Have you considered upselling to boost your sales numbers? Upselling involves encouraging loyal customers to go a little bit over and above their usual purchase order with upgrades, premium products or add-ons. A perfect example of this is the line we’ve heard a thousand times, “Would you like fries with that?” By getting the client to add to their purchase, you can provide value without asking for too much, while increasing your sales in the long run with little or no cost to you.
There are certain strategies that should be taken into account when trying to effectively use the upselling technique. One of them is to look more closely at consumer purchasing patterns. Purchasing patterns will give you a better idea of what the best additional items to pitch to a customer are, and what items haven’t been very successful. By keeping track of customers’ different ordering patterns, you will see what items they may be purchasing in concert with others, and what items you can offer as an additional item to boost sales. An important factor in upselling is preparation and flexibility. Be prepared to know what the best items to offer together are for maximum upselling capability, but also be flexible enough to change your plan around if it’s not working.
Another effective strategy when using the upselling technique is to create incentives for extra purchases. This can be done in a multitude of ways. You can offer rebates and discounts for future purchases, or you can even create a “Buy this item, get this item 30% off” kind of deal. This can be effective, if you have done the necessary purchasing pattern research. You will know what items are usually sold in association with another and what items to offer incentive deals with. If you know that 40% of the people who buy iPods also buy a car adapter to go along with it, it may be a good idea to create a discount on car adapters as long as it’s sold along with the iPod, to create an incentive for sales of both items.
This article is written by OneCoach Team
When using the upselling technique, it is important to keep all things in perspective. If you are not making money you’re losing money, so be sure to try different product combinations often, and adapt your selling strategies. Be flexible. Upselling does not take a lot of effort, and can be very profitable to a company over the long haul of the sales year. If you have constructed your upselling strategy correctly, by understanding the needs and concerns of each customer, then you are, in a way, making the decision of the upsell for them, before it has even crossed their mind.
