How to Qualify the Decision Maker on a Cold Call

One of the many challenges sales people face in setting appointments on the telephone is qualifying the prospect, which has become a major issue and causes tremendous amounts of lost income and time.

I believe the main problem for this is because most sales people still have a bit of the old Smile and Dial mentally.

It is out of fear that sales people fail to properly qualify or identify the true decision maker.

As an example:
A sales person goes through two dozen cold calls, gets hung up on a few times and finally gets a person on the telephone who sounds like he will listen and whose “title” says he or she may be the Decision Maker - that’s it! Why mess this up? The moment the “good sounding” person gets on the telephone; just set the appointment and get off as soon as possible. This type of shove your story down the throat of anyone who will listen is part of the old-school telemarketing pitch mentally.

Also, many sales people are afraid to ask to verify the Decision Maker because they do not want to introduce such a “buying” question so early in the conversation. To ask such a direct question so early in the call also exposes the true reason the sales person is calling. “Do you make the buying decisions for shipping services for your company?” That question exposes that you are calling to sell shipping services and many sales peoples are still under that outdated idea to try and hide, disguise and delay their identity and true purpose. They are still trying to bait-the-prospect along; to keep them on the telephone until they can get to the “good part” of the pitch, when the prospect can hear some benefits.

Once again, those days are over!! Be professional and you will set more quality appointments with more qualified prospects.

The best way to qualify the Decision Maker in a cold call is simple: ask the prospect if they are the person who actually makes he decision or makes the purchase of whatever it is that you sell. And do this regardless of the person’s job title or other potential things that signify the prospect may be the true Decision Maker.

In other words, let’s say you sell help desk management software, and your sales model says specifically that it is the “Help Desk Manager” who is the Decision Maker which is usually true. STILL, you should ask everyone; regardless of title if they make the decision. And the reason for this is not only to qualify the prospect technically, but to qualify the prospect psychologically as to their attitude toward you and what you do.

You must ask the prospect if they are the Decision Maker but also explain exactly what you do.

For example, if you sell security management software, you can’t just ask, “Do you make the decisions on software?”

Depending on exactly what you do, the decisions about the product or service can be made by someone else.

Be complete and direct:

Sales Person:
“Yes, Hi Mrs. Prospect, I’m Jo Bloggs from Help Desk Systems and we help companies manage help desk calls across multiple platforms. Do you purchase enterprise wide help desk management software for ABC Financial?”

Here’s another example:

Sales Person:
“I help independent business owners with inventory management. As the owner, do you also make all the decisions on your inventory management and costs?”

Explain exactly what you do and ask the prospect if they handle it and you will qualify the Decision Maker!

Happy Selling!

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Sales Training

Telephone:
0800 849 6732

Website:
www.mtdsalestraining.com

Click here for our Telesales Training services

Solution Based Selling

What is it and how to do it!

What is solutions-based selling?

And how do you sell a solution?

In answer, let me start with the word itself. Merriam-Webster defines the word solution as: “a. An action or process of solving a problem b: an answer to a problem…” Solutions based selling means providing answers to problems. A solution is the answer to a problem and therefore, before you can sell a solution, you have to identify a problem. If you wish to become a solutions provider and business advisor to your clients, you must first uncover the problem or problems and help educate the buyer to them.

To uncover problems your prospective client is having, begin by examining the benefits your product or service offers. However, don’t confuse benefits with solutions. A benefit is not a solution unless it solves a problem. If you are not sure what benefits apply to the customer, then ask questions to find areas your product can help. Examine the benefits.

Start with your benefits, but don’t stop there. Instead, consider the benefit and work backwards. Ask yourself, ‘WHY is this a benefit to the customer?’, and you will immediately find the problems. As an example, let’s take a sales person who sells the latest and greatest network printers that can fax, email, and do everything but make coffee.

The prospect has a separate stand alone printer and fax machine and both work fine. What is a benefit the network printer offers? Well the sales person knows that one benefit with the networked printer is the staff can send their work to the printer and fax it instantly with the click of a mouse, right from their workstation. So, she tries to sell the benefit:

“Mr. Prospect, with this printer, your staff can send faxes right from their own workstations!” That’s nice, but there is no motivation—because there is no solution—because there is no problem. They’ve been getting along just fine without the network printer.

However, let us take this benefit and work backward; asking what makes it a benefit. Then we can identify and uncover the problem and sell a solution!

