Upselling as a Marketing Tool to Increase Revenue

Upselling is the process of selling an additional or an upgraded product to a customer. This is a critical part of expanding your business so that you can maximize on the value of every customer or client interaction. Upselling can increase your revenue per transaction and also your number of transactions per customer or client. Here are eleven ways to easily upsell your clients.

1. When you create informational products, include a discount for a related product in the body of your product. If they like what they’ve already bought from you, they are extremely likely to buy more from you.
2. Include a discount offer in the payment process. Propose a combined discount if they order two or more products. This is often referred to as “bundling”.
3. Send a discount authorization code in the “thank you” email that acknowledges the placement of an order. Encourage them to use the discount within a certain period of time towards the purchase of further products or services from you.
4. Build a mailing list of “preferred” customers who get a fixed discount on all future purchases, as well as special advance pricing on new products. This is another way to keep customers coming back to see how they can put their lifetime discount to use.
5. Add a button to your website home page that takes readers right to a listing of your discounted products or services.
6. Suggest an additional product based on what the customer has already purchased. Explain why that additional product would make life so much easier for the customer. Be sure to point out what types of problems the additional product could help the customer avoid.
7. Make the customer feel special, i.e. not everyone gets a discount like this. Create the feeling of exclusivity when offering discounts in this manner.
8. Make your offer for a “limited time only”. This often works well to create a sense of urgency. If you use this technique, be sure to remove the offer as promised. Otherwise you will destroy your marketing credibility.
9. Rotate the combinations or “bundles” you offer. This will give customers something to look forward to, and they’ll come back more often to see what’s new. Inform them in your newsletters, emails and conversations of your updated bundles.
10. Announce new products and pair them with an older product for a one-time special purchase. This is another variation of “bundling” and can help you clear out old inventory of products or offerings.
11. Collect and use testimonials in your upselling. Hearing how wonderful your product or service is from another happy customer will often create much more credibility and close the sale when prospects are undecided.

Personal Coaching Action Steps:

1. Review your information products – ie ebooks, CD’s, even free reports, etc. – and add hyperlinks to your web sales page of related products that your customers may want to purchase.
2. Go through your offerings and look for ways to “bundle” them. Create a special mail campaign to let your customers know about them. Track your numbers to gauge the campaign’s success.
3. Gather at least two testimonials for each of your products and services from past or current satisfied clients. Get them in written form or even better, in a short video and put them on your website, along with a photo of the person giving the testimonial. Make sure they say how your product or service solved a problem they were having.