The #1 Thing That Will Increase Your Sales – Without Spending A Dollar

If you could add something to your business, that is guaranteed to make you money, and won’t cost you a cent, would you do it?

Of course, you would. 

So why do I see so many businesses failing to take advantage of this one little thing – The Up-Sell.

Now technically, there are a few different kinds of “up-sells”. You have the cross-sell, the up-sell, and the down-sell and they should all have a very distinct purpose in your business.

Let me explain them, and show you how they can increase your sales.

The Up-sell:

The Up-sell was made famous by McDonald’s. “Would you like fries with that” is the ultimate up-sell?

The concept revolves around the fact that you already have someone making a purchase, your expenses are covered – anything you up-sell from there is going to be adding to your bottom line. 

So, how can you apply this to your business? When people are checking out online, you can add in a page AFTER the checkout where they have selected their products, but BEFORE the payment is processed and ask “would you like fries with that”. 

Now, obviously, you don’t sell fries (or maybe you do), but the point is – you find a similar product (usually more expensive) and suggest they add it to their cart.

For brick and mortar businesses – it’s similar, once someone reaches the counter it’s a matter of asking “would you like x product, it’s only $9.99” or whatever the price is.

The Down-sell:

This is a clever marketing strategy that is mostly used for online businesses, specifically in funnels, but if you’re clever you could make it work for brick and mortar as well. 

The down-sell works when, for example, I’m checking out after purchasing a $49 product, you then take me to the next page and I view your up-sell (valued at $279), IF I don’t purchase the up-sell, this is where the down-sell comes into play. You instead offer a cheaper product, perhaps a $27 program.

The reason this works is that people love value, and they have already entered their details and are just one step away from them hitting the checkout. The ‘pain’ of purchase is gone, and it’s as simple as hitting another tick box and processing the order. 

It’s a brilliant strategy to boost your online sales.

The Cross-sell:

You will have seen this on pretty much every popular eCommerce website in the form of “other shoppers purchased/loved X.”

It’s a great way of getting some extra orders through your cart and showcasing what’s popular.

Another example of this is the lollies at the checkout at your local supermarket (although they could potentially be classified as an up-sell as well) and the knick-knacks that are displayed at the checkout or clothing stores.

Again, the reason this works is people have already mentally committed to making a purchase, at this point adding a small addition doesn’t involve them reaching for their wallet and they are more comfortable making an additional purchase.

But, will these work for my business?

Let me put it this way, I am yet to see a business that COULD NOT add extra sales to their business using this method. Whether you run events, webinars, business coaching, graphic design, plumbing, real estate – you name it, there is a way to increase your sales using these methods.