The benefit: employees can fax from their desks. WHY is that a benefit: because the staff will save a lot of time and money. First, they currently have to print hard copy of each document costing tons of money in paper and ink. Then they must leave their desks and walk over to the printer only to then go to the fax machine (which usually has a waiting line) then manually fax the document, also waiting to make sure it went through successfully. If this process takes only five minutes; multiply that by every faxed document and that by every employee and you get huge amount of money literally going to waste. Bingo! That is a BIG problem!

So you do not sell the individual benefits, instead you first uncover the problem and offer a solution!

“Mr. Prospect, your people spend an enormous amount of time and money by having to print hard copy and go to both machines….” If the prospect does not readily see the problem, ask more questions.

“Mr. Prospect, do you know approximately how many faxes your staff sends out everyday?” “Well, if you multiply that by five or six minutes and multiply that by the average salary…”

Once you’ve uncovered the problem, present the solution…the answer!

“Mr. Prospect, with our network printer, you solve that problem because each employee can…”

How do you sell solutions? Uncover a problem, and then present the solution to that problem, with these simple steps:

1. Examine the benefits of your product or service.

2. Figure out why those benefits are indeed benefits

3. Identify the problem at the core of the benefit

4. Educate the customer about the problem

5. Offer the solution to that problem.

Happy Selling!

Sean Mc

Yes, success in professional selling does indeed rely on a little luck!

That luck however, stands for Labour Under Correct Knowledge!

Selling is a profession and as in any profession it takes skill, education, practice and expert knowledge. A true professional sales person does not rely on the roll of the dice or hope and wish he or she has a good week.

A true professional depends on the knowledge and understanding of facts; on scientific data and laws all applied with learned skill.

If you will learn the facts, the scientific data and the laws that govern your business, and practice and study to learn how to apply this science to your everyday activities; then you will make as money as you want, write your own paycheck and completely eliminate any risk.

In fact, you can work on a commission (even a 100% commission) and make it more dependable and consistent than if your worked on a set hourly wage!

S.O.S. = The Science of Selling

The Science of Selling, or SOS, is exactly what it sounds like.

It is about understanding the science; the numbers and the data about selling. What follows is a brief explanation of SOS and some tips on how to apply it to your particular sales situation.

However, for more detailed information on SOS you will find in other MTD training material.

The first step to develop an understanding of your SOS is to find out all of the numbers.

You need to assess all of the statistical data that surrounds your selling situation: your product, sales process, turn around time and your company or ndustry. You must find out your sales averages, all the averages: your closing average, the average sales amount, the average sales commissions
paid, the average length of time to close a sale, the average number of appointments to make one sale, the average number of calls to set one appointment, the average number of dials to make a call to set an appointment. You need data.

This information should not be too difficult to get as your sales management should have such readily available. If you have a history with the company you are now with, then you should be able to get most of this information from your own records.

If you are new to the company or to selling, then your company should have records and statistics of sales people with the firm in general. The key is that you MUST NOT invent, create or assume these numbers. You must base these figures on facts.

Selling is the most subjective business in the world and you cannot rely on what you think or feel. The amount of prospects you think you saw last week and what you feel is your closing average, will more likely be a lot different the amount of prospects you actually saw and your true closing average.

Once you have this real data then you can begin.

To best explain SOS and how you can apply it to your personal situation, let’s use a hypothetical sales person we will call Judith Rains.

Judith works for ABC Widgets and after looking over her history, she has gathered all of the information on her actual past performance.

Judith has found that her closing average is 20% or one out of five.

That is, when she counted all of the sales she closed versus all of the prospects she attempted to close, she closed 20% or one out of every five. It took her five sales presentations or demonstrations to make every one sale.

Now we know that there were times when Judith made three or four sales in a row and times when she lost a few sales in a row.

However, over a length of time, Judith knows that her average is 20%.

Judith also knows that when she makes a sale she earns a commission of £400 on the average. Once again, this is her average as sometimes she makes a big sale and earns £1,000 or more and sometimes she only earns £150, but her average is £400.

It therefore, takes Judith FIVE presentations or closing attempts to make one sale, in which she earns £400.

Now, here is an important question: If Judith makes one sale for every five closing attempts, and she makes £400 for that one sale, then how much does Judith make for every presentation, every attempt to close?

That is how much does Judith makes for every closing attempt even when the prospect did NOT buy?

Judith effectively EARNS ONE FIFTH of the £400 on every closing attempt whether she makes the sale or not. Every time Judith asks for an order, she earns 1/5 or 20% of the total £400 or £80.

So, Judith makes £80 every time he closes for the sale, no matter what the outcome!

