In this funnel-crazed era, people often forget the basics behind upselling and cross-selling.
Let’s face it. Acquiring a customer is hard. It’s expensive, too.
But the lifetime value of that customer could be hundreds if not thousands of dollars…if you do things right from the start.
You need to put the customer first. What is the entire customer experience like from start to finish?
I’ve been around long enough in the direct marketing world to remember when telemarketing upsells and cross-sells were the new “killer app”.
As marketers, we’d script and train our inbound telesales reps how to sell to people who called responding to direct mail promos, or TV, radio, or newspaper ads.
We’d make sure they welcomed them and confirmed their purchase decision. Then, in a conversational way, we’d script them on how to get them to buy more (i.e., those upsells or cross-sells) by coming from a place of service.
We’d train them to do things like present a complementary product, or give the customer an incentive to buy more of whatever they’re already buying (which still reigns as one of the best upsell offers today).
Over the phone, it’s often hard to present more than one or two offers without aggravating the customer. Online, it’s a whole different matter.
But really, how many long-winded video sales letters can you force them to watch (while warning them their credit card may be double-charged if they exit the page prematurely)…or how many different upsell landing pages can you send them to before completing their offer…before they begin to regret buying from you in the first place?
Be careful you’re not driving away a potential customer by overdoing your funnel upsells and cross-sells…or poisoning the relationship from the start.
Nurture this relationship the right way, and your lifetime customer value will soar…the ROI on acquisition costs will far exceed what you spent within the first few months…and you’ll be able to scale your efforts to bring on new customers–without constantly churning through them.
What are your thoughts?
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