It is an indisputable fact that traditional brick and mortar merchants are taking a beating from the emerging group of online retailers. We can speculate all we want about how effectively they will combat the assault by making shopping more of an adventure, how they will create events to keep the buzz and excitement going in ‘walking the mall’, and ultimately how and when they’ll take the ‘you can’t beat them, so let’s join the clicks and bricks option approach. While not everyone seems to realize it, mall owners and their big-brand anchor tenants are perfectly positioned to do this, but I can’t help but feel sorry for their smaller cousins, particularly strip mall operators who are starting to feel the pinch in the face of an emerging ‘try it live then buy online’ trend.
It’s starting to look like your only point of difference will be to take the oldest technology on the planet and completely master it: the human interface. If they want to survive the online onslaught, store owners need to rethink the importance of face-to-face selling, particularly the art of upselling. In my KNACK of Selling workshops, aimed primarily at these small business retailers, it’s finally starting to take its rightful place as the most important and challenging skill required of a floor salesperson, certainly for all but products. basic. As custodians of the last three feet of the sale, they are the ones who must not take prisoners; they must not only convert every one of those hard-earned heads through the door, but also maximize their bottom line gross profit performance by becoming living experts in cross selling, upselling and referral selling… and it all begins with product knowledge. !
In selling, our products and services are our lifeblood. We need to know our stock lines and availability like the back of our hand, understand how our proposition relates to our immediate competitors’ offerings, and appreciate product synergies so we can seamlessly and credibly sell, aggregate, and bundle. and personalize each sale. We need to know where and why our products are located within the stock layout, how they are positioned within the range, and how and why they are priced relative to similar products in the category.
One of my recent trainees, a salesperson at a computer store, provided me with a classic example. He carried a ready counter in his pocket, a methodically prepared summary of all the product and price combinations to indicate the various vendor options and add-ons applicable to each of the computers he was selling. Although his first option was always to qualify the customer’s intended application and then sell ‘above and far’ from the price leader, his alternative plan was to never let the customer walk away, to spread the word that his company it was not competitive. Although his was not the attitude to get the sale at any price. He was well aware that this could create an expectation from the customer not wanting to pay full price. Instead, I’d take the high ground with some mandatory package. After all, his laptops even came with ‘plug and play’ USB sockets through which an ever-growing variety of interactive devices could be connected, literally plugging in upsells.
In his opinion, it would be irresponsible to sell something like a laptop without at least the basics: proper application software, Internet access, a protective carry bag, essential antivirus protections, and a means to back up valuable data externally. the client’s. On average, he was bundling five or six items in his laptop and tablet sales, regularly turning a barely profitable $699 sale into a $1,000-plus transaction, generating gross profit performance well above the average for the store. He even went so far as to develop high-quality graphics to support his proposition and add credibility to it by displaying the options on the screens of the very computers he was selling. This is the epitome of not only knowing and understanding your product, but also directly applying that knowledge to expand the amount of sale and maximize profit. Using this bundling technique allowed it to combat even the toughest ‘price match’ threats emanating from its nearby discount competitors or Internet searches.
This is also a very responsible customer retention initiative, with potential buyers taking comfort in knowing that the store truly has their interests in mind and is not prepared to leave their customers’ valuable purchases unprotected – a very easy and very responsible upsell. initiative. Importantly, it also avoids having to give the impression that the store is not competitive. Neither the sale nor the customer is lost, and the integrity shown could well lead to some serious referrals. This scenario won’t always be available to us, but we’ll certainly give ourselves better odds by being prepared for it. I can’t imagine too many products that lend themselves as ideally to this as computers, or perhaps motor vehicles, but even so, you may be able to develop an approach relevant to your market. For example, just like cups go with saucers, earrings go with bracelets, and golf balls go with golf clubs, there will be a plethora of upgrade options and similar product bundle alternatives for particular products. that sells
You really have to ask yourself the question, ‘Do you have your upsells pre-planned, listed and ready?’ If you have doubts, think about supermarkets. It’s certainly no coincidence that unplanned purchases, the tempting impulse buys at checkout, are major contributors to your average sales numbers per customer, or that accessory and accessory sales are designated as a separate activity/profit center. in the new car market. dealers
During my training sessions, I also stress the need to develop the habit of introducing these plugins early in the sales process. Intangibles, like extended warranties and technical support packages, are often introduced as early as the product qualification stage by casually saying, ‘This product qualifies for our extended warranty offer.’ This is a variation on the well-tried direct marketing tactic where words like ‘qualify for’ and ‘eligible for’ are applied to the customer, rather than the product. In this case, the word ‘qualifies’ serves as a powerful but subliminal benefit (reliability/peace of mind) in support of the particular product, subtly hinting that not all products would qualify. It can then be brought back at the end of the sale as a question (minor point, alternative option) to effectively close out both the product itself and the additional service.
This same discipline of ‘submit it early and introduce it every time’ applies even more to financing options. By breaking down the mental affordability barrier early on, the seed is subliminally planted for comfortable selling and incorporating add-ons throughout the sales process. This approach is particularly effective in allowing us to progressively break down each value add down to its lowest denominator, usually expressed in terms of a ‘cents a day’ investment. It’s certainly a better option than having to throw him into the conversation in panic mode at the end of the sale, after you’ve hit a budget snag.
We must recognize that from the point of view of return on investment, these intangibles are the ‘crème de la crème’. Not only do they generate a higher gross profit than the physical products they support, but they do not require an investment in inventory and do not take up shelves, floors, walls or storage space. Therefore, it makes sense to present them every time and present them as soon as possible. So just because this is called an ‘upsell’ and ‘upsell’, it doesn’t mean we should consider it just an end-of-sale activity. Sure, the best time to sell something is when the customer has just bought, and this applies particularly well to accessories, but the seed must be sown early and allowed to grow throughout the sales presentation.
So there is obviously much more to product knowledge than just having read the brochure. This understanding of the broader applications of products, services, and support is the underlying secret of true product knowledge. This is really what it’s all about. It’s no surprise, then, that knowing everything about each product, including all labeled upsells, remains the best way to create our point of difference, particularly about the less interactive and largely inanimate website purchase options. .
It may well be, then, that for all those small business owners who form the backbone of retail in every industry in every market in every corner of this world of ours, reviving the ancient skill of selling face to face is become your savior. Remember, it’s the people who will always buy our products, it’s the people who will always use our products… so it makes sense that it’s the people who will always sell our products.