5 Easy Ways to Upsell Your Products and Services

5 Easy Ways to Upsell Your Products and Services

The other night, my hubby and I were on our way back from one of my speaking engagements, and decided to pick up dinner to go. So we called one of our favorite teriyaki joints (Seattle’s Best, on 1st Ave S), to place an order.
Since it’s a little out of the way for us normally, we hadn’t eaten there in a while. So we were rather excited to have it conveniently located on our route home.
Then life got even better…
The woman who took my husband’s order asked if we’d like brown rice instead of white!
I don’t each much white rice, but I love brown rice! In fact, I’ll order it every time if given the option. So this was a very pleasant surprise. And boy was it good! This place has the yummiest teriyaki sauce and it is divine on rice (white or brown).
As a result we’ll now be going out of our way to eat there more …And I bet we’re not alone.
My husband (a sales guy) and I were very impressed. Because they’re clearly paying attention to changes in people’s eating habits, and changing their menu to suit. And they’re making sure customers know about this new option…
With the simple act of asking if we’d like their newest menu item as a substitute, Seattle’s Best made $1.90 more. And now we’ll be there more often, spending more money each time, to get that fine brown rice.
All they did was let us know this option is now available, and boom, they grew their business. Best of all, I’m thrilled to have spent the extra money.
This was upselling at its finest. And it’s most simple.
What’s interesting is that big companies and chains often train their employees to ask if you want to make it a combo, add fries with that, try their new dessert, etc. Yet it’s rare to see this done in small restaurants (or any small business).
Which is silly. Because it’s one of the easiest things to do and almost any business can do it (not just restaurants!).
When I worked in my parent’s animal hospital as a kid we boarded pets overnight. And we always asked if clients wanted their pets bathed before going home. More than 50% said yes.
Added convenience for them, more revenue for us!
The key here is…We were trained to ask.
All too often small business owners (or their employees) just don’t ask. Maybe because they aren’t comfortable selling…
Or they feel like they don’t have time employees to train in this much detail…
Or don’t know how to get the employees to do it…
Or, even worse, they think the employees are asking, when in reality it’s not happening (When was the last time you had a “secret shopper” call in to see what employees really say when they answer the phone???).
In the last case, the poor business owner is usually left thinking the promotion isn’t working. Or the product or service is a dud. When in reality clients don’t know it exists!
It sounds dead obvious, but you have to let people know about other products or services or you probably won’t sell very many. Thankfully, you don’t even have to be there in person to do an effective upsell.
5 Easy Ways to Upsell Your Products and Services
1) If you sell and ship products, put an ad or coupon for a related product or an upgrade in the bag or box.
2) Send new clients a thank you card with a promotion for one of your other services.
3) Put a sign up in your store or office announcing a new offering or special deal. Just make sure it doesn’t get lost in the clutter. And train your staff to point it out.
4) Send targeted follow-up emails to customers offering them a related product or service (you can do this automatically with a good email autoresponder and shopping cart).
5) On your Website, offer an added discount for buying two products or services together Amazon does a great job of this by always offering a second book on the same subject below your main selection.
Remember, upselling is really just a matter of offering something else your customer is likely to want, based on what they’re buying now. Simple as that.
You’re doing your clients and customers a HUGE disservice if you don’t tell them you have something else they may want or need. And you’re leaving money on the table in your own business.

5 Easy Ways to Upsell Your Products and Services - To learn more about this author, visit Stacy Karacostas's Website.
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Dave Kurlan
Dave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website

Andrew Loos
Andrew Loos is a Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Attack! Marketing and Promotions. He currently heads up the strategic alliance division within their Los Angeles branch. Andrew's background and inspiration were molded in the emerging guerrilla marketing movement of the late 90's. Since joining Attack! his commitment has been re focused to evolving practices around the execution of agency-driven experiential programs. About Attack! Marketing and Promotions: Attack! is a field marketing agency, partnering with agencies to provide staffing resources, promotional support, logistics, and fulfillment focused on developing successful brand experiences. At the core of our success is turn-key field marketing services, enabling agencies to deliver the best in field marketing, guerrilla and non-traditional marketing, and out-of-home media. Since 2001, Attack!'s award winning team has worked with agencies to promote over 400 of the country's best brands. - Visit Andrew Loos's Website

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With nearly two decades in the advertising and design business, with clients like Domino's Pizza, General Motors, Direct TV, Pedigree, Wolfgang Puck, Higher Octave Music, Hollywood Celebrity Products, Disney, and Paramount, as well as thousands of entrepreneurs around the world define, structure, communicate, and position their business for greater profits, BrandU(R) co-creators Kim Castle and W. Vito Montone discovered that entrepreneurs could experience the same power that big brands command for a fraction of the cost with the world's only process-based results-drive Integral approach to business creation. BrandU(R) is helping entrepreneurs grow with the power of extreme clarity from idea...to brand...to market(TM) and helping one million entrepreneurs become successful and whole so that they can make a difference in the world. Are you one of them? If you want to experience clarity all the way to the bank(TM), get started now at http://www.brandu.com. - Visit Kim Castle's Website

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