UPSELLING BASICS

Written by Carol Woods


One ofrepparttar quickest ways to increase your sales is through upselling, or selling additional products to customers atrepparttar 121532 time they are placing an order. An excellent example of that is found at fast food restaurants: when you order a burger, you will often be asked "Do you want fries with that?" It's a great way to increase your revenues, since customers are basically in a "buying from you" frame of mind at that time. This can work for products or services, although services should be "productized", meaning you offer a specific scope of services for a set price.

Here arerepparttar 121533 basic steps to a good upselling program: 1.Knowrepparttar 121534 value of your products 2.Figure out what others have bought 3.Develop new options (products, installation, maintenance plan) 4.Script your plan

Ready to get started? Get out your pencil and let's go!

1. Knowrepparttar 121535 value of your products -----------------------------------------

In this case, value means two things:repparttar 121536 value or profitability ofrepparttar 121537 product to you,repparttar 121538 business owner; andrepparttar 121539 value or usefulness ofrepparttar 121540 product to your customer.

Start with yourself. Look at each of your products, and calculaterepparttar 121541 cash in your pocket for selling each of them. This is justrepparttar 121542 amount you sellrepparttar 121543 product or service for, less your costs for buying or providing it. Be sure to include all costs - for example, if you buyrepparttar 121544 product from another company you will need to includerepparttar 121545 shipping costs to getrepparttar 121546 product to your location.

Create a table so you can clearly seerepparttar 121547 profitability of each product: on a piece of paper putrepparttar 121548 following items as column headings, and then fill your table out: Product Name Selling Price Cost to Buy/Provide Cash in (Selling price minus your cost to buy or provide) % Cash in (Cash in divided by Cost to buy or provide)

Next, look atrepparttar 121549 value of each product to your customer. There are items which are useful by themselves, and items which are useful when purchased with another product. You will haverepparttar 121550 greatest success if you offer products which are less expensive thanrepparttar 121551 original purchase but are in some way related to it. For example, if you sell a printer, an excellent upsell would be to offer a set of extra printer cartridges to be shipped to them along withrepparttar 121552 printer.

Add a column to your table: Related to

In this column, put a "P" for primary products and an "A" for add-on products. Next to each "A" putrepparttar 121553 name ofrepparttar 121554 primary products it can be sold with.

You May Be Marketing Your Company Right Out of Business!

Written by Stacey Hall and Jan Brogniez


How many times have you thought "We need more customers!"

If you find that you often feel that your company needs more customers, then consider this...

There is a common belief held by most business owners, managers, and sales teams that all of their business problems would be solved if they could just figure outrepparttar secret to "finding and getting more customers."

And, that is their biggest mistake!

The never-ending search for more customers requires an abundance of people, time, and money... resources which are usually in short supply in most companies. In such an environment,repparttar 121531 effort put forth to "find" customers is actually depletingrepparttar 121532 business of its energy, creativity, and enthusiasm...commodities required to serve these customers in a satisfying way. And, since dissatisfied customers do not return,repparttar 121533 business must keep finding more customers to replace those they have lost.

So, with each repetition ofrepparttar 121534 cycle,repparttar 121535 company has less and less ability to providerepparttar 121536 level of service that would satisfyrepparttar 121537 types of customers it originally intended to serve. So,repparttar 121538 number of complaintsrepparttar 121539 business receives continues to increase...and eventually,repparttar 121540 complaints outweighrepparttar 121541 compliments. The word spreads throughoutrepparttar 121542 community. It becomes harder to find customers to serve. Debts then exceed profits. The business fails.

Conversely, those 15% that succeed have structured their company in a way that "attracts" only perfect customers and clients.

Companies must replacerepparttar 121543 thought "We need more customers" withrepparttar 121544 conviction that "We now attract only perfect customers."

What'srepparttar 121545 difference?

It'srepparttar 121546 difference between a successful business and one that struggles to survive. It'srepparttar 121547 difference between a profitable business and one that pinches pennies. It'srepparttar 121548 difference between a thriving business and one that is hanging on by a thread.

IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR CUSTOMERS TO SERVE, YOU'LL FIND "CUSTOMERS FROM HELL"

Most people agree that looking for customers to serve requires a lot of energy. First, you must figure out where you are most likely to findrepparttar 121549 greatest number of customers. And, then you must spend more time and money experimenting withrepparttar 121550 right way to catch their attention. Byrepparttar 121551 time you have actually found someone who is willing to try what you have to give them, your company has exhausted its energy!

So, when this customer tells you that they are not completely satisfied with your products, your policies, or your pricing, you are more than willing to make compromises to satisfy them ... truth be known, you are simply too tired to put up a fight. Perhaps, thinking that you have wonrepparttar 121552 war, you feel you can afford to let them win these smaller conflicts...especially in light of what it would cost to go out and hunt down another customer to replace this one.

Yet, if your company had more strength and solvency, you might be more willing to listen torepparttar 121553 tiny inner voice that says, "Be careful...this one could be more trouble than their worth. This is a customer from hell."

You ignorerepparttar 121554 voice because ofrepparttar 121555 need to make backrepparttar 121556 money spent on marketing and sales programs. Or, you convince yourself that these customers must be perfect for your company or you are afraid that you will lose this customer torepparttar 121557 competition.

Inevitably, though,repparttar 121558 voice turns out to be right. Byrepparttar 121559 time you end your tortured relationship with this customer, you feel that no amount of money inrepparttar 121560 world would have been enough to compensate us forrepparttar 121561 cost ofrepparttar 121562 experience.

This isrepparttar 121563 result when you create marketing campaigns or promotional strategies that fail to clearly conveyrepparttar 121564 bright light of your unique business distinctions; you find customers that other businesses should be serving.

THE LIGHTHOUSE TEST

So, how can you tell if your company is structured to "attract" perfect customers to serve?

Here isrepparttar 121565 "Lighthouse Test."

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