By Mark I LaRosa on December 10th, 2009
Up-selling, despite what some people believe, is not a sneaky or dishonest sales strategy. In fact is is an essential strategy for start-ups. I do, however, understand, how many people can see it this way.
At the bagel store near my house, a bagel costs $0.49. Yet, order that bagel with $0.03 worth of butter, and the bagel is suddenly $1.69. Why does the store do this? Because its great to advertise bagels that cost only $0.49, but who comes into the store and only orders 1 bagel with nothing on it? The upsell is the critical method of driving profit into the store.
It’s not a dishonest strategy, but if you sat there and really thought about what is going on, its kind of maddening. And if you listen to the entire process of people walking in and out of the store (which as a person who looks for sales techniques in anything, I do), you will hear the constant upsell. “Can I interest you in a coffee too? Perhaps some cheese with that taylor ham sandwich? Can I interest you in home fries?” The entire sales process is hinged on the upsell. Read more...
By Mark I LaRosa on December 4th, 2009
Its worth repeating my post from last December about the December Sales Problem.
December is a hard sales month for companies for several reasons: The month is really only 2.5 weeks long before your prospects shut down. Budgets are often used up. Vacations make it hard to get deals done. Prospects are more focused on their Holiday party then they are on your solution, etc. The list is long, and very intuitive why its hard to get sales done. However, as I’ve posted before, December can actually be an amazing month for sales.
But very often the biggest December sales problem is inside your own company… Its the sandbagging sales team. Get into the mind of a salesperson for a minute… Sales plans typically reset in January, and each salesperson is in one of two camps.
The first camp has already made quota, and wants to make quota next year – and even though they are probably in accelerated commissions right now – want to make sure they hit quota two years in a row – and set themselves up for accelerated commissions next year as well as any challenges and bonuses that may come along. In other words, they’ve already impressed you this year and in the “what have you done for me lately” mentality – they are already thinking about next year. Read more...
