Selling is not forcing or tricking people into buying things they don’t need, selling is helping people solve their problems and helping to find “complete” solutions by making informed decisions.
10 KEYS TO ADD-ON SELLING
How do you make more money without seeing any more customers than you do now?
- Be honest, sincere, caring and like people – If you are not any of these things, you can sell many people once, but you won’t sell them twice, relationship selling is based on trust, honesty, and sincerity.
2. Smile and be interested in your customer, their family, and their problems. Similar to the first point but it is so important.
3. Be unconsciously competent using the 6 steps of selling. Using these 6 steps so effortlessly you do it without thinking is the hallmark of a master sales associate.
4. Know your advertisements, your ads draw people to your store; however, you need to know the products advertised, whether you have them or not, the quality, feature/benefit/advantages for those products and “your sell up or sell down” products that might fulfill their needs.
5. Know your store, where things are, what items are new, what services you can promise, and why you are better than your competition.
6. Don’t miss any customers, many stores will have customers that are assumed to be with a sales person, most times they are, but not always. Circulate on the floor, don’t steal other sales peoples customers, but people that have been missed are opportunities.
7. What will your customer need to maximize their enjoyment of their “core purchase”? When you are working with a customer, make sure you are thinking about the things that they may want to go with the “core” purchase; for example:
- Selling a mattress: foundation; bed frame; mattress pad; pillows; sheet sets; bedroom group.
- Selling a sofa: matching loveseat or chair; tables; lamps; area rug; television; recliner; fabric or leather care.
- Selling a range: matching fridge, dishwasher, over the range microwave; extended service plan.
- Selling new brakes for a car: Service for all 4 wheels not just 2; alignment; tires; oil change; take the opportunity to do an inspection for the customer.
- Selling a house: asking about the existing appliances as part of the package, what about the furnishings, and asking if the prospective buyer would like to purchase the lawn tractor. The key is to be prepared so the client just doesn’t expect you to “throw them in”.
8. If your customer wants to focus on the “core” purchase, ask permission to contact them about the other items at a later date. Many will say “no”, but some will say “yes” and then make sure you do it.
9. Relationship selling is about having a customer for many years, asking permission, following-up with thank you calls or emails, being the point person for your company should they have problems is all part of “full-service for life selling”.
10. Be proactive when there are problems, be the one who makes the call instead of waiting for them to call you wondering what is going on.
11. Ask and be fearless but always respectful. Even basic questions such as “What is the next thing you are hoping to buy”.
12. Always deliver more and better service than they expect, people will be loyal to you only when you offer more than your competitor and pricing is not the most important point in selling.
My definition of “add-on selling” is more than just adding “fries” to a hamburger; my concept of add-on selling is an extension of being invaluable to my customers.