Upselling is a great tool to make your business more profitable. It can even leave you with happier customers, but only if you know how to do it right. Here are 4 easy ways to make sure both you and your customers are happy with the results.
One easy way to get organized and plan your upsells is by making a list of your products and services. Once you have your list, you can give values to your items, categorize them, and note which types of customers might be interested in which items and why.
Your services list isn’t only for your benefit, though. Let your customer look it over, as well. If they see other services on your list they’re interested in, that’s an easy sale for you!
Upselling often works best when you’re offering products and services that make sense together - called ‘bundling’. You may offer interior painting, gutter replacement, and grass cutting, but it probably wouldn’t make sense to bundle those services together. To create your bundles, think about which items would compliment your other services.
Here are a few example upsell bundles to get you started:
A residential painter offers a color consultation alongside a kitchen painting project.
An electrician offers a whole home surge protector installation when putting in electrical outlets throughout a home.
A landscaper offers a deal for plant pruning and maintenance after designing a backyard garden for a customer.
Once you’ve figured out which parts of your business you want to upsell and how to offer them, you can actually start doing the upselling. There’s a right way and a wrong way, though.
The wrong way is to try to get your customer to buy more expensive items that aren’t the best fit for them. Some companies even use scare tactics to try to get customers to upgrade, which can lead to mistrust and a negative experience all around - the customer will be unhappy, and you won’t have future business or referrals from them.
The right way is, as Infusionsoft suggests, to think of upselling as “going the extra mile for your customer”, rather than just trying to convince them to buy more from you. When you’re talking with them about their project, really listen to find out their requirements and wants. You’re the expert here. You have the knowledge to recommend the best service for them. If you can't explain how and why an additional spend will benefit their overall goals, it's not an upsell worth pursuing.
If you’ve done work for a customer in the past and have a feeling they’d be interested in another one of your services, let them know! It costs less, in both time and money, to sell to past customers than it does to get brand new customers. According to Forbes, “upselling current customers is 5-10 times cheaper than acquiring new ones…” This is part of the reason it’s so important to have a good relationship with your customers and act in their best interest. When they think of you as a trusted advisor, they’ll be happy to come back to you for future projects.
Making money is a key component to the success of your business, and upselling can be a big contributor to that success. Using the tips above, you’ll be able to make the upsell and more profit, and give your customer the best possible service. Everyone wins!
Do you have any other tips for upselling? Let us know in the comments, or on Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn!