UPselling + Favorite Sales Apps

It's never too late to start over. If you weren't happy with yesterday, try something different today. Don't stay stuck. Do better.

**Podcast 11 : SOLOCAST notes

Effective up selling requires patience, detailed observation, resilience and some skill.

Get a few more dollars out of your customers by following these five up-selling tips:

1. Get them talking:

People love talking about themselves. In my experience, the better the conversation, the longer a retailer stays in the conversation, the more they tend to spend and the greater the chance they’ll become a repeat customer.

Conversation helps build a relationship, showcases your product knowledge and makes the retailer/buyer feel like you’re their friend instead of a salesperson. How, though?

2. Ask open-ended questions:

Get your customers talking by asking them open-ended questions. You don’t want their response to be “yes” or “no” because you can’t learn anything about them, how they plan to use the product or how much they’re able to spend.

This process will reveal products or services that the customers didn’t intend to buy.

If you’re selling candles and accessories, for example, try asking questions like:

•   What are your best selling candles now?

•   How much are your customers willing to spend?

•   Tell me about your favorite scents.

3. Suggest products your retailers need:

The answers to your open-ended questions will help you suggest products the buyer might need to solve a problem they expressed during your conversation. If you’re suggesting a more expensive product than the one they were looking to purchase, always explain its features, benefits and why this product is better suited to fulfill their needs. (REALLY KNOW YOUR PRODUCTS)

Not every up-selling story has a happy ending. How you handle rejection can send a message to the customer about how genuine your recommendations really were.

4. Walk customers through all of your lines:

– even if they didn’t want to see all of them.

The pathway you take through your products can present up-selling opportunities too. If you’re helping a retailer with creating a men’s area, walk them through the men’s products you carry and suggest additional lines that you’ve found popular in other accounts of yours.

Creating voids can make you more successful when you ask those open-ended questions. See how up-selling can help? If you don’t ask, you don’t know.

5. Close the sale the same way you started it:

Remember how bubbly and friendly you were when you walked into the store? Act the same way throughout the entire transaction, tell them your name and don’t forget to thank them for instilling their trust in you before you leave.

6. Cloud Syncing:

It is worthwhile investing some time into having your files and documents synced up through “the cloud”. This will ensure you will always have access to the latest versions of your documents across all computers. Nothing is more painful than to realize while on the road that the important document you had to print is only available on your desktop computer at home.

A simple solution is Dropbox – it allows you to store files in the cloud and it supports multiple platforms. And best of all: it’s free.

I LOVE DROPBOX!!!

Being that we are all 1099’ers – being smarter with our time is just smart business. Which brings me to a few of my favorite apps for the time management, being able to scan orders or info to the appropriate vendor/person and just an overall importance of maintaining your professional side by keeping up with maintaining your bio and profile.

o       TurboScano    Adobe Readero    LinkedIno       SignEasyo       Best Parkingo       Stitcher

ACTION: Which up-selling techniques have worked best for you on the road, in your trade show booth, on the phone, etc...

Thanks for listening and reading!

Hope you enjoyed it. 

Michele

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