StartupTalky

Tag: Increasing Sales

  • Everything to Know About Referral Marketing That Can Boost Your Sales

    The psychology of a human being is complicated as well as interesting. When a friend or acquaintance refers you to a product to use, you definitely get a little curious about the said product or service, they make an appearance in your head. Imagine getting rewards by just referring a product or service to your friends or family. Isn’t it amazing?

    There are various types of marketing, one of them being referral marketing. Referral marketing doesn’t get much attention, but the industry knows its value. You might not share about any product you bought, but when you get some discount for sharing, your inner “you” automatically press the share button. Referral marketing is the best way to increase sales. Not only do people bring you more customers, but they become loyal to you too.

    Generations Trusting Referral Advertising
    Generations Trusting Referral Advertising

    Every app, shopping website, and literally every business uses referral programs these days. In this article, we will talk about Referral Marketing so let’s get right into it.

    What is Referral Marketing?
    Rewarding Options for Referral Marketing Strategies
    Some Amazing Stats of Referral Marketing
    Advantages of Referral Marketing
    Disadvantages of Referral Marketing
    Some Top Referral Marketing Software

    What is Referral Marketing?

    Whenever we get a suggestion from our friend or family referring to a particular product, we are more likely to believe them. However, word-of-mouth is still the best referral channel out there, but it is nearly impossible for a company to track that referral. To solve this problem and encourage and reward their customers for referring their products, companies use referral marketing programs.

    As a company, you provide a unique referral code to every customer and ask them to share that code and earn some profit. When people share that code with someone and bring you a new customer, they get reward points or money and you get a lead. As already said, this is not as powerful as word-of-mouth, but it is still a good option as people will share your content to earn points that will be a reward and there is hardly anyone who doesn’t like rewards.

    Rewarding Options for Referral Marketing Strategies

    There are four ways to provide the reward:

    • Rewarding both parties: You can reward both the referrer and your new customer. This way, both the people get the benefit and it is a great way to motivate them to bring in more customers.
    • Rewarding the referred: Reward the person who is referred by someone. People who feel guilty to make a profit by referring will love this feature. However, you should analyze the audience first, as not the majority of people feel that way.
    • Rewarding the referrer: By rewarding the person who referred someone, you motivate the next person to refer someone else. By this method, you don’t have to spend on both parties and the process will still continue.
    • No Rewards: You can provide the referring code and reward none of them to share it. Although this is an option, people will not appreciate it much, unless you have great content.

    Some Amazing Stats of Referral Marketing

    • In a survey, people were 4 times more likely to buy when referred by a friend
    • Over 90% of respondents trust referrals from people they knew.
    • According to Capterra, 88% of B2B decision-makers rely on word-of-mouth for information and advice.
    • Social media drives almost a third of overall traffic to sites.
    • Offering a reward increases the chances of your products and services getting referred, the size of the reward does not matter.
    • Non-cash incentives are more effective at boosting performance than cash incentives.
    • A survey shows every referring customer makes an average of 2.68 invites.
    • Companies with formalized referral programs experience more revenue growth.
    • Surprisingly, only 30% of B2B companies have formal referral programs.

    Advantages of Referral Marketing

    • Budget: The first and best advantage of referral marketing is that you don’t have to spend too much money. The money needed for referral marketing is too little than any other traditional advertisements. However, it depends on you how much reward you wish to give to your customers for sharing your content with others.
    • Comfort: People are more comfortable buying any product when it is referred to them by their friends or family. Referral marketing is much more effective than traditional advertising.
    • Fast Results: The impact of referral marketing can be seen very quickly. It doesn’t take much time for people to share any content. If you are using referral marketing for an app or e-commerce website, then you don’t have to wait too long to see the results.
    • Continuous Process: People don’t stop referring until you want them to. A will refer to B and B will refer to C and so on. It is a never-ending process. So, you don’t have to worry about the process. However, you should update the process and the system to better them.
    • Loyal Customer: The best thing referral marketing do is to target loyal customers. Even if they are not loyal customers, they are still loyal marketers for you. When people get rewards from you, they will prefer your product over others. These were some of the advantages of referral programs.
    Boost Your Referral Campaign

    Disadvantages of Referral Marketing

    • Budget: Although you are saved from spending tons of money on advertisement with referral marketing, you still have to spend some money. You will have to give up some profit to the customer in the form of rewards.
    • The sense of Guilt: Some people don’t share their referral code as they think they will be sellouts. Some people don’t like making a profit out of someone without doing anything but a click. They will have a problem with their inner “sense of guilt”.
    • Not Efficient Enough: Compared to word-of-mouth referring, referral marketing is just a kid. People are more likely to buy when people heard about the product from somebody. Moreover, people are aware that word-of-mouth referrals are mostly free, so everyone would give their honest opinion. Whereas, in referral marketing, most people prefer to earn rewards only.

