Upselling: Don’t forget to ask for “The Next Best Thing”
Posted by Geoff Alexander on Mon, May 18, 2009 @ 12:25 AM
As salespeople, sometimes we're so happy about getting an order that we forget to do an important bit of upselling, namely telling the prospect what he or she could get with a little more of an investment. When I go out shopping, I'm sometimes confused by the vast number of products and options available in virtually everything I buy. And frankly, many salespeople don't do a very good job helping me. A classic example is what happened recently when a friend bought a laptop computer, as I was along for the shopping trip. And yes, there's a sales tip here that is relevant for telesales people.
My friend was focused on getting a certain brand of computer, looked at all the models, read the specs, and decided which one he wanted. So he asked the sales rep to pull one out of stock and write up the order. "Just another question," I said, "what's the next step up?" The rep showed us a more pricey unit, but with a better screen. As it turns out, my friend often views multiple documents on the same screen, and that better screen was worth the money, so my friend bought it. But the salesperson never asked, so I had to!
In my inside sales courses, I preach a lot on the value of asking the prospects' needs, but even the best reps sometimes forget. So here's a sales tip want you to consider. The next time you're writing up an order, just stop for a moment and tell the prospect the following:
"From what we've discussed, I think this solution is going to fit your needs very well. Before we start on the paperwork, let me take a moment to tell you what just a little more of an investment will buy you." Then tell the prospect, and let him or her make the decision.
As a consumer, I can't tell you how many things I've bought that were upgrades from what I originally intended to buy, from cars, to electronics, to antiquities. In each case, I had to ask the salesperson about "the next best thing." About 50% of the time, I bought the higher-end item. Sometimes it was thousands of dollars more, but I was a lot happier with my purchase. You can get into this habit yourself while shopping for almost anything. Always ask about the next step up. Once you do, you'll probably finding yourself paying a bit more, but getting better stuff! An old sales adage says that "when you buy quality, you only cry once." And you can transfer this habit to your own sales prospects. Make this one of your call objectives. Always tell them about what they'll get if they pay a little more, and add this sales technique to your Best Practices Playbook, and I'll bet you'll increase sales numbers, too.