Why it’s so important to…
Test how Staff uses Cross-Selling to Improve Business
Cross-selling is a technique that’s been used for an incredibly long period of time. You were after a mop, but walked out with a bucket as well; had your car serviced? Did you end up buying seat covers as well? New dress? What about this pair of earrings or that shawl? Cross-selling is a sound technique, and it’s a important to test how staff uses cross-selling to improve business – or, indeed, whether they use it at all.
In the fashion industry, 80% of customers are looking for staff to recommend additional products. That’s not a small amount. If we combine this with the 77% that want to be encouraged to try things on, we’re talking about some pretty solid sales opportunities.
The question then is whether or not staff is making the most of those opportunities. Imagine the business your company can cash in on if all staff was avidly pursuing a cross-selling technique! Suddenly, customers purchase nearly double what they would normally buy. More than that, statistics show that when staff meet customer expectations they are happier. The better the customer service experience the more likely that customer will come back.
A returning, loyal customer is worth 10 times as much as their original purchase. That’s not a small number, especially when you consider the cross-selling chances a returning customer poses; not to mention the fact that a loyal customer will likely bring others to your store.
Cross-selling isn’t only about suggesting good matches for a select product, it’s also about reading the expectations and desires of the customer. If a customer has chosen an extremely expensive product then recommending a flimsy, low-quality cross-sell isn’t going to do the trick.
Long story short, it’s important to test how staff uses cross-selling to improve business because if they’re using it incorrectly. All the training in the world can’t beat on-the-floor experience, but it’s also trickier to test what staff is doing on the floor.
