11 successful cross-selling strategies for sales growth

The arguments never ends, simply because it is like double face coins having heads as benefits and tales as losses, in fact, its better than the worse for non-performing products or services to cope up with cross-selling demands. There are endless arguments, endless debates on the this topic-Does cross-selling really helps?

Well, if you believe or not but many times it works better than what other channel sales strategies wont work. Here is how you can plan the things out for sales growth.

1. Creating polygamous benefits

Polygamous! is the word I would prefer to use here, have you heard the proverb "when one door closes others opens"? It is what advisable here, Never! dare to end-up having single benefits for product or service always have many to increase penny because you must know the fact keep the doors open until you succeed in context to this statement have more than one benefits for cross-selling. 

2. Striker and non-striker benefits

If you watch cricket than you might understand what I'm talking about. With up-gradation to the point mentioned above it's always recommended to have benefits available for both parties, in simple words, both should have chicken dinner! and mutual benefits full-filling each other value needs or monetary needs.

3. Brand recalling compensate branding cost

If you're marketer than it will sound quite similar for you, majority of companies spend major budget just for an advertisements. But what experienced marketer will say, will say for cross-selling. The benefit is customer will recall brand more often and at lesser cost than advertising on TV's each time they buy from cross-selling partner they will resonate it to recall it. Hence, compensating your branding cost with quicker in response time.

4. Never go for just clearing the stock. Always create an impact

When you buy the product it follows numerous process before arriving on-to the purchase conclusions and this in consumer terminology known as "Consumer Buying Process" which often neglected while cross-selling. Although, it's understandable that companies need to clear the stock as quicker as it can to reflect high sales volume with increased sales revenue. But the question is that can you find the way to understand "Consumer Buying Process" at the same time you're cross-selling? Yes, you can.

5. Automated recommendation technology

"You will also like this"

"Those who bought this also bought these together" 

"Hurry up. Only 5 items left in stock"

Well, what are these? Just a reminder or it makes any sense? From salesman points of view we can call it "enticing to purchase" in which we're enticing, tempting or attracting the customer to do more purchase. In fact, it works better nowadays as compared to previous years, at-least it is creating more impact and all credit goes to artificial intelligence for reading the code behind consumer purchase decission and process involvement which helping them to recommended much better than manual hands.

6. Selling only relevant items for up-scaling sales revenue

Relevant here means relevant, many companies choose wrong product or service while promoting on cross-selling platforms and left with un-noticed customer notion's. The idea here is to succeeding going long-way on the same track. If customer A buys Apple's iphone from ivenus than he must buy Airtel sim service with one-year data pack, example of cross-selling. Isn't it? The products or services relevancy matters a lot.

7. Constant changes in selling model

To increase sales and decrease cost on selling you should come up with creative selling model which will includes the frequent cross-sell product or service and never purchased cross-selling product. The motive is to grow sales at faster pace and in order to do that you need to upgrade the sales model again and again so that the product or services which are not bought by customer's couldn't irritate them more simply because they don't want to buy that which can incur huge sales opportunity loss as well as negative sales revenue.

8. Gather some Sales data related same product or service which have been used via cross-selling before 

This technique is widely used, many companies purchase consumer buying dynamics results from third party in order to understand how consumer will behave if we will sell like this. Nowadays there are plenty of software's, application's available in the market which reads consumers mind and predict the purchase intention. Have some data or in-house it via survey to understand dynamics of consumer purchase based on current or past behavior in response to current product.  

9. Social proofing testimonials

Social proofing had given huge advantage in today's world especially in digital product or services sales. The idea is to continue the continuity at regular pace, just make the customer testimonial available with the products or services which you're selling. The best example:-

Suppose someone goes to buy shoes. He or she bought the shoes and saw quick-response code to scan with offers present. Now he or she scanned that QR code and generated one link which will be up-with custom message or pre-filled message promoting the brand. Now as a company develop a software which can integrate profile picture with the product or service and ask them?

"POST ON YOU'RE FACEBOOK TO GET 2 PAIRS OF SOCKS FREE!"

If he/she does that given them the pairs of socks. This is how you can increase your social presence as well as social proofing.

10. Promote for sale

Widely used strategy but the question is how you will use it? Will you do in same traditional form or you will add some spice to chicken. This is totally dependent on the cost incurring and revenue generating for both the parties bonded with cross-selling contract. Just like some bloggers or vloggers use this for cross-selling the contracted companies product or service.

11. If you're good at something never do it for free #NotAlways

Heard this lines many times? Now it's time to use this from sales point-of-view. Do it with huge discounts at initial stage and start decreasing the cross-sold product or service when customer totally gets adapted to it and it became there behavior. Make them in such a way that they can't live with the product which are buying together, make the alignment that if they buy this product or service they forcibly buy the other one which is cross-sold only and only if they get well-acquainted to it and can't change the buying habit, this in turn will give advantage for both cross-sellers.

So, these were some 11 successful cross-selling strategies for sales growth in your business.