    Some Top Referral Marketing Software

    Now, that you know what are the advantages and disadvantages of referral marketing, you might want to know how you can have this program on your own website or app. This is 2022, therefore, there are services available for everything. You can use any of the below tools to integrate the referral program into your website.·    

    • Referral Factory
    • ReferralCandy
    • Friendbuy  
    • InviteReferrals
    • Mention Me
    • Ambassador
    • Genius Referrals
    • Referral SaaSquatch
    • Referral Rock
    • Revetize
    • ReferralMagic
    • TapMango
    • Talkable

    Conclusion

    Referral programs increase your sales. However, you might feel annoyed when someone WhatsApp you a download link again and again, which will make them some bucks. But by seeing something time and again, an idea to check that service out develops in our mind. And that’s what the ultimate goal of marketing is.

    FAQs

    What is referral marketing?

    Referral marketing is a word-of-mouth strategy created by a business to tempt current customers to recommend the brand to their friends, family, and contacts. It is a tool to expand and increase the customer base. It heavily relies on the internet and social media.

    Do Referral programs work?

    Referral programs are incredibly successful as people love earning rewards, so they refer the products and services to their acquaintances, and the cycle continues.

    Why Referral Marketing is the best?

    Referral marketing is cost-effective marketing and its success rate is immense.

    Can you make money on referrals?

    Of course, you can. You get rewarded for successful referrals.

    What are some of the top Referral software?

    Some of the top referral software are:

    • Referral Factory
    • ReferralCandy
    • Friendbuy  
    • InviteReferrals
    • Mention Me

  • 8 Ways To Convert GEN Z Leads For eCommerce Store

    When one looks back in time, one will notice how different the marketing strategies were. But those strategies worked fine for the generation ruling then. However, if you try to apply the same marketing techniques today, they will not give you profitable results. It is because the needs and preferences of the generation leading the market have changed a lot. Therefore, the marketing strategies should also be changed accordingly.

    Nowadays, most businesses want to target Generation Z, popularly known as Gen Z. If you also have the same goal, we will help you with some of the best lead generation ways that work for this generation. But before we delve in, you must know what Gen Z means. Simply put, it is the current generation of people born between 1997 and 2012. The oldest people belonging to Gen Z are around 25 years old; some are also married and have kids. This is the generation most brands want to target because they are the present and the future market. Keep reading to know how to convert Gen Z leads for your eCommerce store!

    Gen Z Leads For eCommerce Store

    What is a Lead in the eCommerce market
    The ways to convert Gen Z leads

    How You Can Use Interactive Content to Boost Lead Generation?
    Facing difficulties in generating leads? Here’s how you can use interactive content marketing to boost your lead generation to get qualified leads.
    StartupTalkyHeena Singh

    What is a Lead in the eCommerce market

    Lead In The eCommerce Market
    Lead In The eCommerce Market

    Some people think that leads are those who buy from you, but that’s not true. Those who buy from your store are your customers and leads come before that stage. Leads are those target audiences who have interacted with your brand somehow. It can be by liking one of your social media posts, clicking on your ad, visiting your website, adding your product to their cart, etc. Lead generation is the most important step for any business because these leads are your future potential customers. So higher the lead generation, the more the chances of gaining loyal customers for your eCommerce store will be.

    How to Generate Quality Leads From the About Us Page?
    Lead generation is not easy but here’s a technique to leverage you’re about us page and generate leads using it.
    StartupTalkyRiya Shah

    The ways to convert Gen Z leads

    Ways To Convert Gen Z Leads
    Ways To Convert Gen Z Leads

    Content Marketing

    Gen Z people love consuming content of all kinds, be it blogs, vlogs, reels, etc. Not just for entertainment purposes, but they love content also when they want to find out more about a certain product. Hence, if you want to bring in more leads, you need to create more content around your products. For instance, if you are selling blenders, try creating product description blogs where the buyer can learn all about the blender. Besides product descriptions, you can also create other interesting blogs with helpful tips and hyperlink your website within the content.

    The more information you provide about the products you sell, the higher your customers’ trust in your brand will be. They will be certain about what you are selling and how to use it. Eventually, they will click on the link, visit your website and take action. To gain success via content marketing, make sure you hire people who know how to create the right content for your target audience. Consistent content creation will help you reach potential customers quite easily!

    Advertising through Vloggers

    GenZ people love watching vlogs (ask those who patiently wait for an entire week just for a vlog from their favorite YouTuber). Getting in touch with vloggers and giving them the paid responsibility of advertising your brand can really help. They will make convertible “aesthetic” videos for your brand to help you advertise your brand to their own followers. Almost all eCommerce brands starting from skincare to clothing are using this advertising method to attract the attention of GenZ customers and so can you!

    Ways to Get More Subscribers To Your YouTube Channel
    There are many tricks that every YouTuber can implement for a successful YouTube career. Here are Different ways to get more YouTube subscribers.
    StartupTalkyParidhi Mehrotra

    Getting the GenZ Attention through Bloggers

    Besides vloggers, you can also advertise your brand through bloggers (people who write on their website instead of recording a video). You might think that people don’t read a lot but that’s not true for the GenZ community. They love reading, especially on web! The more they read, the more they get to know about your brand, and the better it sells. So make sure you use the efficiency of creative bloggers at its best!

    Email Marketing

    Email Marketing For Beginners

    Well, you cannot be certain that your visitors will buy from you the very first time they visit your store. In that case, you need to stay in touch with them via email. Every time someone visits your store or clicks on your ad, ask for their email id. Soon you will have a list of contacts you need to mail regularly. Make sure you are not spamming their mailbox because they might unsubscribe from your mailing list. So instead, send them interesting emails that contain helpful information, coupon codes, customer reviews, etc. Limit it to three emails a week because too much of anything can become irritating in no time. You can also use email marketing to remind your leads to buy the product lying in their cart!

    Top 11 Best Email Tracking Tools and Software 2022
    Want to track your emails? but can’t find any reliable email tracking software. Here are some of the best email tracking software to use in 2022.
    StartupTalkyAbinaya Arangarajan

    SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

    SEO For Digital Marketing
    SEO For Digital Marketing

    SEO is the current ruler of the digital marketing globe. Without it, you will have a hard time targeting a specific customer base for your products. There are many SEO strategies, on-page, and off-page, which you need to follow. For instance, when you create content, it should contain enough keywords to get a higher ranking on Google. But that does not mean you need to spam keywords because otherwise, your content will be ranked poorly on any search engine. This is just one example; there are many more SEO technicalities that an SEO strategist can help you with. So if you are launching a new eCommerce store, make sure you hire a reputed SEO specialist to reach your audience without any hassle.

    Social Media

    This goes without saying that Gen Z people are obsessed with social media. Pick anyone in the crowd, and you will see they are on at least one social media platform. Hence, social media is a powerful tool that every brand uses these days. Your brand must have an account on all the social media platforms where you post regular updates about your products, discounts, etc. You can also use social media ads to promote your brand widely. The most popular ones are Facebook and Instagram ads.

    Besides running ads and posting content, you can also collaborate with budding influencers and promote your brand via their page. Social media marketing is evolving with each passing year. Social media platforms are also introducing new and better ways of promoting brands. So use it as the hype of these platforms can help you market your store quicker and better!

    What is Engagement Optimisation? | How to Do It For Your Brand?
    Engagement optimisation is the process of optimising your website’s user experience thereby increasing the time spent on the site by the users.
    StartupTalkyTanish

    PPC (Pay-per-click) Advertising

    PPC For Beginners

    Even though SEO marketing works more effectively, in the long run, you can also introduce PPC (pay-per-click) advertising on Google ads for better promotion of your brand. PPC helps you stay ahead of the competition by giving you a range of competitive keywords. That means your ads will show when someone searches for a specific keyword. For example, if you sell women’s garments, your ad will show under the search results of ‘dresses for women,’ ‘gowns for women,’ and other such keywords. After setting the ad, you need to determine how much you are willing to pay Google for each ad. Google usually shows those ads for which the PPC rate is higher. Hence, you need to find the market average PPC rate and set something close to that.

