It’s been said that selling is like a fine art. It takes some insight to know what consumers are thinking. A few will linger, taking their time to admire and debate what they see. Others will act on impulse, purchasing what appeals to them at the moment. Some will fall in between the act of debating and taking instant action.

Still, others will only give products and services a momentary glance, walking away from what’s dangling before them. Companies must be ready with sales strategies for each type of audience and situation, including cross-selling and upselling opportunities. While cross-selling involves suggesting complementary products, upselling is about getting the customer to take it up a notch.

Either way, these strategies take a deep understanding of clients’ needs and what products offer. Suggesting something additional or different without a solid approach may not produce the results you want. Here are four ways to improve your cross-selling and upselling game.

1. Use Predictive Models

As you know, understanding consumers’ needs is one of the foundations of any sales strategy. You’ll waste time if you aren’t clued into your audience’s preferences and behaviors. But to develop insights about your market, you need information. It can come from the horse’s mouth, aggregate sources, and transactional data you collect in the background.

Yet, even with an overabundance of data, there’s the possibility of misinterpretation. You also need to develop the ability to predict your audience’s future needs. Anticipating whether it makes sense to cross-sell to a segment with higher churn risk impacts the bottom line. Relying on predictive data models, such as predictive audiences, removes the guesswork.

Predictive audience models reveal which customers are more likely to respond to cross-selling and upselling efforts. The models also show who’s at risk of becoming an ex-client and whether various sales strategies might keep them happy. Maybe it’s a service-product bundle or an add-on to enhance the performance of a product they already have. Predictive data helps refine your pitch by identifying who’s who in your sea of customers.

2. Offer Bundle Options

Service and product bundles can speed up the decision-making process for consumers. Why? Because when complementary items come together in a nice, value-priced package, it simplifies the process. Examples include fast food value meals, internet and streaming app packages, and park hopper passes at theme parks.

Bundles can boost cross-selling, increase perceived value, and provide consumer guidance. Say your main product is wireless services. Within this category, you sell phone and internet service, plus smartphones and accessories. What if you offered bundles with various tiers of phone and internet service, along with phones and accessories?

Consumers wouldn’t have to debate what phone would work best with higher data speeds or which case to choose. There wouldn’t be a delay as they think about which internet package to add later. With a bundle, they get everything they need in one stop, reducing the chance they’ll go to a competitor. The trick is to ensure your bundle options are targeted appropriately and don’t devalue the products in the mix.

3. Make Recommendations Based on Buying Patterns

What happens when a business pitches a product that seems to come out of left field? You’re more likely to delete that email or throw the mailed brochure in the trash. But beyond these immediate actions, you’re probably feeling some annoyance and disbelief. Why does your bank seem so bent on having you upgrade your account if you can’t meet the deposit requirements? Wouldn’t it make more sense to sell you a more appropriate option?

When cross-selling and upselling strategies are mismatched, they can come across as pushy. Your company may not see immediate churn, but it does erode trust. This is the opposite of what you want. Effective cross-selling and upselling strategies are built on trust. The consumer needs to be confident in your ability to anticipate their needs and offer products that meet them.

Simultaneously, your market wants to feel like the decision is theirs. Incessant follow-ups, direct mailers, and emails are only guaranteed to do one thing — push your clients away. Even if they want or need your products, pushy sales strategies will make them think twice. Instead, offer them guidance based on what they’ve purchased before. That can demonstrate you pay attention to their unique needs, and it builds trust.

4. Leverage Post-Purchase Opportunities

When you market to an existing customer, you stand a 60% to 70% chance of getting them to buy again. Compare this to the 13% probability you have with a new prospect, and you’ll see why customer loyalty is huge. But loyalty takes time, trust, and an effective sales strategy. Once someone has checked out with their purchase, it doesn’t mean your cross-selling and upselling opportunities vanish.

As long as you’re using data wisely and providing guidance, you can make additional product recommendations post-purchase. Maybe a customer removed a related product from their cart. This is an opportunity to take notice and send a follow-up email. You can sweeten the deal with an added incentive to move forward with the purchase. Within the email, you can also suggest additional items that resemble the one the customer removed from their cart. 

Likewise, you can use post-purchase customer data to upsell. However, an after-the-fact upsell may require additional information and time. Take the example of internet service. Perhaps usage patterns reveal a customer routinely connects more devices than their current plan’s bandwidth can handle. Based on this data, you suggest a higher-tiered plan, highlighting how it will better accommodate the customer’s needs.

Improving Your Cross-Selling and Upselling Strategies

Get your sales strategy wrong and you’ll struggle to drum up business. But if you get it right, you’ll position your company for continuous growth. Cross-selling and upselling are critical aspects of the game, ensuring you leverage all opportunities to meet customers’ needs. The key is to use and interpret data in ways that serve the consumer.

Published by: Martin De Juan