 |
 |
|
Download PDF 4 Critical Elements Required When Implementing Cross-Selling Strategies in Your Business.
One of the greatest buzz strategies in recent years has been the idea of cross selling. Nowadays, you will find numerous resources printed and electronic that tout the merits of this sales strategy, yet whenever I do a sales training session, this seems to be the one strategy that creates the most confusion.
What is cross selling? Is it different from add on selling? Why cross selling?
In this article I will present my viewpoint on cross selling, and point out the key elements for making this strategy work for you. I must emphasize that this is only one perspective on cross selling and there are lots of competing ideas on this topic. You have to decide if the ideas presented here can help you achieve your sales goals.
I define cross selling as being able to sell your current customers additional products produced either by your own company or strategic allies with whom you have profit share/commission agreements. Now for the fine print: Cross selling as defined above allows for several levels of cross selling difficulty. For example, if you are an insurance broker, I would expect you to offer all types of insurance, personal, home, car, boat, etc. to a client either at the initial transaction or on a move forward basis as the client’s situation changes. This is cross selling as you are able to offer multiple products to a prospective client. Similarly, a store like Walmart can be considered business that cross sells by offering the convenience of multiple products to a customer under one roof. For me, these examples illustrate automatic instances where cross selling has to be employed be sheer common sense.
If that were the only definition of cross selling, selling additional company products is simply too easy. Cross selling involves, taking a look at the client, understanding their needs and making recommendations/offering solutions to meet those needs. For example, consider our insurance broker scenario above. The idea is to find the right mix of products to protect and create wealth for the client. To introduce cross selling to this example, the broker would have to get an overall picture of the client’s life goals, including retirement goals, children’s education, income protection for a spouse, etc. Based on this analysis, you should be able to recommend/sell the right insurance product for the client, but you now have the ability to recommend additional products such as RRSP, educational savings plans, wills and powers of attorney, real estate investments, etc. Some of these products may be offered by your company and others by strategic partners.
The general idea here is to maximize the possible revenue that one can generate from an existing customer with whom you have a relationship. The key word in this is “relationship”. One of the hardest tasks that a sales person can embark upon is to create strong and trusting relationships with new customers. It’s our job as sales people to constantly create these relationships, however, if you have that relationship already, don’t you think it would be a bit easier to get in there and offer another product?
To make Cross selling work I suggest the following 4 elements:
Cross selling is most successful when you have a relationship with the client. Account management focuses on the strategies that must be employed to ensure a long term and successful relationship.
Cross Selling relies heavily on your ability to know your client’s needs and requirements. This information is best stored in a database program and/or system that allows for ease of inquiry. Mining the data on your clients will become one of the keys for successful cross selling.
Refers to the various aspects that surround the ability to communicate with a customer. Cross selling relies on the ability to have a long-term strategy of communication.
Without proper questioning it is impossible to qualify the client and the opportunity that exists therein. Questioning also serves as opportunities to self evaluate our activities and the success/failures of such.
Cross selling can be a very powerful tool that can increase your revenue from existing clients. Of course not everyone will have the right product mix or strategic partners available to make it work immediately, but maintaining the client relationship is still vitally important. Treat cross selling as a tool in your toolbox that can be deployed when the right opportunity presents itself.
Happy Selling…
Fred Sarkari
|