Don’t’ Fight The Law!

The Law of Averages is no different than the Law of Gravity—they are LAWS and they will be true! What you need to do is find out all of your numbers; your closing average and the average sale amount and figure out how much you earn per closing attempt.

It is imperative to understand that this is actually how you are paid.

You must understand that every action, every sales activity has its own value.

You must understand that you get paid when you perform each one of these sales activities no matter what the outcome of each individual sale.

Judith must understand that at that critical juncture of closing the sale, £400 is not at stake, not at risk. When she is attempting to close the sale, NOTHING is at risk. If the prospect says, “No” Judith STILL makes £80!

If the prospect throws Judith out the door, Judith still made £80.

Equally as important, Judith must realize that if the prospect says, “Yes,” and buys the product, she still made £80 and NOT £400.

Usually, sales people go only as far as to get some vague idea of their overall closing average and they stop there. They then use this closing average to set their goals and base their work.

The problem with this is that the closing average is the end result of an entire sales process. However, to achieve consistent outcomes, you must have consistent input.

Your work ethic: the number of sales calls, the number or closes, the number of appointments, all sales activities must all be equally consistent.

When sales people go up and down and rich one week and broke the next, it is not due to bad luck, it is the result of an inconsistent work ethic.

Typically sales people set their goals based solely on the number of sales as per their closing average. Therefore the sales person usually pays no
attention to the work ethic behind each sale.

As an example, a sales person with a closing average of 20% sets a goal to make five sales. He goes out and during the week he achieves his goal of the five sales and he did it by only making 12 presentations.

The sales person closed 5 sales out of 12 closing attempts.

When this happens the sales person jumps up and down feeling grateful for having such a good week.

However, the truth is that this sales person’s averages say that he must make five closing presentations for every one sale earned.

Therefore, if he wants to make five sales, he should make at least 25 closing attempts. You see, 5 out of 12 is a 41.66% closing average and though it may feel good, his closing average can not support that.

In fact, since this salesman should have done 25 and only did 12, he is in-the-hole 13 closing attempts. He is behind on the law of averages by 13 closing attempts. Now, what do you think will happen to this sales person over the following week or two?

Those 13 closes are going to catch up with him to bring his closing average back to 20%.

That means he must go through a period of no sales and when that happens the sales person believes he is in a slump or he is just
having bad luck. But it is not a slump and it has nothing to do with luck.

It is the result of his own action (rather inaction) and is exactly why the under-trained sales person lives on a mediocre rollercoaster ride of fluctuating income.

It’s Science, Not Sorcery

Rise up above the level of the wishful thinker and learn your SOS.

Figure out what you earn for every sales activity in your sales process.

Then use those numbers as goals. With our sales person Judith for example, we know that she earns £400 for every sale she makes.

When she sets a goal to make £2,000 does she set out to just make five sales? (£400 x 5 = £2,000) NO. No.

If Judith is a true professional who understand SOS, she knows that she actually earns £80 for every closing attempt regardless of the outcome. Judith forgets about the number of sales and sets out to make 25 closing presentations (£2,000 / £80 = 25).

She makes sure she completes 25 closing attempts regardless of what happens. Judith realizes that she will make her goal of £2,000 as long as she
completes the 25 attempts. Judith knows that if she completes those 25 attempts every week, week in and week out, that she will consistently earn close to £2,000 earn
every week.

She does not worry about who says yes or who says no.

She does not worry about the small sales or the big sale.

She does not have anything to worry about or to wish for and she does not depend on luck. Judith understands that she has nothing to lose and nothing to risk. Judith is a sales scientist!

Until the next time, take care of yourself and happy
selling!

Sean

Do you want to know the most popular question I get asked?

Well, here it is…

“Sean, how do I make more sales?”

Yes, that’s it in a nutshell!

The problem with the people who ask this question is in the actual question itself. Too many sales people focus on the end result i.e the sale rather than the process.

As a professional sales person you should breakdown each of the processes and stages you need to go through to make the sale and set about to improve each stage. Make sure you can measure the success of each stage too.

By focussing on the process, the result will take care of itself!

Happy New Year!

Sean Mc

The Granary in Hampshire - where ego met ego in the latest Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmare!

Nigel Nieddu, the owner of the Granary and “successful businessman” just did not take to Ramsay’s straight talking and feedback.

When egos meet they would rather be proved right than have the right decision made. I hope that makes sense. Rather than admit defeat or they are wrong the “ego” would fight their corner even if it’s the wrong decision!

It’s crazy in theory but very true.