    Customization

    Benefits Of Customization
    Benefits Of Customization

    The same ads won’t work for all the customers because each audience base is different. Well, that does not mean you need to create thousands of different ads for different customers. Instead, you need to create specific sets of customers and cater to them the ads that relate to their present condition. For example, if you are showing maternity wear ads to someone who isn’t even married, then it won’t work.

    This applies to email marketing as well. Before sending a mail, you should determine whether it will be relevant to the reader. The right approach will be to set their age, income, demographics, and relationship status and learn more about their interests. For example, if a customer is interested in wedding-related content and they are engaged, it might be that their wedding is approaching soon. In that case, showing them ads for wedding products would be a great idea.

    CRO (Conversion Rate Optimization)

    8 Tips For CRO

    To find out what works best for lead generation on your eCommerce store, you need to apply the test and trial method. First, you need to test a few website layouts, landing pages, website info, products, etc., and see what is bringing in more leads. This process is known as the conversion rate optimization or CRO process. It helps you make the lead generation process easier by understanding the exact choice of Gen Z people. You can also hire a professional marketer for this job as they know better about what works best for a particular eCommerce niche.

    Top 7 Factors Affecting Conversion on Landing Page
    The conversion rate plays a vital role in building a successful website. Factors affecting conversion rate include CTA, traffic, content, etc.
    StartupTalkyApoorva Singh

    Free Bait

    When creating a Facebook ad, you need to provide free bait that stands out. If your bait is something too common, people will hardly click on your link. Do proper market research to see what kind of baits work the best for your eCommerce niche, and then create something unique for your potential customers. For instance, if you are selling diet products, you can offer a free CD that talks about health and nutrition; make sure it is free of shipping charges as well. This makes unique and attractive bait.

    Conclusion

    Now that you know the procedures to take, maybe your eCommerce store will receive more Gen Z leads. Keep in mind that finding leads takes a lot of time and patience. Without putting a lot of effort into your market research, you cannot expect to receive quality leads. As managing the lead-generating process alone can become a little tiresome, you might need to engage a team of professionals.

    Top 12 Strategies to Acquire B2B Leads
    According to a study, 85% of B2B marketers struggle with lead generation. Top Strategies to Aquire B2B Leads are content marketing, online forums, etc.
    StartupTalkyNisarg Makwana

  • What Is a Sales Pipeline And How To Build One For Lead Generation?

    Do you feel that your business and sales processes are falling short somewhere?

    If your marketing efforts are proving insufficient results for lead capture and generation, it’s possible that your sales processes are faulty. The process of converting awareness into action is slow and can lose many potential customers.

    Even if you start from scratch, the growth of your business doesn’t come from putting in endless working hours alone. One of the most effective tools to build a reliable revenue stream is a sales pipeline.

    What Is a Sales Pipeline?

    Sales Pipeline is not just another buzzword!

    You must have heard about the ‘Sales pipeline’ in the meetings or conversations. It’s not just jargon but an effective system that can change the game for your sales figures. A sales pipeline is a visual representation of opportunities in different phases of the sales process.

    Sales Pipeline
    Sales Pipeline

    It presents a clear outline of prospects, leaks, and loopholes in your sales process. A well-defined sales pipeline educates the salesperson about what step comes ahead and how to go around it. It also gives valuable insights to the managers and helps in decision making.

    Sales pipelines give way to:

    • Insights into financial metrics.
    • Accurate assessment of team performance.
    • Preview of monthly revenue.

    Now let’s look at how to build a sales pipeline for lead generation

    Identify the Potential Buyers and Place Them in the Right Stage

    Consolidating all your potential buyers is the first step in establishing a sales pipeline. It is important to ascertain that your prospective customers are placed in the right deal stages based on their affiliation with your product or service.

    When a potential buyer has contacted you to know more about your product or service, he is in the ‘interaction phase’.

    Placing your prospective customers in the right compartment helps you deal with them most effectively. You can approach them accordingly and convert the lead into business.

    Segregate and Assign the Sales Activities

    Knowing which phase your potential customers belong to can lay out a clear set of sales activities.

    Suppose you know your possible buyer belongs to the ‘awareness’ phase where the information flow is the most important. In that case, You will send out emails, brochures, and catalogues to them or target them through infographics and interactive quizzes.

    In short, you know what to do and how to take them to the next stage. This way, your salesforce also has clarity on performing the task in the best way possible. Assigning sales activities to each stage of the sales pipeline is crucial for enhancing the effectiveness of sales efforts and the efficiency of the salesforce.

