If you are selling a service or product, you are likely to be selling relatable services and products alongside it. For example if you sell printers, you will no doubt also sell toner, cartridges, paper, etc. If you’re selling training courses you will no doubt be selling similar courses in different areas or different courses that can be sold to the same customer.
A common mistake businesses make is focusing on a single revenue stream with a client whilst chasing new business elsewhere. Over the last 10 years at Grapevine, we often hear “our existing customers don’t realise we offer…” The client may be happy with their current service but not realise what other services are available to them.
There are many methods of upselling and getting the message across, most frequently through email marketing, press releases, etc. However, the best method is ensuring that your database is up to date. Using CRM software allows you to profile customers that buy certain things, then set up automated campaigns to go out of the system relating to particular subjects. For example if 10 clients bought training course A, and 10 other clients bought training course B, there’s a possibility that each could buy the other training course but may never be exposed to it. The modern methods of delivering this are through voice, text or video.
The most important aspect to consider is that you properly segment your data so that messages are sent to the relevant people. For example, you wouldn’t want to send your customers messages about a product or service that they are already buying.
If this is done on a consistent basis through various different methods – all leading back to having very good data – you will probably find that you earn an extra 20% turnover from existing customers with little effort.
We use a CRM for our clients’ that integrates contact management, social media, an outbound dialler and email marketing all within one package. This means that we can upsell and cross-sell products and services easily with high visibility.
