which is more expensive), is a better option to go with than the paperback option (which is cheaper). Outline your argument in clear, concise words, and make it engaging while you are at it. The hardcover edition will last longer and would make a great ornamental piece for their shelf.
Don’t force it on them, but educate them on the differences and let them make the choice themselves. -
Sell Them Accessories
The most common way to upsell is by selling accessories of the purchased items to the customers. An example would be when selling mobile phones, it would be best to also have a case available to sell to protect the phone. Upsell the case when a customer buys a phone as a supplement. Having accessories of products you mainly sell can be useful and is a great way to make sales.
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Sell Them Real Products And Services
When you are upselling, whether it is in person or on your website, make sure the customers can tell that what you are selling to them is genuine. Let them inspect it or provide measures to give them assurance that what they see is what they get.
Upselling provides very important functions: to give the customers more value, improving customer loyalty, and gaining revenue for your business. As such, you should learn how to strategically and correctly upsell orders to your customers. This way you can earn their trust and can open to more opportunities in the future for you to upsell to customers
