The phrases ‘do you want fries with that?’ and the more recent ‘do you want that super-sized?’ may be synonymous with the world of burgers and fast food outlets, but they are prime examples of the power of cross-selling and up-selling.
For burger joints, in just six words, an up-selling opportunity has been initiated. Unfortunately a little more strategic thinking will be required for most marketers out there but, pound-for-pound, cross-selling and up-selling will always be the more straightforward option. While exploring new business opportunities and prospect pools will remain an important practice to continue, it pays to explore how to get more from your current pool of clients.
Build on existing relationships
Almost all companies can benefit from exploring up-selling opportunities in their current client database. You have already put all the hard work into starting the relationship, and up-selling is just a way of building on that. All that is required is keeping in touch with your clients’ needs and their business development. Have they grown? Do they need more of the same?
It is particularly beneficial if your client database went through the pre-screening process or if you have a financial health monitoring system as you can instantly recognise which clients might be better financially equipped to increase their uptake, or alternatively potentially spot those who could benefit the most from additional products.
Keeping abreast of your clients’ financial health information may also bring into play cross-sell opportunities. Particularly in the current climate where business insolvencies have not yet recovered to pre-recession rates, competitors may be leaving the market, thus offering renewed opportunity to explore clients’ supplier credentials with a view to filling the void. You might simply have to mention that the other products or services are available. The fast food industry knows that fries compliment burgers so ‘do you want fries with that?’ was born.
You must really get to know your product offerings to ensure you are familiar with how well certain products complement each other and create the opportunities to communicate that to your clients.
Focus on the long-term gain
With the cross-sell, your desired outcome must include some strategic thinking. It can often be a case of weighing up the fast sell versus the strategic sell. In cases where a business needs the quick boost to cash-flow, sometimes the fast sell is best.
However it may not provide the lifetime value that a smaller grossing product can offer. This is personified with financial institutions’ current accounts. Although these will often generate relatively little profit, they build a great foundation for a long-standing relationship with a client and are great for building brand loyalty with the potential to provide more profitable future cross-selling opportunities.
It is these types of long standing relationships that have lifetime value and make it hard for your competitors to infiltrate. Like building a wall, the more products a client signs up to, the more bricks you are putting up for the competitors to get over. But be careful not to be your own competitor. Ensure that the product or service that you are approaching them with will work well with and run smoothly alongside the products they are currently taking from you, as you don’t want to be cannibalising your own business.
As with all marketing channels, you must not focus solely on one approach. Try to integrate your up-sell and cross-sell strategy with your new business plan. Ensure your new business pitches are taken advantage of and all possible avenues have been explored for cross-selling. Keep in touch with your clients for a new opportunity could present itself at any point. Ensure you utilise every channel, such as leveraging the cross-selling potential of your website.
Position cross-sell and up-sell items throughout your site in places where you can educate clients on the depth and variety of what your business offers. Keep it relevant though, the key to successful cross-selling and up-selling is to focus on meeting your customers’ needs, rather than purely pushing more products and services. Cross-selling and up-selling should be an integral part of your overall marketing strategy, which should be much more than a reactive response to drum up more sales when your ‘chips’ are down.
