The Key to Upselling as an Entrepreneur

“Always deliver more than expected.”

-Larry Page

What is upselling exactly? Upselling is a sales approach where a business persuades a customer to purchase an upgraded version of the item that they intended on purchasing, or extra add-ons to increase more sales revenue. It is about offering more VALUE to a customer. It is NOT trying to take their money without anything valuable in return.

Upselling the proper way is very important. You DON’T want to come off as pushy or trying to “rob” a customer of their money, and not adding value to their purchase. Customer retention is the ability of a business to maintain its customers/clients over a specific time period. A business’s ability to gain and maintain new customers relates to the way the business services the current clients, as well as the value that customers are given from the upsell.

Upselling Vs Cross-selling

These terms are typically used interchangeably. Here is the difference between the two:

• Upselling= Customer switching the current product to and upgraded version.
• Cross-selling= Customer adding on the the existing purchase.

Benefits of upselling

• Upselling can grow your business and increase sales revenue by increasing customer lifetime value (CLV).
• It increases customer’s loyalty by keeping current customers happy and returning.
• It shows that you care about customer’s needs by giving them more valuable options which helps build and maintain the client’s trust with business.
• Upselling to current customers is easier and more efficient than selling to new ones.
• It will help the business gain more profit by upgrading current customers, than trying to sell to a new customer. This helps reduce the cost of losing new customers.
• Customer retention costs less and is more profitable in the long run.
• You can identify customer/client pain points which help create new products/services, generate new leads, and improve overall customer service!
• Customer/client reviews build reputation and reliability!

UPSELLING DONT’S

Don’t:

• Be too pushy/aggressive when a customer is CLEARLY not interested.
• Cross-sell unrelated products (Try cross-selling products or services that will add Value to existing purchase).
• Upsell to high of a price difference (Try to aim no higher than 25% of current product).
• Overcomplicate a cross-sell (Try not to confuse or distract a customer when upselling or cross-selling; it should not take too much thinking for the customer to decide if the suggested product/service is more valuable.
• Miss an opportunity to upsell a product! Put all offers on the table!!!

Upselling techniques

Lastly, I am going to share with you entrepreneurs a few techniques that can help you strategize when upselling products and/or services. Be honest about what you’re selling and the true benefits of the product, and DON’T sugarcoat or lie about what the product is or does!

• -Offer same product, but an upgraded version
• -Offer Bigger Quantity at a discounted price (i.e., instead of buying 1 pair of socks for $10, buy 2 for $15) or add a free item.
• -Upselling to a subscription at a discounted price (for products likely to run out i.e., makeup, batteries, etc.)
• -Offer a Buy 1 get 1 free discount
• -Offer free shipping on orders over X amount. (Tip: If they need to spend $50 to get free shipping, and have $45 in their cart, try upselling a $10 item, so they can get free shipping, and get a bit more.)
• -Product Recommendations (i.e., after adding an item to cart and after searching up a product)
• -Offer free samples! (Yes, I said free. Customers may be persuaded to buy more, since they got something for free.)
• -Product recommendations based on shopping experience
• -Offer Warranties (This increases CLV, and customers are likely to purchase a warranty, if they are guaranteed replacement for a product if the slight chance something goes wrong).
• -Upsell by using a business milestone (i.e., if you are a customer for a year, you get X offer)
• -Tell customer how the product can help them (Communicate exactly the benefits and advantages of purchasing that specific product/service to your client; they need to know that it is valuable).
• -Use customer testimonials/reviews on website and socials (This builds reputation a good reputation).
• -Upsell again at checkout (This will make sure they don’t need any extra products/services before they finalize their purchase)
• -Have customers signup for a newsletter where you give product discounts (i.e., Sign up for newsletter and get a 20% discount off of X item, when you purchase XYZ, or sign up and get a FREE item when you purchase, XYZ)

Conclusion

Upselling can be as simple or complex as you choose to make it. Finding good ways to implement upselling can increase sales, and help you build and maintain loyal customers. If you don’t know exactly how to upsell, or where to start, you can begin by hiring a virtual assistant, such as myself, to manage all of your upselling for your ECommerce business. Upselling does NOT need to take time away from your personal life, or creativity time. I want to see all entrepreneurs grow in their business, and I want to help each and every one of you reach your business goals!

“The more you learn, the more you earn.”

-Warren Buffett