Let’s not waste any time here. When you go-to-market with a B2B offer, you’re absolutely missing out if you’re not upselling, cross-selling, and downselling your customers.
Now, if you aren’t doing this, it’s really no fault of your own (I’ll let you off the hook for a moment). The truth is, most sales teams have no clue how to use these techniques to drive revenue…
Until now.
After reading this guide, there’s really no excuse not to implement these powerful revenue-drivers in your organization.
After all, the numbers don’t lie. According to Sumo.com and other reputable outlets, upselling alone increases revenue by 10-30% on average. Yes, 10-30%! Add in cross-selling and down-selling and you’re looking at even higher returns across the board.
OK – so you know it’s important, but how do you do it? Read on to find out!
What is Upselling and how to Upsell Customers and Clients?
Upselling is simply offering a product or service at a more premium price than the product/service that is being purchased. So if your core offer is consulting services, you might upsell your client on a full-suite sales audit that costs an additional one-time fee of $10-$20K.
You always frame the upsell as a premium add-on, not just another thing to buy. It’s a massive value-add, and the customer/client stands to lose out if it’s not purchased now. So the two psychological triggers at play are 1) Premium/exclusivity and 2) Urgency. The “Fear of Missing Out” or FOMO is huge here.
This technique especially works when your upsell offer complements your core offer. Better yet, if your upsell somehow enhances your core offer, the deal pretty much closes itself.
When should you upsell? You should upsell right after your buyer purchases your core offer. Don’t wait! They are already in the buying mood, so move forward with your value-add upsell.
What is Cross-selling and how to Cross-sell Customers and Clients?
Cross-selling is when you offer a product or service at a similar price-point as your main offer. You see this all the time — especially when shopping on Amazon. After your purchase, you’ll see the products offered: “Customers who bought this item also bought…” You’ve probably also seen “Frequently bought together” bundles. This is all cross-selling. And it works in high-ticket sales (selling to the c-suite) almost as well as it does on low-ticket Amazon products.
To cross sell high-ticket items, you might bundle a couple of different-but-related offers into one discounted offer. For instance, if you offer management consulting services, why not cross-sell different departments? HR needs consulting just as much as Finance, Marketing, and Operations. Or how about cross-selling related services, like competitor analysis, industry reports, etc. Just be careful not to throw in the kitchen sink, as it were. You don’t want to dilute the perceived value of your core offer by offering too many other things.
Think of it this way… Imagine going to the best sushi chef in Tokyo, and he says “I also make Italian food and Mexican food – want some?” No! Just no. He just diluted his core value offer (his sushi!). I love Italian food, don’t get me wrong, but I’ll go to the Italian restaurant for it. I ONLY want sushi from sushi chefs, just like your customer ONLY wants the services that fall under your area of genius. Got it? Good.
What is Down-selling and How to Downsell Customers and Clients?
Down-selling happens the moment your prospect says “No” to an upsell or cross-sell offer. You can overcome objections to save the sale, sure, but be sure to offer a downsell before you let them off the hook. A downsell is your upsell or cross-sell offer, just discounted by 25-50% off.
So let’s say you’re selling consulting services with an upsell of 10 private coaching sessions for $7,500. If your buyer doesn’t bite, you can offer a variant of this same upsell (now called a downsell!) for only $4,500. You can reduce the sessions from 10 to 6, allowing for you to protect your margins and still capture more business and added revenue.
Think of the downsell as your last-ditch effort to make your upsell work. These offers are usually successful because you already price-anchored your buyer at $7,500, so when you offer a similar package for only $4,500 (or 40% off!), it’s going to sound like the best deal in the world.
Understanding the Buyer Psychology
You’ve earned your buyer’s trust – that’s why they’re purchasing your core offer. So the upsell, downsell, and cross-sell are additional opportunities for them to trust you even more. They are already in the buying mood, they’re already saying ‘Yes’ to what you’re selling, so why not get one more ‘Yes’ out of them?
If your upsells and cross-sells are helpful and valuable, then you must offer them. What’s the worst that can happen? They say ‘No’? Big deal. You’ve already got their business!
Another thing to consider is that budgets can expire without carrying over to the next year. In other words, some decision-makers have to “use-it-or-lose-it”, especially at the end of the year. They want/need to spend their money, and if it’s an investment in their business, they want/need your products and services. Remember that these additional offers can help you capture upwards of 10-30% more sales revenue that otherwise wouldn’t have been captured. It’s really the closest thing to money-on-the-table. So just reach out and take it.
Final Words
There’s no reason not to include upsells, downsells, and cross-sells into your sales appointments. And the number one reason why these things are successful is because they are offered immediately after you close on your core offer.
One last thing on these value-adds – don’t offer them with a sheepish attitude. You need to be as confident in your speech when offering an upsell as you were when you offered your core product. Don’t forget, if you’re adding value to their organization, then they need it and it’s a crime not to offer it!
So get out there and upsell, cross-sell, and downsell in every sales appointment from now on. Your customers and clients deserve it.
Until next time…
Johnny-Lee Reinoso