If you’re like most seasoned sales professionals, you have a method to your approach. There’s a specific “stack” you want to sell, and your efforts revolve around techniques that put that stack first and foremost.
For many pros and their companies, though, there are things to sell beyond the stack. Add-ons can be a powerful tool in your toolbox and can take a mediocre sale to a great one or entice a reticent customer to commit. Here are our tips for making add-on selling a part of your process.
Make creating conversation the priority
The key to successful add-on selling is understanding, above all else, what your customer needs. If you cannot demonstrate a deep grasp of their challenges, you can’t even begin to provide a solution they don’t even know they want. If your customer chooses a specific product or service, it can tell you a lot about the guidance they’re looking for, which can lead you to suggest an appropriate, relevant add-on.
Be solution-oriented, not sale-oriented
Pushing add-ons can start feeling really sleazy, really fast, if you go about it the wrong way. Your customer should feel confident that you have their best interest in mind and are suggesting the add-on because it will truly help them, not because it will help your bottom line.
Make a few suggestions
By suggesting several add-ons while explaining the value of each — specifically, how they can help your customer with their challenge — you empower your customer to make the choice they believe is correct. Just don’t overwhelm them; two or three options, max, is the sweet spot to aim for.
Look into your crystal ball
No one likes going to the store to pick up everything they need for a project, only to find out once they get home that they forgot a critical item. By creating personas of your common customers and their needs, you can predict what those customers might need in the future and suggest an add-on that will ultimately save them time and money in the long run.
Make accepting an add-on an extremely easy choice
If your customer decides to go for an add-on you suggest but finds out later that they have to go through paperwork and time-consuming rigmarole to make it happen, at the very least, they’re going to be irritated, and worst case, they’ll back out of the sale. So do whatever you can to make their experience easy and frictionless. Use the information you have on hand to expedite the process for them, or better yet, don’t make them do a darn thing!
Add-ons are a powerful way to provide value to your customer, show them you understand their needs and concerns, and boost the total sale. Utilize these tips to make add-on selling a valuable part of your sales process!