There’s a lesson here for sales people too.

Far too many sales people build an ego that is counter productive. Rather than listen to the client’s needs they talk far too much about themselves and their product/services. They dress to impress the “girl in accounts” rather than their client. They boast about how much money they’ve made this month rather than how many people they have helped. They also do not work as hard as they used to because they feel they can “close anyone” at “anytime”.

If you are in danger of obtaining the “sales ego” my advice is to just lose it right now.

The thing is…..this disease can just creep up on you without you even realising it!

I fell into this trap a couple of years ago. MTD Sales Training was growing at a phenominal rate and we were closing deal after deal after deal. Every company that used us experienced awesome results of 30%+ increases to their sales. I started to get an ego. I was winning entrepreneur awards and the money was pouring in. The Porsche came along and then it hit me - the ego! I became lazy and forgot almost everything that got MTD to where we were. We didn’t lose any market share or business it’s just that instead of year on year growth of 40% we were running in at 20%.

This didn’t last long though as it was my wife who cut me down to size! I got back to the basics, the unique processes and the training that got us to where we were and the rest is history. MTD are now the leading sales training company in the UK. I can now spot the “ego” in any sales person or trainer that I come across whether it’s at MTD or any of the clients who we work with.

Learn this lesson!

Sean Mc

It’s really going to help you to close more deals if you can get your prospect to know, like and trust you.

So how exactly can you build up trust?

Here are a few pointers…

1. Become an adviser

If you know your product knowledge inside out and lose the “salesmans patter” you will come across as a trusted source of information rather than someone just after their money.

THIS WILL BUILD TRUST

2. Step into their shoes

If you know your clients problems inside out and what they are facing then you will build rapport and likeability with your prospect. You will both be coming from the same angle.

THIS WILL BUILD TRUST

3. Previous experience

What you have done, how you have done it and who for will all build your credibility with your prospects. Make sure that you demonstrate this during your meetings.

THIS WILL BUILD TRUST

4. Be wary of your body language

The one thing that can destroy your credibility is the way that you carry yourself and the unconscious signals that your body language gives out. Read up on physiology and the impact that it has on whether someone likes you or not.

THIS WILL BUILD UP TRUST

5. Your appearance

Dress to impress the people you are meeting not your work colleagues. Having a designer suit, spikey hair and a tie knot the size of London may impress the guys in the office but it will not impress the “50 something” Director you are about to pitch to for 10 grand. Same for the girls, tone down the power dressing especially if you are meeting with another woman.

THIS WILL BUILD TRUST

Pay attention the detail and watch your sales soar!

Until the next time, take care of yourself and happy selling!

Sean

If I were to ask you "What do you sell?" what would you say?

Software? Products? Holidays? Make Up?

You see, you don’t really sell anything!

I know that sounds weird but think about this for a moment…

What do WONDERBRA sell? They actually sell SELF CONFIDENCE for women (and also pleasure for men!)

What do BLACK AND DECKER sell? Well, if you want a drill THEY sell you a HOLE! (The drill is just the vehicle!)

And what do DUREX sell you? Well they probably save you £300,000 in costs over an 18 year period!!!!

Think about that you REALLY sell. Think about what the customer is buying.

Think benefits. Think what the buyer wants the product or service for - it will be different to what you sell!

Write now right down what you REALLY sell? Quantify it from the buyers point of view. If you think you are selling holidays you are wrong - you are in fact selling an experience, relaxation, time away with the family.

Think of it in this way and watch your sales soar!

Sean Mc

A lot is made about sales models and having a framework from which to sell from.

But not a lot of sales people know their own buyers model for purchasing which is crazy when you think about it.

You should be able to overlay your sales model with your buyers purchasing model and they should complement each other very well.

So my question to you is this:

Do you know how your prospects make their purchasing decision?

How do they make their mind up?

Who else is involved?

Who is the ultimate decision maker?

What role does your "buyer" have?

Do they influence the decision or are they the main decision maker?

How long does the decision take to make?

What are the steps they need to take to progress the sale?

When meeting with your prospect you should unearth the answers to these questions and then position your sales model in line with your prospect’s model of purchasing. Ensure your sales training material covers this because it is very important.

Happy Selling

Sean Mc  

I hope you are doing well and have closed some more deals since the last time you were here?

Here at MTD we have just started on another sales trainer recruitment drive and the whole process has been an enlightening experience I can tell you!

You’d think that sales trainers would know how to pitch themselves wouldn’t you?!

Errrrrrrrr No!

Well, only the bad ones don’t!

