Who is the easiest person in the world to sell to? That’s an easy one, right? It’s a happy customer. For one thing, they already know and trust you. Secondly, they know what they can expect from your company. And third, they obviously have a need or a want for your product. Selling to this customer is a piece of cake. So why don’t more small business owners take advantage of it?
Complacency is the worst habit of small business owners. The customer buys. The business owner is pleased with the sale. End of story. Why is it always the end of the story? For me, this is akin to small business owners sitting in front of a gold mine and not making the extra effort to actually walk inside.
Let’s do another quick calculation. What if, instead of being satisfied with a customer’s purchase, you made the effort to up-sell to every customer who bought from you? For the sake of simplicity, I’m going to make up some numbers.Your product costs $100. The upgraded version of your product is just $10 more. Of 100 customers, 10% will upgrade their product. Let’s run the numbers.
10% of 100 customers =10 Customers that upgrade.10 Customers x $10 = $100
You could have made an extra $100 if you had taken the time to ask for it. Now what if that product had been worth thousands of dollars, and the upgrade a couple hundred? Can you see the amount of money that was lost because the small business owner stopped selling once his customer said “Okay?”
Guess what? Your customer may actually want more. They might be thinking, “You provide me with an incredible buying experience, ask me for it, and I’ll give you more money.” But most small business owners say,
“Thank you,” and leave it at that. Well, at least they’re being polite.
© 2008 By Clate Mask
