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One of the quickest ways to increase your sales is through upselling, or selling additional products to customers at the 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?” Upselling is a great way to increase your revenue because customers are basically in a buying 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 are the basic steps to setting up a successful upselling program:
Ready to get started? Get out your pencil.
1. KNOW THE VALUE OF YOUR PRODUCTS. In this case, value means two things – the value or profitability of the product to you, the business owner, and the value or usefulness of the product to your customer.
Start with yourself. Look at each of your products and calculate the cash in your pocket for selling each of them. This is just the amount you sell the product or service for, less your costs for buying or providing it. Be sure to include all costs. For example, if you buy the product from another company, you will need to include the shipping costs to get the product to your location.
Create a table so you can clearly see the profitability of each product. On a piece of paper, put the following items as column headings and then fill out your table:
Next, look at the value of each product to your customer. There are items that are useful by themselves and items that are useful when purchased with another product. You will have the greatest success if you offer products that are less expensive than the 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 along with the printer.
Add a column to your table:
In this column, put a ‘P’ for primary products and an ‘A’ for add-on products. Next to each ‘A,’ put the name of the primary products with which they can be sold.
2. FIGURE OUT WHAT OTHERS HAVE BOUGHT. Take a look at prior sales and see what products your customers have often purchased together. This may give you some additional ideas and insight as to what add-ons go with what primary products. Update your table based on your review.
3. DEVELOP NEW OPTIONS. Spend a little time thinking about additional options for add-on sales. Again, a great upsell product is less expensive than the original purchase but is in some way related to it and provides a fixed benefit for a fixed price.
Some options to consider:
4. SCRIPT YOUR PLAN. You now have enough information to develop your upsell script. This is as simple as asking the buyer, “Would you like ____ with that?” at the time of purchase. I would also suggest you include a reason to purchase.
Here is an example using the computer cartridges again. You can ask: “Would like a set of two additional printer cartridges with that?” And then explain: “We can ship them to you with the printer so they will be available whenever you need them.”
Select the products you will offer with a primary purchase by reviewing your product table. Emphasize items that relate to the primary purchase and have the highest return to you.
Make it easy on the salesperson by having a separate sheet with specific add-ons to offer.
You also can do this via a Web site by showing pictures of related products below the primary product description or next to the selected items in the order summary or shopping cart.
Now you’re ready to begin – happy upselling!
Carol Woods is a small business consultant from San Francisco, Calif.