Let me tell you about my experience with this over the past couple of weeks and then tell you the lessons learned so when you respond to leads and pitch for business, you don’t make the same mistakes.

Frankly, the responses I have had have been embarrassing and that got me thinking about how we as salespeople approach our clients.

Here’s where it all began..

I approached our normal recruitment agency with the brief and they sent the brief to targeted trainers on their books.

So all of the potential applicants had the same information.

What did I get back from them?

This varied a lot!

Firstly there were some who asked for application packs.

Some asked for job descriptions and everything else under the sun.

Others said that they would "consider" the position subject to terms and conditions!
I mean, come on, I had never even spoken to them yet!

Others sent in stereo typed application forms with trainer profile, cv, courses delivered, "My interests include knitting and meeting people", yawn yawn yawn!

This is okay but I had around 21 of the same!

Four sent me emails with my name as Shawn, Shaun and even Mr McFeet!

Unbelievable!

One even put down "Dear NTD Sales Training" That was filed under "B" for Bin!

Then there were a couple that really stuck in my mind.

One trainer sent me a recording of him in action which I thought was awesome.
He accompanied this with his CV but said to me in a personal note "Sean, please hear me in action to see if I am the right style of trainer that you are after?"

I thought this was really good as he was catering to my needs.

Another said "Sean, I can talk a good game as well as all of the other candidates but the proof of the pudding is in the eating. I am conducting a sales seminar at the Warwick Hilton next Saturday and would like to invite you over as my guest to see me in action"

I thought that was awesome too!

So what does all of this have to do with responding to leads and pitching for business?

Well, everything to be honest.

A lot of companies out there respond in the "expected way"
to tenders and to leads.

But very few will go the extra mile and do something different as well to stand out and be noticed, to reduce the risk of doing business with them and to give the client the feeling that they really do value their business.

Despite the numerous checklists that your clients will have to select their preferred vendor, I still believe that people buy people and people like to be surprised!

Make it easy for the client to buy from you rather than have you sell to them.

Out of 92 applicants, I only saw 4 of them and took 1 on.

Does that mean that the other 88 were poor trainers?

Absolutely not.

I bet that I missed out on some very good trainers but how could they help your staff to sell better if they couldn’t sell to me in the first place?!

Only 4 of them stood out and that will be the same when you pitch for business too.

What can you do to go that extra mile with your leads?

What could you do to make them say "Wow, I wasn’t expecting that"

Stand out from the crowd of mediocrity and increase your sales!

Happy selling!

Sean Mc

We’ve just come back from speaking at Call Centre Expo at the NEC and from our point of view it was a roaring success.

Along with MTD were Sir Ranluph Fiennes and former Apprentice Winner Michelle Dewbury who delivered the worst keynotes talk I and no doubt hundreds of others had ever heard - it was embarrassing to say the least.

Anyhow, during the two days, people would turn up to the Excellence Theatre where the keynotes were going on and they would sit down, listen and then leave.

I had a plan!

I wanted to generate some leads at the same time! Sure, it was all well and good people listening to us and jotting down notes etc but I wanted to get them in to our sales system.

Here’s what we did.

When it was our turn to talk (we had 3 speaking slots out of 6) my team would frantically put out an MTD pen on every seat in the room and also a postcard asking for their email address and name and in return we would send them 20 free sales training audios.

The result?

Well, people turned up, they listened, AND then they completed the postcard and handed it to my guys on the door AND then they left!

We got hundreds of leads who have seen us in action and who are interested in what we do.

As for the other speakers? Well, call themselves sales people!

Huh!

So, the lesson from this is think about the outcome you want from any trade show or speaking you do. For me it was to generate leads and create some value for the audience - simple as that and over 70% of the people who attended signed up for our free sales audios.

Sean Mc

That Friday Feeling!

It’s 4:30 on a Friday…

You know, success in selling is down to common sense…

But common sense is not common!

By being friendly and coming from a position of help rather than "You’re my next pay cheque" when meeting and talking with your clients, you will dramatically improve your sales.

Most of your prospects just want a friendly, helpful person to do business with. They want their wants fufilled and they are looking to buy rather than have you "Sell to them". They will buy from you if they know, like and trust you. So think about these important factors in all that you do.

What can you do to come over as the trusted advisor? One that your prospects will listen to and even look up to?

Believe in your product and in your company. The acid test question of this is: "Would you sell your products and/or services to your own Mother?" If the answer is no, then get out now!

Happy selling!

