You’ve made the sale. Your customer is happy. But have you really done the best by them or have you inadvertently stopped short, robbing them of a better outcome and yourself of extra revenue?
No matter what you’re selling, be it a product or service, I guarantee there’s more you could sell both at the point of purchase as well as mid to long term. Products and services your clients would gladly pay for if only they were made aware of their existence.
Godfrey’s the vacuum cleaner stores really know how to upsell.
Years ago I related how Barbara and I walked into a store looking for vacuum cleaner bags and walked out with an $800 brand new cleaner. You can read the story at https://revealedresources.com/practical-tips/1195-the-story-of-carlos – it’s really quite funny and very instructive.
Recently we needed new bags and walked into another Godfrey’s store. Even though I didn’t know the model number, their staff instantly figured out the right bags, then proceeded to upsell new filters and carpet spot cleaner.
They didn’t ask “Is there anything else?” They just recommended we buy these products and we did. All of which increases their profit on a single transaction.
But what about a more complex long term engagement?
A client of ours works with large organisations to improve employee effectiveness.
His performance development program which ran for a year had been successfully rolled out in organisations both in the UK and Australia. His clients were seeing marked improvements in both bottom line results as well as better staff engagement and effectiveness.
But he was inadvertently stopping short.
Part of our process whenever we take on a client is to comprehensively interview their existing clients.
Our goal is to find out what is being done well, what results they’re getting and where improvements can be made.
So having spoken at length to a number of CEO’s of his clients, one thing became abundantly clear.
One year of engagement was not enough. They all wanted more of him. The CEO’s all realised programs of this nature were extremely valuable, took time to embed and our client was the best person to deliver the outcomes.
I asked CEO’s how long they thought the program should be and the overwhelming answer was 3 years with a tapering level of engagement.
Having elicited the real tangible value of the program, we tested increasing the prices with new clients. No one blinked.
In effect we increased his revenue from each client by 200% over 3 years.
An integral part of his program involves giving each employee feedback from their subordinates, peers and the senior leadership team.
Feedback is collected as a form of 360 degree review and presented as a comprehensive set of charts to each individual highlighting their strengths and possible areas for improvement. A strategy which is becoming more popular with leading organisations.
Which lead us to an opportunity to offer the feedback system as a standalone component licenced on a yearly basis producing an ongoing revenue stream for our client.
However as organisations realise feedback without a mechanism to improve is just that, feedback, they can sign up for the other components of the development program, once again increasing our client’s revenue.
But it doesn’t stop there.
Many organisational leadership teams could be considered dysfunctional with people pulling in different directions.
So together with a facilitation expert, we’re in the process of developing and integrating a leadership development and facilitation model. Another string to the bow which could be sold as part of the package or standalone further increasing revenue and profit.
So in summary, working with us, he:
- Increased his returns per client by 200%.
- Clients stay with him a minimum of 3 years (over the initial 1 year he had before. This means a more secure income stream for him.)
- By adding further integrated services he effectively ring fences his clients and minimises the opposition getting a foot hold.
- The feedback system returns an additional constant revenue stream beyond that – further keeping his clients in his care.
- Without going into specifics, just the increase in fees adds $500,000 in additional revenue over 3 years. And as we expect to double his client numbers in the next year, that number will more than double too.
All of which enables us to more effectively market him while developing more products and bringing additional specialisations on board where necessary.
And dare I say for a fraction of what we charge him! Which is the price/value equation. Yes there is a money investment, but the returns far outweigh the cost – short, mid and long term.
So what’s the major takeaway?
No matter what you’re selling there always is an opportunity to increase revenue from your existing clients. Remember it’s 7 to 20 times more expensive to generate a new client over selling more to an existing one. As you’ve already paid any costs associated with lead generation and acquisition, all extra sales automatically become more profitable.
And the best part is your clients will actually appreciate your selling them more as they will get better results!
So I’d strongly suggest you determine where you can package up extra products and services for your clients.
And yes we can help you. For the last 13 years we’ve successfully grown businesses in over 36 industries and have the runs on the board.
Call us on (02) 9499-7958 and arrange your focus day an initial strategy session. Just one good idea from us could see you add hundreds of times your investment onto your bottom line profits over the short, medium and long term.
