Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Why Upselling is a No-brainer

Our clients often ask us what the easiest way to make a sale is. Years of experience have taught us that there are few better selling techniques than the “no-brainer” upsell. What is a no-brainer upsell? The most well known example is the phenomenally successful McDonald’s question: “Would you like fries with that?” It only takes a few seconds for customers to decide if spending a few extra dollars is worth the reward of some crunchy greasy gratifying chips. The answer is usually yes.

But this type of selling isn’t limited to fast food outlets. The same technique can be very successfully applied to companies selling anything from health insurance, broadband to loyalty programmes.

A no brainer upsell for an Internet company, for example, might go something like this: “As a valued customer of ACME, we are taking this opportunity to offer you the chance to upgrade your internet connection from dialup to broadband for only an extra $5 per month. If you are interested in this opportunity I can install it right away and just add it to your next bill. Can I arrange this for you now?”

Customers can immediately weigh up a simple option. Either pay $5 and get the benefit of receiving high speed broadband in return, or do nothing and stick with the slow dialup. Not only that, they can have it initiated without the need to call back, fill out any forms, etc. It’s hassle free and well, a “no brainer”.

One of our most successful campaigns was for a bank looking to convert existing credit card customers to a rewards programme.

As a valued customer of ACME, we are taking this opportunity to offer you the chance to upgrade your Credit card from xxxx to xxxx points rewards. There is an annual fee of only $xx.xx. And if you say yes today we can give you 1500 free xxxx points. Can I arrange this for you now?”

Customers were able to quickly weigh up the option. Either pay $10 and get the benefit of earning rewards, or do nothing and stick with their current card. Hassle free and well, a “no brainer”.

The sales conversion on this campaign was over 60% of presentations making the project instantly profitable.

It’s hard to compare the benefits of a no-brainer campaign with that of a project to secure new customers which doesn’t get the high rate of success as upselling to existing customers. But it’s incredible how overlooked upselling, and no-brainer upselling in particular, is in the corporate world. So, the next time you are thinking of a telemarketing campaign you should think, “Do I want fries with that?”

Shane Harford
Outbound Sales Manager

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