Sean Mc

I received an email recently with regards to making a sales team more "Commercially Savvy".

Here’s what it said:

"Hi Sean,
I have enjoyed the mails you have been sending, and I have passed
your details on to A colleague of mine who’s is working of
training requirements for his European sales team.

I would like to set you a question and would be interested in your
response.

If I set you a task to develop a sales team that were "Commercially Savvy"
how would you go about it ?

Thanks

Steven"

Here are my thoughts on this:

Hi Steven,

Thanks for your kind words.

Yes, commercially savvy is something that I go on and on about because your clients are more sophisticated and "sales savvy" than ever before thanks to the explosion of the internet and the availability of information.

To be become more commercially savvy your teams need to see themselves as "mini businesses" and "entrepreneurs" rather than Business Development Managers or Sales Executives. It’s a shift in mindset that needs to take place.

At the moment they probably have the blinkers on but there is a wider picture.

I always like my "sales people" to be able to balance their own books with costs and revenues apportioned so they become both cost and profit centres. As a "business owner" they appreciate what a business owner needs to know and understand to drive their own business forward - it’s more than just sales! It’s about negotiations, commercial talk, networking skills, marketing, positioning, preselling, business planning and of course selling.

If I were you I would hold some sessions with them along those very lines. I know that this email paints a broad stroke around it but it really is a shift in mindset rather than skills. They need to get to "think like a business owner" and the only way is to get them to see there is more to the sale than the sale itself

Thanks again

Sean

“Want fries with that?”

Effective ways to up sell your current products and services

Up selling is a requirement that has generated a lot of attention in recent years. This is because businesses know the value of up selling products. It is not so much the product that matters as the related products that can be sold over and over again to the same buyer. This increases the value of your customer and makes him your life long customer.

Up selling is when you are offered an upgrade of the same product. It is closely aligned with cross-selling and back end selling. There are several ways that you can do this.

Effective ways to up sell: One of the easiest ways to up sell products is to offer an upgrade. For example your potential customer is interested in buying a sandwich from you. You might try to up sell him a value meal, which would include a drink and a side dish. This would all be at a discounted price. Just a little more than he would be paying for his sandwich. This is a common way for fast food places to up sell.

Similarly if you were selling software, your customer might be going to buy a standard version of your product. To up sell you might offer him an upgrade at a discounted rate. When he hears all the additional features and sees the discounted rate he will recognise the value and may very well buy the upgraded version.

You can quite see how up selling will increase the value of the product in the buyer’s eyes and bring in additional profit to you. This is a win, win situation when done correctly.

The technique is based on added value to the customer. This will be an upgrade at a discounted price, and enough margins to be profitable to you. Up selling in this way is not hard to do and customers are often quite willing to accept the up sell, when they understand the value in it for them.

Offer a related product: Another form of up sell is to offer a related product. For example a book could be purchased as is, or up sold with a bundle of related books. Again the up sell would be an irresistible discounted special price. Many potential customers interested in the subject would be happy to jump at the deal. Again this will be based on the principle of perceived extra value.

Cross selling is also offering a related product. In the case of the books instead of the bundle there may be a related piece of software to go with it, which will enhance the reader’s enjoyment of the book.

The example of the fries in the title will be an example of cross selling. The fries would be in addition to the main item that the customer is buying. This could also be a milk shake or cold drink on a hot sunny day. The milk shake, or drink would be quite a welcome addition for the customer and he would very likely accept it. An up sell has been accomplished quite easily.

Backend selling: Again a related product can be offered. This can be after the customer has purchased and be in the form of a bounce back offer, “Thank you for purchasing, here is a special discount for our valued customers etc.” This is a form of up sell and is the key to a successful marketing business.

How to encourage sales people to up sell? The usual way to encourage employees to up sell is to offer a small commission on every successful product that is up sold. This will encourage them to remember to up sell on every product they offer.

Making products that can be upgraded and sold in bundles or even used as back end offers: This is quite easy to do. You will need to develop about 4-6 products all related to each other. To do this you must understand your market. Ask yourself the question “What would a customer who likes this product also like to buy?” You will then have your up sell products ready.

Up selling can bring in a good amount of extra profit for your company. The trick to make this sales tactic work well is to have a good product to begin with. It should be useful and popular with your market. The next thing to remember is to make the up sell item valuable for your customer. Thirdly sell the up sell item at a bargain price so that the customer will see it as an additional savings with value. This will then be irresistible to your potential buyer. You are in fact making the up sell an offer that your buyer will find hard to refuse.

Happy Selling

Sean Mc