In a digital world, with practically everything available “as-a-service,” it’s never been easier or faster for customers to switch vendors or providers. This has made the customer experience even more important than price – and made the upsell an almost never-ending process.
Just because the deal closes doesn’t mean that the customer will stop “shopping.” The “as-a-service” model has made it easy for buyers to continue to “shop” well beyond the signed agreement. With customers able to quickly and easily switch vendors, companies need to continuously deliver the best customer experience and service possible.
The game never stops, and – to be successful – sales teams need upsell strategies in place throughout the entire sales process.
Here are five ways to help stay on the right track for the never-ending upsell.
#1. Always deliver what you promise
Whatever you promise – even if it’s a return phone call – be sure to deliver it. One of the most surefire ways to lose a customer is by not keeping your word. If you order something online – and it never arrives – do you order from that site again?
It’s your number one priority to make sure that all customer expectations are met. Have all the deliverables in the contract been fulfilled? Were they provided in a timely manner? Is the customer satisfied with the product or service? If not, have you taken steps to correct the situation? Are you keeping the customer informed? You need to put a process in place for your sales follow-up to make sure that everything you promised has been delivered.
The never-ending upsell is contingent upon a customer’s satisfaction. Keeping them happy from the beginning – with the product, service, or support – is vital to increase and retain their business.
#2. Communicate the value delivered to all stakeholders
Tamara Schenk, research director for the MHI Research Institute, says this is something frequently overlooked by sellers – yet is key to follow-up business. You can’t assume that just because your primary customer contact recognizes the value you’ve delivered that all of the other stakeholders do as well. You need to clearly communicate the value to all of the initial, current, and potential stakeholders.
Make sure that everyone on the client side understands the benefits and the ROI that you’ve created for them. After your solution is up and running and delivering the promised value, let them know! Send out an email to all contacts with a solution update and share any notable metrics. This ongoing communication is essential to create an entry point for additional and ongoing business.
#3. Nurture existing customers
Excellent customer care is essential for the never-ending upsell. Remember, nurturing existing customers differs from nurturing potential customers! Existing customers have even higher expectations. They expect you to know what’s happening within their account, and they expect your outreach to be hyper-personalized to their particular interests.
Ongoing nurturing that is personalized makes customers feel that you’re attentive and care about their needs. Nurturing doesn’t have to be about a sales opportunity. It can be to let them know that you’re available to help, inform them about a special customer program, or tell them that you appreciate their business.
#4. Use technology to help automate the process
Sales automation and analytics can help make it easier to engage and increase your understanding about existing customers. These tools can deliver buyer-side insights and automate engagement though automated email outreach.
Sales reps can easily set up automated sequence of emails to go out to existing customers once every three weeks or so. The message could simply be a friendly “we’re here to help” or a perhaps a piece of collateral about a new use case or a white paper on a key capability.
This keeps the communication open between rep and client but takes less time on the customer support side because there is built-in automation to keep the conversation going.
In today’s competitive sales environment, your existing customers are your crown jewels – and they need to be treated as such. Customer experience has topped pricing as the biggest competitive differentiator – and the upsell has become a continuous process. To succeed at this never-ending upsell, it is critical to deliver a consistently superior customer experience. If you don’t, the alternative can be summed up in the following quote: “If you’re not taking care of your customer, your competitor will,” -Bob Hooey.
Relationship intelligence can help crack the code of upselling. Download the free e-book for more.
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Delivering the Upsell-as-a-Service in 4 Steps
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