Cross-Selling Made Easy

If you want to improve your cross selling efforts, learn from your customers.

Business growth depends on acquiring new customers and selling more products or services to existing ones. When you best understand how to provide additional benefit to your existing customers through cross-selling, the results can be exponential - improving both sales and customer loyalty. An additional benefit is a lower cost of sales due to more efficient customer acquisition.

To improve your cross-selling efforts and ensure productive cross selling activities, follow these guidelines:

Focus on Customer Needs, Not the Product

Whenever you have a customers on the phone or an email exchange, focus on customer needs. By understanding a customer's true needs, you can help them find the solution their looking for and open them up to the idea of cross-selling. More than 2/3rds of customers value customer service reps who suggest alternative products or services that better meet their needs. According to a recent survey by forum.com, 42% of these customers report purchasing additional products either "sometimes" or "frequently". The proof of concept is in numbers.

Resolve Problems First, Cross-Sell Later

When your customer service reps are asked to cross-sell, make sure they resolve a customer's primary issue of concern before delving into cross-selling options. Customers are much more willing to listen to a service representative after their initial concern or issue has been resolved.

If a customer isn't interested in the product or service being offered during the cross-sell, have your service representatives move on. Continuing to sell after your customer has said, "I'm not interested" is the quickest way to damage your relationship and can negatively affect customer loyalty.

WIIFM - What's In it for Me?

When presenting cross-selling opportunities to your customers, you need to communicate the product or service's features. But the most important thing to communicate are the benefits. What will the product/service do for the customer? Why is it the right product or service for them? Why is this solution better than alternatives? What are they going to get our of it?

When developing cross-selling scripts, put product or service benefits up front. Some examples include: "By using X, you'll be able to save 33% on your electric bill". Sharing the benefits of your offering with customers helps to identify the personal value they'll receive as well as help you to become a trusted advisor. Cross-selling provides a benefit to your customers and your business!

Source: Forum.com, How Customers View Cross Selling