The camera cross-sell you all know and love.
If you’ve been successful at selling cameras you’re no doubt familiar with the cross-sell – a selling technique that brings to the customers’ attention products or services complementary to the ones they came in to buy in the first place. At its best, cross-selling also includes up-selling – pitching products with higher profit margins.
the camera cross-sell
Most photo retailers have these retail strategies down pat when it comes to hardware and traditional photo products, but are you cross-selling and up-selling your creative finishing products and services? For most retailers, the answer is no.
photo book and cover
Cross-selling and up-selling are sales strategies that increase your profit, customer loyalty and customer value, as you know with the cameras. But suppose you sell photo books delivered in an hour from a kiosk or website and during the selling process you offer a personalized dust jacket for that book. The two products work perfectly together. Your customers like the idea; they buy them both. This means you sell the second product using a cross-selling technique. Similarly, by offering a back-up CD to a standard print order, you are cross-selling.
If you offer a premium photo book for a slightly higher price, you are up-selling. Besides the standard product offer, you can obtain higher revenue from other cross- and up-selling options such as:
- Premium options (enhanced surfaces, better binding, branded content, etc.)
- Add-ons (extension products like envelopes with folded cards, wrapping paper with notepads, or affordable frames for posters)
- Lateral developments (modifying a product for special customer like a book for your weekend warriors or wedding flip books for the wedding photographers)
- Custom made developments (a calendar for the local dentist with his phone number on it, a calendar for the local car dealer with their products on every month)
What is the best way to impact cross-selling?
Price. First, of course, is the price…it’s easier to add a small-priced item that adds great value, like a dust jacket, for example.
Fit. You must also consider how well the additional product or service fits the customer’s needs and wants or how much the customer appreciates the main product they want to buy (applicable to upgrades or adds-on). Suggesting unrelated products or ones that just aren’t right for that person may turn customers off by being simply too far off-target.
Testimonials. Testimonials also make a huge impact. The beauty of the internet here is that you can post testimonials about various products right on your website when they appear as a suggested product in the customer’s shopping cart.
7 cross-selling tips for Lucidiom APM 7.0.
kiosk product suggestion screen
- Choose complementary products (In version 7.0 of the kiosk Lucidiom has already selected some cross-sell items. Review those items and price them appropriately.)
- Use an automated recommendation system based on past purchases (a feature of APM 7.0 and upcoming Photo Finale 7.0)
- List best-sold products (communicate customer satisfaction via testimonials)
- Target your clients – estimate which clients are suitable candidates for the cross-selling process and create clients’ behavior profiles and models
- Provide your clients with good customer service to increase repeat sales, which have higher chances of cross-selling and up-selling success
- Inform your clients correctly about the opportunity to buy an additional product without forcing them to wonder or search
- Keep track of refusals to accept cross-selling or up-selling offers
Tips for up-selling finishing products.
minilab photo book
Up-selling is more risky than the cross-selling technique since you are trying to sell something more expensive. You’ll want to carefully keep track of customer’s behavior and needs, so use the Photo Finale and APM Network reports to guide you. If you don’t have that data, contact your sales rep and they can provide it to you.
Emphasize the added value of the more expensive product. For example, your premium book should be the “Best Value.” The up-selling offer should be made directly and in person. A great time to do this is at pickup…“I noticed how great your vacation looked as an 8×6 book. I can throw in an 11×8.5 for $5 off today.”
Don’t forget to use new releases. Point out against the suggested additional product (for instance on the store POP) that is “Just released” or “Limited Time.” Offer discounts and special promotions.
And who doesn’t want a customer that decides to buy as a result of a pleasant in-store experience. Your sales staff should: be knowledgeable about every product, inspire trust and confidence, be quick and courteous with information, and provide enough product details.
You don’t necessarily need more foot-steps to make more profit.
Certain consumers will have the potential to generate more profit than others through up-selling and cross-selling, but you have to know who they are. You need data about customers’ buying behavior, their needs and preferences and the ability to predict their future behavior using this information. The Lucidiom APM Network and Lab 50 are great tools to start to understand your customers. If you need help, contact your sales rep and they can get your information for you.
train your staff which suggestions to make
Involve your staff.
You can also task someone on your staff with keeping an in-store log. Track how often clients return and visit your store, which are the products they respond better to, which communication or sales method they prefer. Have the discussion with your staff about what kind of products should be promoted and to what kind of consumers. Which is the next product the consumer will search for (holiday, season) and how can your staff be ready? What products can be promoted together? Give your staff a script, practice with them, train them on what to say…make reminder cards! If it helps to give them incentive, you can keep track of sales made in this manner and reward accordingly.
The Bottom Line: In order for cross-selling and up-selling to work, the focus should be on the customer, not on pushing certain products. Before talking about additional products or services, the customer’s interest must be peaked. Remember, the cross-sell suggestion done properly will come across as helpful, not as a sales push, resulting not only in a sale, but in a happy customer as well.
(posted by Steve Jr.)
