ADVICE
The sales doctor
The sales
DOCTOR
Sales Doctor, Tony Morris, gives advice on how
to upgrade a client without being pushy
Dear Sales Doctor,
I have a regular client who provides a steady
stream of income for me each month. However,
they are on the basic package and seem
content to stay there.
How do I get them to upgrade without being
too pushy and losing a good source of income?
W
henever
you want to
upgrade or
maximise a
client, you
have to always look at it from
their perspective. I use the
acronym, WIFFM – what’s in
it for me?
Everything you deliver to
them must communicate what’s
in it for them; what will they get
out of using it, and what are the
major benefits the extra services
will help them to achieve?
The best way to communicate
this message succinctly and
clearly, is to explain how these
extra services have benefited
someone similar to them.
Use the example of a similar
company that faces the same
challenges they do.
The company that I feel
communicates this message
the most effectively is online
seller and distributor, Amazon.
Therefore I have aptly named
this the “Amazon technique”.
Whenever you make a purchase
via Amazon, it very cleverly
shows you complimentary
products that it feels are right
for you, based on your purchase
and history. As an example,
whenever I buy a sales book,
I end up being offered (and
often buying) a sales audio CD
alongside it. The language it uses
is as follows; “Clients that buy
item A, really benefit from items
B and C. Why not add them
to your order?”. I recommend
copying this style of language
when trying to get a client
to upgrade.
Another great example of this
type of language at work is fastfood behemoth, McDonalds. You
go in just to buy a burger for 79p
and they say, “Would you like
fries with that?”. Every customer
who says, “Oh, go on then,”
probably adds another £7 billion
or so to its bottom line. Equally,
when you ask for a meal deal,
they say “For only X pence more,
would you like to go large?”
Staff cleverly upgrade the vast
majority of customers without
Tony Morris is the director of
Sales Doctor, a sales training
company based in Covent
Garden, London. His new book,
based on the Sales Doctor series,
called “Dear Sales Doctor - the
66 top answers to the sales
questions you’re afraid to ask”,
is available now from
www.wedosaletraining.com.
losing them, or coming across
as too pushy. No doubt you’ve
probably experienced this style
of selling elsewhere in life, and
not even realised you were
being sold to.
So take a few lessons from the
proven methods of the big boys,
and you’ll have those clients
upgrading in no time!
NEED A
DIAGNOSIS?
Send your sales
problems to the editor,
marked ’FAO the sales
doctor’: editor@talk
businessmagazine.co.uk
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