A few years ago one of my mentors, Jay Abraham, was
talking about the fact that in many businesses the sales person or customer
service person was too timid or too bashful to suggest an add-on sale or an up
sell because of the fear that it may cost the sale they are presently sure of.
The fact is that it may be a disservice may to not mention that another service
is available or another product could be a benefit to the product or service
being purchased.
This can be best explained by examples so here are a few;
I went into a national pizza chain the other day, after preordering over the
phone. They were in such a hurry to get me out of there that they didn’t ask if
I wanted a soft drink with my order. When I phoned in they didn’t even offer or
suggest any other product for my order. I made another to pick up soft drinks.
These examples can go on endlessly but for simplicity
suppose that you ordered a carpet cleaning because of the coupon for the
service. The carpet cleaner is doing you a disservice if they do not mention
that “it is a good idea, while we are here to also scotch guard for protection.
It will cost more if we have to come back.”
The fact is that the add-on sale
is the most profitable sale you can make.
Suppose that the value of an add-on sale is $50.00and your
employees only make one additional sale per day. Just that small sale amount of
$50.00 per day, 5 days a week will add up to $13,000.00 per year in additional
revenue. If you have 3 employees and they all do 1 add-on sale per day that is
$39,000.00 per year extra.
So how do you get your employee to produce the add-on sale? You give them an incentive. Make them a partner in that sale by
offering a commission or bonus for that sale.
They were happy to ring up the sale and happy to remind
the client of complementary products. It also was a way to get more money into
the pockets of the employees.
