Have you ever just finished a project and
wondered: How can I do more for this client? or perhaps you were thinking: Oh darn, now I have to look for new clients.
It doesn’t have to be that way.
The most valuable clients are the ones that
stay with you, not the ones that provide one-off projects. So how do you get valuable clients that want to stick with you
for the long haul?
In this article, I’m going to give you the
benefit of my experience, and hopefully by the end of it you’ll know how to
upsell clients, so they’ll never want to go anywhere else.
Would you like fries with that?
At its most basic level, this is a
fundamental part of up-selling. If all employees are trained at a fast food
restaurant to ask customers, “Would you like fries with that?” and 20% agree,
that would increase the company’s bottom line tremendously. So how
do you translate this to the web industry?
First
you need to identify a problem that your client’s having. Ask questions like…
What are the biggest problems
you face in your business? This will help you
in figuring out which services you can offer to solve their problems.
On the other hand, you can extract
information about the clients’ problems through simple conversation.
After you’ve identified a problem, look in
your skills toolbox and make an offer by asking…
Is your brand being perceived
the way you want it to be? Try to get them to
explain their brand to you. Afterwards you can make suggestions on what you can
do to make their brand better (eg. Oh
I understand that you want to attract gamers, however your logo looks like a
law firm or a bank’s. I can fix your logo so that you can better relate to
gamers).
Would you like to be at the top
of Google? I don’t know one person or business that
would say no to that. If you are an SEO expert, then upsell that like it’s
going out of style.
Do you want to prevent viruses
and hackers from disrupting your website? If
a client says no to this, make sure they are aware of the importance of security.
Can I maintain the site for
you? Your client is going to need someone to maintain the site,
make periodic updates and just make sure everything is running smoothly. Offer
a maintenance package or quote your hourly rate and say you’ll maintain it every
week or month.
After you’ve confirmed that there’s a problem
that needs to be solved and that you have the skills to do the job, close the
sale as soon as possible.
Are you
trustworthy?
Products are
only a tool
Consider this scenario:
Client: Thanks, but we’re going to wait
on that. I’ll keep you in mind though.
You: Ok thanks.
Now consider this alternate scenario:
Client: Well, I don’t think our color
scheme speaks our tone.
You: Tell me more about that.
Client: I want our colors to look
professional and for some reason they just don’t seem to be working.
You: Are you aware that your current
color scheme represents fun and warmth?
Client: Now that you mention it, I
could see that. Could you help us feel and look more professional?
You: Yes sir. I’m an expert in brand
development and understand its principles. Your brand is the face of your
company and I can make sure that it’s represented memorably with a timeless
logo, appropriate color scheme, company voice and I’ll provide you with a brand
identity guide. By doing this, your problems with speaking to your target
customers will be solved because the brand will be developed with that niche in
mind.
Client: That sounds great! When can you
get started?
Destructively
persistent
My clients’
shoes are uncomfortable
Conclusion
Clients want to know that the person they’re
dealing with is trustworthy, so you need to build that relationship.
Find common ground with your clients so that
you can have conversations outside of business. If you can figure out what
makes your clients excited, what makes them laugh and what they value, then
you’ll have no problems upselling them.
It’s always easier to upsell a client who
trusts you and you’ve built a relationship with. Don’t be afraid to chat with
your clients.
I know you’re looking to get on to the next
job and make that money, but that’s not going to build valuable relationships.
These relationships are where the bulk of your business and referrals are going
to come from, so handle them with care.
World famous sales expert Zig Ziglar
recommends that you only treat products as
a tool when up-selling. Instead your main focus should be on the client’s
concerns and having a genuine interest in uncovering their problems. This goes
back to what I said earlier in that you need to identify a problem you can
solve.
Keep your up-selling process nice and simple.
The only things you need to learn are how to ask good questions and listen
carefully. If you can master these skills, then your clients will start
upselling themselves.
You: Before you go Mr. Jones, I can
offer you high quality branding materials.
Well that was easy and painless. You weren’t
imposing on the client and they’re even going to keep you in mind for further
projects, right? Not likely. So what went wrong here? You focused on the
products before identifying a problem and didn’t even try to close the sale.
You: Before you go Mr. Jones, I
wanted to ask… what frustrates you most and keeps you up at night when thinking
about your brand?
At a very basic level, this is a great
example of how you can extract a problem from your clients specific to your
skills without sounding like you’re trying to sell them something they don’t
want. Usually clients don’t even know what they want because they aren’t in
touch with their own problems. It’s your job as an upseller to find those
problems for your clients by asking the right questions.
Remember not to focus on yourself and what you
have to offer until you’ve found a problem to solve and genuinely get your
client to talk about the problem, until then, your client couldn’t care less
about what you have to offer.
Be persistent, but be persistent about your
clients’ problems and not your products. If you’re constantly pushing your
products and not caring about your client’s problems, eventually clients will
begin to resent you.
All clients care about is what you can do for
them. How can you solve their problems and make their life easier? And the more
you can identify with that, the more you will build valuable relationships.
Let’s take Web designer Depot for example.
There’s a problem, whether you’re aware of it or not, that they’re solving. The
problem they’re solving is the lack of information on specific subjects. So instead
of saying, “Click on our ads and here’s how you can do it” WDD solves your
problem of needing information in order to learn something, find
recommendations from experts on various products or websites and more, then
they have ads displayed that relate to the information. Which approach do you
prefer? Would you like blogs more if they shoved their ads down your throat? I
bet your answer is no, and clients are the same.
So again, be persistent but don’t shove your
products down your clients’ throats, that’ll get you nowhere.
It doesn’t matter if your clients’ shoes are
uncomfortable, you need to wear them anyway.
Try to find your prospect’s point of view and
use that as leverage to fit in line with your products or services.
After you’ve asked a client some questions to
get them to identify their own problems, find it in yourself to see through
their eyes. If you have to, act as if you’re trying to get a girl or guy to go
out with you on a date. To do that, you won’t be focusing on yourself because
that’ll just turn them off.
Instead you’ll be trying to find common
ground and how you can relate to them. Go through this same process with your
clients and they’ll see you as more than just a contractor but you’ll be a friend
that they can come to about their business problems. They know you’ll listen
and genuinely try to make their life easier since you can relate and understand
where they’re coming from.
In time, this will all seem obvious and easy
to you. You’ll be able to upsell clients and get clients to upsell themselves
without even knowing you’re doing it.
What I hope that you’ve taken away from this
article is that relationships are your key to upselling. Hopefully you see that
by asking questions and trying to identify specific problems, then offering a
way to genuinely solve them is the best way to build those relationships.
Just remember that upselling successfully is
not about you, it’s about your client.
Credit - Justin Hubbard
