Welcome first time visitor. If you like what you see, you can receive free twice weekly posts by email or RSS feed. See the right side of the screen for instructions; it only takes 10 seconds. You will receive a verification email if you choose to receive by email. If you don't immediately receive this, please check your spam folder. We will never sell or misuse your email address.

I don’t care what you call it, but selling a customer a broader range of goods and services is a major win-win for everyone. I like the term cross-selling, but you also hear it called add-on-selling, associative-selling, connective-selling, up-selling, etc. When I work with salespeople I frequently notice a resistance to cross-selling; the benefits are so impressive that it surprises me that there is any hesitancy. Where is this hesitancy coming from?

1. Fear. Here’s what the salesperson is thinking, “I’m selling Debbie this service that makes me a lot of commission, but if I push to sell her another service she may get upset and throw me out on the street and I’d lose everything…including my home, car and children.” When was the last time a customer got offended because you asked them about one or two related products or services in addition to what they were already buying from you? Usually the customer is pleased to find that they can source other products and services from you. They want their life to be simpler and having fewer vendors helps accomplish this. You must also use common sense when it comes to cross-selling; you can overdo it with customers if you aren’t sensitive to when to stop asking about additional products and services. Cross-selling is something that is done a little at a time.

2. Hassle. Yes, it takes a little time and work to cross-sell. The time investment, however, to add revenue to an existing customer by cross-selling is substantially less than trying to create that same revenue with a new customer. For the majority of my entire career I’ve been an evangelist for cross-selling as one of the quickest ways to increase revenue.

Now that I’ve covered two of the main reasons that salespeople are resistant to cross-selling, let’s discuss the benefits, and they are significant.

1. Vendor Consolidation. I’m not aware of any company that is trying to increase the size of their purchasing department. They want to decrease the number of people purchasing and make them more accountable for partnering with their suppliers. How do they do this? They have fewer vendors and work closely with them. This is called vendor consolidation and the more products and services you sell your customer the more likely you are to be considered a strategic supplier.

2. More Money. If you sell more products and services, you make more commission. If your company’s commission plan is set up correctly you and your employer both win. As stated above, this is one of the quickest ways to increase your sales.

3. Stickiness. All the research, and common sense, indicates that there is an almost perfect correlation between how many products and services a customer buys from you and the likelihood they will remain with you as a customer. The more products and services you sell a customer the greater the probability that you will retain them as a customer.

For me, this one is easy. It’s a win-win for all parties involved when you cross-sell: you, your customer and your employer.

Tags: cross-selling

We'd like to hear your feedback on this post - feel free to comment below!