    Define the Sales Cycle Length

    Your lead source is the biggest factor in defining the length of your sales cycle. How quickly you close the sales depends on the channel through which you approach the potential customer.

    Leads generated through emails or calls will have slow sales cycles. Organic leads achieved through websites have a quicker sales cycle.

    The above makes it crucial to define the sales cycle length by streamlining various lead sources. If you have a sales cycle defined, it would be easy to know which deal would convert into action and which one has become useless for the business.

    Ascertain Your Pipeline Size

    If one of your sales representatives targets 50 deals a month and loses 10-12 of them in the sales process, you may raise the bar and give him a target of 70 deals instead.

    That’s how you decide the size of your pipeline and meet your target sales for the month. There is no doubt that not all the leads make it to the end of the pipeline. The contingency plan is simple. Start with extra deals so that any leak along the way does not hamper your sales target.

    Take Out the Inactive Leads

    If certain deals have gotten stagnant, there’s no point waiting for them to convert because the chances of winning such deals are very low. If a deal has gone past its sales cycle, there is no point in wasting sales efforts or campaigns on it.

    It is important to know when to stop putting marketing efforts!

    One of the effective ways to keep a tab on stagnant leads is to have a specialized software or AI tool that can notify you about deals that aren’t moving to the next stage. It will help you clear the space and make way for new leads.

    Timely Review of Sales Pipeline Metrics

    Even after establishing an efficient sales pipeline, there is no way to predict the exact outcome. Sales activities change, targets change and with that, strategy changes. A timely review will allow your team to make the necessary changes and bring in more leads to compensate for any lag in the plan.

    How to Create a High-Converting Lead Magnet Like a Pro
    A Lead magnet is an amazing way to increase sales and attract customers. Let’s look at how you can create a lead magnet in a few simple steps.
    StartupTalkyBhoraniya Huda Hifzur Rehman

    Conclusion

    Businesses that put effort into knowing what their customers want succeed in converting leads into purchases. From awareness to action, it’s a journey for buyers and an open opportunity for you to retain them at any given stage. Sales pipelines provide the perfect set-up for managers for ascertaining the success of sales campaigns and marketing efforts.

    FAQs

    What is a sales lead pipeline?

    A sales lead pipeline is a representation of prospects in different phases of the sales process.

    How do you build a lead pipeline?

    Identify the potential buyers, assign sales activities, define sales cycle length, remove inactive leads, and constantly update your sales timeline.

    What is a lead in sales?

    A lead in sales is a person or a business who might become your future customer or client.

  • How to Work on Your Sales Skills to Stay Prepared for an Unexpected Lockdown?

    This article is contributed by Gaurav Bhagat, Founder, Gaurav Bhagat Academy

    In the sales domain, it is often said that “sell the problem you solve, not the product”. Amidst the looming fear of an unexpected lockdown, a concern regarding how sales representatives will carry on with their performance is emerging.

    It is an undeniable fact that the sales team are always the one to take to the front line, ensuring that the product or service finds its way to the key stakeholders. But it all came to a halt with the Covid 19 outbreak that pushed every opportunity of sales indoors. Covid 19 has surely sent shockwaves across the business world, forcing many of them to either change their sales strategy or wither away.

    The conventional way of conducting sales pitches through face-to-face meetings, building bonds and gaining customer confidence has come to a standstill. Further, the dip in sales across various sectors such as travel, hospitality, automobile, real estate, etc demonstrates the pressing need to make way for newer and creative sales skills and strategies.

    Moreover, advancements in technology have led to businesses now looking up to e-commerce sites to list their products for sales. With no respite in sight, it is important the people or team engaged in sales start afresh and harness technological solutions to revive steady sales and revenues. Read more to learn about the sales skills one would want to work on in order to stay prepared for an unexpected lockdown.

    1. Engage in Sales Training
    2. Improve your Customer Research Skills
    3. Work on your Presentation Skills
    4. Master the Skill of Facing Objections

    1. Engage in Sales Training

    Sales Training
    Sales Training

    For a successful sales career, it is imperative to invest generously in your sales skills and that is why sales training is important. Sales training includes the intensive process of core product training, technical industry training, identification of customer pain points, posing pertinent discovery questions and effective storytelling. It’s the remote selling skill that has posed its importance, in case a situation of lockdown ensues.

    Sales representatives can no more shy away from tech-driven solutions and have to become proficient at software that will improve their sales figure, engagement with the team, keep a track of their sales and enhance productivity.

    If you are a sales representative and want to improve your performance, then get hands-on experience with sales software such as CRM, Dealhub, Outreach, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, Seismic, Salesforce CPQ etc.

    Learning the aforementioned software and application will give a sales representative thorough insight about various factors that influences a sale i.e., the content customers are engaging with the most, customized approaches to send cold emails, drive more pipeline, create accurate quotes in a short span of time, track buyer engagement, etc.

    2. Improve your Customer Research Skills

    Customer Research
    Customer Research

    The ability to acquire knowledge and pain points of a potential buyer will make a sales representative stand out of the lot, thereby improving their sales prospect. A major part of the remote-selling strategy would account for how effortless and personalized the customer experience is. This would entail in-depth customer research.

    Get familiar with your buyer’s industry, expose yourself to the data surrounding the buyer in recent times, monitor their purchase and communication history, assess the buyer’s growth in recent years and examine their competitor activity.

    It is very important that you take a close view of how the aforementioned details have changed since the onset of Covid 19. Having awareness about such information will provide you with a better perception of the buyer’s situation; thereby helping you draft the perfect sales pitch.

    3. Work on your Presentation Skills

    Presentation Skills
    Presentation Skills

    Making a sales presentation has become relevant in the pandemic world and that is why becoming adept at it will definitely shoot up your chances at sealing a deal.

    The presentations must be impactful enough to remind the customer about their pain points, how you or your organization will solve them, what method you would adopt to solve and why you have the capability to solve them better than other competitors in the market. Therefore, do not simply just tell a story; fill your presentation with leading and discovery questions.

    A usual mistake that the sales representatives make is talking too much and too loudly. Abstain from doing that and in fact, invite a dialogue between you and the audience. The sales presentations are only effective when the audience retention rate is high i.e., there is the flow of information from both ways coupled with well-designed visual aids.

    While demoing the product, try to strike a conversation with the customer instead of keeping it a monologue. This is where you would need some prior customer research in order to ask the right leading questions and thereby demonstrate the acumen to answer them.

    4. Master the Skill of Facing Objections

    Facing objections from buyers is a part and parcel of a sales representative’s job. And therefore, learning how to overcome such objections will go a long way in not just handling the objection of the buyer but also boosting their confidence in your product or service.

    Engage in a simulation practice and run down some common objections that a sales representative might face such as:

    • Indifference because of lack of urgency or trust.
    • Scepticism because of lack of authority or trust.
    • Drawbacks because of lack of information or knowledge.

    Conclusion

    It is always better to sell the problem, focusing on pain points, apprise of the long-term benefits, talk numbers i.e., return on investment or profit margin, explore multiple possibilities where your product or service can be in use, etc. The journey of making a sale is rarely a piece of cake and therefore, a sales representative should always hold their nerve while making a pitch.

  • Cross-Selling And Up-Selling | Meaning and Comparison

    Are you a marketer? Have you heard about cross-selling and upselling? These are among the most common terms in the field of marketing. However, if you are still wondering the difference between cross-selling and upselling, then let’s discuss. Before going to the differences, let’s discuss these terms in brief.

    What Is Cross-Selling?
    Who should practice Cross-Selling?
    What is Upselling?
    Who should practice Upselling?
    Importance of Cross-Selling and Upselling in business
    Cross-Selling vs Upselling – Comparison Parameters
    Cross-Selling vs Upselling – Differences
    Conclusion
    FAQs

    What Is Cross-Selling?

    Cross Selling
    Cross Selling

    Do you remember that last time when you went to the stationery shop to get a pen? Didn’t the shopkeeper insist you on buying notebooks? Did you get the notebook as suggested by the shopkeeper? If yes, then you have made the shopkeeper’s strategy of cross-selling successful. Hence, we can define cross-selling as gaining profits by making the customer buy products related to the desired product.

    Who should practice Cross-Selling?

    Cross-selling is very common and is done in all types of businesses. It is seen both in shops and malls. However, the product sold by convincing the customer essentially needs to be related to the product he/she wishes to buy. One can convince customers in various ways. There are various strategies and methods to convince customers. The seller decides the strategy to be used by him.

    In the case of big business, the company should also provide incentives to workers for getting successful cross-sells. While implementing the cross-selling technique, the seller needs to be polite. He should not force the customer to buy the product. The products provided should also be of remarkable quality. Proper planning and service to customers can lead to huge profits in business.

    Cross selling and Up selling

    What is Upselling?

    Upselling
    Upselling

    Let’s take the same example of a stationery shop to understand upselling. Suppose you went to the stationery shop to get an ordinary pen. But, the shopkeeper insists on having a Parker pen. Did you bring the Parker pen instead of the ordinary pen you had decided? If yes, then you have made the shopkeeper’s strategy of upselling successful. Hence, we can define upselling as gaining profits by making the customer buy better products in comparison to what was requested by the customer.

    Who should practice Upselling?

    Upselling can be practiced by anyone who wants to increase their profits in business. However, proper strategies and tricks are needed to execute upselling properly. The seller needs to have proper communication skills to convince the customer. Knowing the tactics of convincing the customer is the key to earn greater profits by upselling.

    In the case of big business, the company can promote its products by upselling. The workers are taught about this skill from the beginning. Salary hikes are provided to workers who successfully sell better quality products. This technique needs proper guidance and experience for successful implementation.

    Importance of Cross-Selling and Upselling in business

    Both the techniques, cross Selling and upselling, should be used for serving better products to the customer. The seller shouldn’t cheat the customer to get profits. By doing so, he will lose his customers thereby creating a negative impression in the minds of the audience.

    When used properly, both these techniques can prove to be extremely beneficial for getting customers and profits. The main advantages of these techniques to a marketer are:

    1) Improving the retentively of customers

    2) Increases orders thereby generating profit

    3) Builds a healthy relationship with customers thereby increasing Customer Lifetime Value (CLV).

    Cross-Selling vs Upselling – Comparison Parameters

    Cross Selling and Up Selling
    Cross Selling and Up Selling

    Now let’s compare upselling and cross-selling on various parameters.

    Parameter Cross-selling Upselling
    Meaning Gaining profits by convincing customers to buy a better version of their desired item. Gaining profits by convincing customers to buy a better version of their desired item.
    Objectives Increasing the total value in a sale. Increasing the actual value in a sale.
    Requirements Requires knowledge about the items related to the customer’s desire. Requires knowledge about the best quality products of the customer’s choice.
    Association Associated with related products of an item. Associated with the difference in the quality of various products of a particular item.
    Sales This leads to an increase in Sale of related products of an item. This leads to an increase in Sale of better quality products.
    Results Profit is higher because it involves the sale of multiple products. Profit is high because it involves the sale of one its at a high price.
    Example When the customer needs some french fries, convincing him/her to have a satisfying meal is what cross-selling is related to. When the customer needs some french fries, convincing him/her to have a burger or something tastier is what upselling is related to.

    Cross-Selling vs Upselling – Differences

    Here are the main points of differences between cross Selling and upselling:

    1) In cross-selling, the main purpose is to sell a product that might be helpful for the customer. The sold item must be related to the desired item of the customer. But, in upselling, the main purpose is to enhance the quality of services provided to the clients.

    2) In cross-selling, many related items are sold. The total profit is derived from each one of these. But, in upselling, the higher quality product of a particular item is sold. The total profit is derived from the single item sold.

    3) Cross-selling can be done by anyone. But, upselling requires a larger market with an adequate supply of products.

    4) Cross-selling leads to an increase in the average amount of purchase and average sales made by the customer. Upselling leads to an increase in only the average amount of purchases made by the customer.

    5) Cross-selling is beneficial both for the customer and for the seller. However, sometimes upselling may lead to losses for the customer.

    Conclusion

    Both cross-selling and upselling are the popular strategies used by companies to gain maximum profit. The customer gets better quality products as well as other essential products. However, both these strategies require different skills for implementation.

    When these strategies are implemented systematically, there are chances of profits to both sides. These skills are mainly taught by the company. The workers who perform better thereby helping the company generate more profits are also rewarded. Irrespective of what the strategy adopted is, there is an increase in the company’s turnover and profits. Hence, these strategies should be used by companies frequently.

    FAQs

    What is cross-selling?

    Cross-selling is the method of gaining profits by convincing a customer to buy items related to their desired item.

    What is upselling?

    Upselling is the method of gaining profits by convincing customers to buy a better version of their desired item.

    Which is better: cross-selling or upselling?

    Cross-selling and upselling both are good for your company. However, the strategy which will prove beneficial for you depends on your company and products.

    Which is more profitable, cross-selling or upselling?

    Cross-selling is more profitable because it involves the sale of multiple products.