Two Quick Revenue Boosting Strategies

You’ve been there. You read the sales page or watched the video, you click “add to cart” and enter your credit card information.

You click on “Submit” or “Process Order” or some other button with language of action.

And then it happens.

Another offer, perhaps another after that – and if you’ve purchased a product from an infomercial, probably a few more after that.

Why do you keep getting “hit” with all these offers?

Because they have a purpose and they work.

They are commonly referred to as; up-selling and cross-selling.

Up-Selling and Cross-Selling Can Be Irritating

But, they can also be incredibly effective. Let me share some up-selling and cross-selling techniques that will help you and your customer, and boost your revenue in the process.

But first, some examples so you understand more fully the power of these techniques.

For example. Let’s say you order a special ceramic knife you see on an infomercial. The knife is  offered in one of those great buy-one-get-two-how-can-I-resist offers.

When placing the order, the person taking your order asks if you’d also like the “Ceramic Knife Sharpener” with your order – especially because you can’t use a traditional knife sharpener. (Bear with me if I’m inaccurate, I’m just making this scenario up).

Wouldn’t you be glad you found out about the knife sharpener now instead of a couple months later when you wreck your ceramic knife on a traditional knife sharpener?

You were saved the extra costs of a new knife, or perhaps destroying it. The company that sold the knife increased the value of the original transaction. You both win.

That’s an example of a cross-selling technique (or up-sell if it were more expensive). It’s a good example because the additional sale enhances the value of the original purchase.

The sharpener compliments and is relevant to the knife. Both parties benefit.

Online Up-selling and Cross-Selling

An order starts out as a low-cost $19.99 purchase. Perhaps it’s a WordPress plugin that brushes your teeth (remember, I’m making this up!).

And when you go to checkout, they offer you toothpaste, and then membership into a new-Wordpress-plugin-of-the-month club.

While annoying to some, these offers are accepted (purchased) by customers many times. Each offer is different, but you could see 5, 15 or even 35% of your customers choose the up-sell.

Think about that for a moment. In this example, you’re offering a $19.99 product, with another $35 up-sell plus enrollment in a membership program for $47 per month.

If the average member stays in the program for three months, the transaction value increased from $19.99 to $195.99 ($19.99 + $35 + (3 x $47 or $141). And the customer enhances the value of their original purchase.

Now You Know Why They Ask If You Want Fries With Th

at

No matter what you call them, cross-sell, up-sell, down-sell, you can’t argue with their potential effectiveness.

You (the company) gets dramatic increases in transaction value, and your customer gets enhanced value from their original purchase.

The Dark Side of Up-Selling

Okay, you might be thinking, but it’s irritating and annoying to the customer. And besides, they might not have the money. Or, it’s dishonest because they weren’t planning on buying those things too.

And you could be right about your concerns.

Like with everything, the responsibility is with the vendor to offer quality, relevant offers with good up-selling and cross-selling techniques.

Just like some used-car salesmen give a bad name to selling cars, some online merchants give a bad name to offering additional products and services during a sale.

How to Avoid Irritating and Annoying Up-sells

Ensure you offer complimentary or relevant products or services to the product being purchased.

Don’t try to sell a relationship book to someone purchasing graphic design work. But, you could sell a relationship book to someone signing up for a relationship coaching session.

Deliver an offer (and product) that can enhance what your customer is buying.

For example: when people purchase my Let Your Millionaire Out Success System or one of the modules, they are offered the “Full Practice Program.”

Most of my list is composed of coaches, consultants and other professionals (what I refer to as Free Agents). Just about all of them (if not all) need more clients. Offering them a simple system to do this is a natural extension and something they might not have known about.

But perhaps they don’t want more clients (they may have a job). If they click on “No Thank You”, they are offered all four modules; Focus, Passion, Power and Profit, again, for significantly reduced price.

Now, how do you avoid annoying or irritating the customer. As I mentioned, keep it relevant and be sure it enhances what they’re already buying. And most importantly, track the effectiveness of the offer.

You might be interested to know the statistics for my offer mentioned above. My shopping cart keeps track of the metrics of who chooses the up-sell or cross-sell, and who doesn’t accept either of them.

The offer above is accepted the majority of the time, and most choose the up-sell, not the cross-sell. That is literally a couple hundred dollar difference in transaction value – everybody wins.

A Word of Caution about Additional Sales

Know when to offer the up-sell or cross-sell. If you do it wrong, you could lose the original order too. You don’t want to do that. You want to provide a smooth, fluent online order process.

You want to capture the original sale first, before offering anything else. That way, the original sale is safe and there is minimal downside risk of offering additional products.

If, however, you go right into the additional selling process, the customer may get so annoyed they abandon your shoppingcart altogether, not making any sale.

You’ll want to understand the technical elements of this, or, if you’re like me, you just want it to work, which is another reason I like the Upsell option of my shopping cart solution.

Either way, be sure to test the process yourself and make sure it flows, is pleasant and feels like you’re trying to help the prospect versus offload a bunch of product.

How Can I Apply It In My Coaching or Consulting?

You can use these up-selling and cross-selling techniques online or offline.

Perhaps you’re signing up a new client. You might take this opportunity to add one of your products at a reduced rate. Or, you may offer them a spot in your invite-only Mastermind program.

The opportunities truly are endless if you use your imagination and desire to offer as much help to your prospects and customers as possible.

In Closing

The next time you’re offered “do you want fries with that?” Take a moment to reflect on the process and smile at the wisdom behind those words.

Better yet, create your own version of “do you want fries with that?”

To Your Millionaire!

David Koons
FreeAgentCoach.com
Helping You Get More Clients… Faster!

PS – Two slots have become available in my private VIP program. Members get weekly access to me, customized plans and overwhelming support.

If you’re truly tired of struggling and ready to push through what’s been holding you back, buckle your seat belt and click here to contact me and schedule an interview. Just fill out the contact form, no sales page, we’ll just talk to see if you’re a good fit for the program. These slots, when available, fill very fast.

Related articles

• QnA: Selling Yourself Short and How to Avoid It (freeagentcoach.com)
• The Messiness of Marketing (freeagentcoach.com)
• QnA: Getting Started as a Coach (freeagentcoach.com)
• 4 Essential Elements to a Sales Page (freeagentcoach.com)

Tags: Cross-Sell, David Koons, Free Agent Coach, Upsell, upselling and crossselling techniques, wordpress