From SalesDog.com...
Four Tips to Cash In with Add-On Selling
by Jim Domanski
It happens far too often in the selling world. You've spent countless hours punching in telephone numbers. You've battled dozens of hard-nosed secretaries and left voicemail message after voicemail message. You finally break through and reach the decision-maker, the one who has the money and the authority to say "yes." It was a long, tough haul, but you finally have him on the line.
Here's the problem: at this point, most salespeople do absolutely nothing to leverage the moment. After all the toil and trouble to reach the decision maker, they do nothing more than make a sale. That's like scaling Mount Everest, and not taking any pictures at the summit. You're asking, "What's wrong with making a sale? Isn't that what we're supposed to do?"
Absolutely! But if you leave it at that and walk away feeling like you've accomplished the mission, you miss out on a tremendous opportunity to leverage the sale.
The fact of the matter is you can do more. Virtually every call you make, or take, has added potential. It might be more revenue, or another opportunity, such as a garnering a lead or a referral. Whatever the case, you need only scratch the surface to see what lies beneath. How can you take full advantage of your calls? Through add-on selling, the process of leveraging a customer or prospect contact by generating additional revenues or a marketing opportunity. In simpler language, add-on selling is a way to maximize every dialogue you have with a client, a way to grab and squeeze every single ounce of opportunity from an inbound or outbound call. As the name implies, add-on selling is something you add to a call or a sale. It comes at the end of a call, after the call objective has been completed, and will lead to some interesting benefits if applied on a regular basis.
Here's the problem: at this point, most salespeople do absolutely nothing to leverage the moment. After all the toil and trouble to reach the decision maker, they do nothing more than make a sale. That's like scaling Mount Everest, and not taking any pictures at the summit. You're asking, "What's wrong with making a sale? Isn't that what we're supposed to do?"
Absolutely! But if you leave it at that and walk away feeling like you've accomplished the mission, you miss out on a tremendous opportunity to leverage the sale.
The fact of the matter is you can do more. Virtually every call you make, or take, has added potential. It might be more revenue, or another opportunity, such as a garnering a lead or a referral. Whatever the case, you need only scratch the surface to see what lies beneath. How can you take full advantage of your calls? Through add-on selling, the process of leveraging a customer or prospect contact by generating additional revenues or a marketing opportunity. In simpler language, add-on selling is a way to maximize every dialogue you have with a client, a way to grab and squeeze every single ounce of opportunity from an inbound or outbound call. As the name implies, add-on selling is something you add to a call or a sale. It comes at the end of a call, after the call objective has been completed, and will lead to some interesting benefits if applied on a regular basis.
What kinds of benefits? For starters, expect the average value of a sale to increase, which means more revenues. Add-on selling also means less work. If you can achieve your objectives without calling as much, you save yourself time while experiencing less frustration and burnout. When performed well, add-on selling typically pleases customers, who are more inclined to reward you with referrals. And as we all know, good referrals close at a higher rate, with less time invested by the salesperson.
Add-on selling can be applied in virtually every calling situation, including cross-selling, up-selling, getting a referral, generating additional leads, selling on an inquiry, converting a cancellation, selling on a complaint, and gathering market intelligence. Done correctly and professionally, it will almost always increase the value of the sale.
A Four-Step Process
Simple and easy to use, add-on selling consists of four basic steps. Master these, and you will quickly make more money in less time.
• Step #1: Handle the initial request or task. Remember that add-on selling comes after your initial objective has been met. So before applying add-on selling, first handle the inquiry, get the order, close the sale, deal with the cancellation or complaint: whatever the situation calls for. An old adage says "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush." First, get the bird in hand.
• Step #2: Bridge to the add-on. A bridge is a transition phrase that alerts the client to the fact that you are about to provide some additional information. For example, "Mr. Ford, thank you for your order. Oh, by the way, while I still have you…."
• Step #3: Present the add-on with a benefit. State the add-on. It might be a cross-sell or an up-sell. It might be a request for a referral, or to gather some market information. Whatever it is, state the add-on and provide some sort of benefit to the customer.
• Step #4: Close. Conclude the process with a close, so the client can take action. Add-on selling is easy—and it works. Unfortunately, most salespeople don't apply it on a regular basis. The next time you find yourself at the top of the mountain, talking to the decision-maker you worked so hard to reach, try this simple technique. It will allow you to leverage the moment and make the most of all your selling opportunities.
Jim Domanski is president of Teleconcepts Consulting, a company that works with businesses and individuals to help them produce better results when using the telephone to generate leads and sell products. For more information visit: www.TeleconceptsConsulting.com.
If you found this information useful, check out a few of our previous newsletters here.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment