Small Business Marketing: 8 Cross Selling Tips to Increase Your Sales

By Karen Scharf

When it comes to small business marketing, cross-selling is a great technique to increase sales and improve the bottom line. I often work with my coaching clients to create cross-selling programs for their small businesses.

The problem with cross-selling is that it can sometimes confuse your customers and cause them to abandon their purchase in the middle of the process. It's important that you employ cross-selling techniques correctly so that your sales will actually grow and not dwindle.

Here are 8 of my favorite and most effective cross-selling techniques:

1. Know your clients very well. It's important that you know your clients, their projects and their goals, in order to know which additional products and services to suggest. Outlining a typical customer scenario, based on your own target market profile, will help you know which products and services are complementary.

2. Have your cross-sales planned out ahead of time. You don't want to wait until the customer has made her final purchase decision before asking yourself, "What product or service should be next?" Have your cross-selling plan mapped out ahead of time for each and every product or service that you offer and begin the subtle sales process before the customer has solidified her final purchase price in her head.

3. But don't start the cross-sales process to soon. If your prospect hasn't decided to become a customer yet, it's much too early to start throwing other services at her. Make sure she has chosen to actually do business with you or your company, or else your cross-selling will seem way too pushy and way out of line.

4. Never cross-sell for the sake of cross-selling. If you're selling additional services or suggesting additional items simply for the sake of fattening up an invoice, you'll be doing a disservice to your customer as well as your business. Cross-selling should only be done when it truly benefits the client.

5. Offer discounts for cross-selling packages. When a customer purchases a bundle of products or services, it saves you money on marketing, packaging, delivery, etc. Turn that into a win-win situation, and increase your overall sales revenue, by discounting these bundled packages.

6. Use past purchase history to create cross-selling packages. Do customers who buy Product A typically purchase Product B several weeks later? Why not create a package consisting of both products and offer it to customers purchasing Product A?

7. Use your prospects' typical objections to create cross-selling packages. Next time a client objects about your price, your options, your style, etc. you'll have something ready to counter with.

8. Create time-based cross-selling programs. Will a customer who purchased a blue widget be needing a red gizamajicky in 12 months? Don't wait for the customer to come to you, or risk him going to the competition. Contact the customer in 10 months and begin your cross-selling process.

Cross-selling is an excellent way to increase your sales revenue and improve your bottom line. When done properly, it's not only good for business, but it's good for your clients as well.

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About The Author
Karen Scharf, small business marketing consultant, works with small business owners and entrepreneurs. She offers several papers, reports and checklists, including her FREE 4 Simplest Tactics for Increasing Your Customer Base and Growing Your Bottom Line. Download this and many other small business marketing tips now.