Selling More to Existing Customers
If there's anything that I have deeply learnt in the past six months is customer retention. It is quite a task to look for new customer every now and then especially when the process of acquiring the new one involves very deep preparation i.e tendering, writing proposals, bureaucracy e.t.c. Obtaining the attention of prospective customers, gaining their interest and converting them costs up to 6 times more than retaining existing customers. As a result, it is critical for marketers to put in a lot of work to ensure they retain existing customers. To close, I'll go over the keys to keeping existing customers satisfied with your goods and services
Cross Selling and Up Selling
Cross-selling and up-selling is all about relevance. Look at what your customers have bought before, and offer them other relevant goods and services that might be useful. But even as you do this, timing is crucial. Where possible, focus on this strategy at the point when the customer is ready to buy. Offering upgrades, special offers and free gifts (such as three for two) is a great way to convince customers to spend a little more.
How to Cross Sell
This basically involves recommending similar or related products next to the one customer is buying. Maximize the potential for cross-selling by positioning related items together. Educate your customers on the depth and variety of what your business offers. At the same time, ensure you train your employees to offer additional products and services related to what a customer is buying. A good example in a marketing agency for instance would be offering Digital Marketing services for a client who you offer BTL services.
How to Up Sell
This is basically encouraging your customers to spend a little more, to significantly boost your sales.There are two main ways to up-sell. The first method involves an in-depth understanding of your customers needs. The second approach is based on incentives and rewarding schemes for spending more. If you can combine both, you have a good chance of successfully up-selling. A good example would be Bundling i.e Tie a product with another.
I believe that if you intentionally focus on the strategies above and add the other basics of excellent customer service, you will go far. Thats it for now!
Join me in the next article where we will be looking at UNDERSTANDING YOUR CUSTOMER.