Upselling is a procedure designed to get more money from customers at the point of sale. It’s a simple approach any business can implement quickly and get immediate results.
Customers will never be more receptive to an attractive offer from you than when they’re paying you money. Develop the habit of offering your customers or clients an upgraded product or a related item at the time they make their first purchase.
Some businesses avoid upselling because they’re afraid the customer may get irritated and not buy at all. I found the opposite is true. Customers appreciate your thoughtfulness in offering them an added benefit they didn’t know about.
What to Offer
Think about your business. What else can you offer customers or clients while they’re making their first transaction with you? Can you offer them…
- A discount on a related product or service?
- A volume discount if they buy more now?
- A special priced combination package including the initial product or service?
How to Present An Upselling Offer
Upselling has none of the characteristics usually associated with selling. It’s simply offering an already receptive buyer an opportunity to enhance the value of his or her purchase.
Present your upselling offer casually, as an afterthought. For example, someone selling web site hosting might say the following when speaking in person or by phone with new customers:
“Your website will be up in 48 hours. If you’d like, we can double your server space, include unlimited autoresponders and a shopping cart for secure online ordering. The regular price for all of this is an additional $40 per month. But I’ll give it to you for just an additional $25 if you order it today.”
Most businesses report acceptance rates between 40% and 60% for their upselling offers. This is a big increase for so little effort. Plus, the profit from the upselling portion often exceeds the profit from the initial product or service because there is no advertising expense.
If you’re not making upselling offers to every new customer or client, start doing it now. It’s an easy way to boost your profits fast with little effort and no expense.
