Cross-selling and up-selling - increase customer value and loyalty!
Cross-selling and up-selling are methods of increasing the value and loyalty of customers, which have recently become increasingly popular among product sales techniques. What are they characterized by?
Cross-selling - what is it?
The cross-selling technique is based on the linked selling procedure. A customer who has already purchased a specific product or service is offered additional, complementary options for purchasing products or services for the already purchased product or service. These additional options are called complementary goods.
For cross-selling, it is important to offer the customer complementary goods after placing the first order. The customer already has an open wallet, so he is more willing to buy additional products to the already purchased one. An example of cross-selling is that salespeople propose to buy footwear care products when finalizing the sale of shoes. It is worth noting that cross-selling cannot do any harm. In the worst case scenario, the customer will only purchase the base product and not opt for a complementary product.
Cross-selling is extremely popular because by offering complementary products to the current customer, it allows you to increase the company's income without reducing it by the costs of looking for a new customer.
Up-selling - what is it?
The idea of up-selling is very similar. The method is based on increasing the value of the sold product. The use of this technique is to persuade the customer to buy a good of higher quality, better quality, and thus - more expensive. Its use is also very simple - the seller, during negotiations with the customer, offers him better versions of the product. Lists upgraded or higher quality versions, highlighting the merits of this and no other customer's choice. It is important that the seller is not too aggressive, the use of this technique requires fluency - do not offer luxury products to the customer right away.
Up-selling should start with the product that the customer came for or with the base version. The next step is to introduce additions, small improvements, and then better products. This technique requires observation of the customer and a sense of what versions of the product they are willing to accept.
Cross-selling and up-selling - threats and opportunities
It should be emphasized that when using up-selling, i.e. increasing the value of a product, you have to be careful. After a few persuasion, the client may notice the use of technology and therefore conclude that he does not need such a good product. As a result, the customer will either feel offended or decide to buy the basic version of the product.
Cross-selling and up-selling, if skillfully applied, can effectively increase sales profits. The art of using them is to understand which products will increase the overall profitability of a given customer. Well-done cross-selling means selling the right product to the right buyer and meeting their actual or artificially created needs. While the use of cross-selling has no risk - the customer has already made a purchase, the unskillful use of up-selling may cause the customer to resign from buying a more expensive version of the product, recognizing, for example, that the price of such a high-quality product is too high for him.
Understanding customer assessment methods, learning how and whether to present an extended seller's offer to them, is essential for business. That is why the demand for improving the techniques of cross-selling and up-selling is one of the reasons for the popularity of sales support with the use of CRM.
