- October 16, 2018 -
First, cross-selling. Not cross-dressing.
Now that we're on the same page...
Ask your local spa owner for a list of customers who've come in for a facial...
...but have never had a massage.
Or ask your jeweler on Main St. which of their shoppers have bought a gift for their wives for Christmas...
...but never for a birthday or anniversary.
Ask your insurance agent how he's handling people who've purchased car insurance with him...
...but not homeowners insurance.
Ask the owner of your favorite restaurant how many customers have come in for dinner...
...but never for lunch.
Obviously, they aren't taking advantage of their database and customer information.
No cross-selling is happening.
Low-hanging fruit just waiting to be picked is left on the vine.
One company that is the poster child for cross-selling is Amazon.com.
Whenever I buy a book at Amazon, titles of other books that might interest me based on what I've purchase before are suggested before I check out.
They know their customers' complete purchase history, and they realize that it's much easier to sell MORE to an existing customer than to get a brand new customer.
Amazon, the online retail giant, knows the value of a customer.
Similar but different...
I do my grocery shopping at Giant Eagle in Pittsburgh -- nothing special about that.
They send me in-store coupons every couple of weeks -- no biggie because being a male, I don't do coupons.
(Don't judge, ladies.)
But what I just noticed the other day is that the coupons were for stuff I buy!
I mean, right down to the brand.
And based on my vices, they were suggesting other complimentary items to further lead me down Heart Attack Alley.
Geez, is there no privacy?
As a marketer though, I gotta hand it to them.
I was just talking to one of my investors the other day whose son is in the landscaping business.
Smart kid. He already knows that the more customers he can contract with for weekly maintenance, the better.
Recurring revenue.
Easier planning for crew assignments.
So I suggested finding the segment of those customers who have dogs.
And who are time-strapped, career-oriented professionals.
I'll betcha a weekly service to clean up their dog sh*t would fly with that crowd.
Retail, for the most part, has got cross-selling dialed in.
Service-related businesses, on the other hand, have room for improvement.
Before we focused on building end-to-end sales funnels, we developed custom websites built on WordPress.
It was a no-brainer to suggest monthly maintenance after we turned over the keys.
Not one single customer turned it down because they knew how critical it was to keep their site protected.
Takeaways...
+ Track EVERY customer's purchases as well as what they DON'T buy.
+ Tailor your marketing campaigns so that you are talking DIFFERENTLY to those who buy your blue doohickey but not your red thingamajig...
...or those who make a purchase once a year vs those who pull out their wallet often.
+ Don't assume that your customers are familiar with every product and service you offer. You need to let 'em know.
Need some out-of-the-box ideas for cross-selling? You know what to do by now.
Later,
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