How To Enhance Cross-Selling Online Training With Innovative Activities
Salespeople have a gargantuan task. They have to convince you to part with cash when you probably don’t want to. It’s not that you’re uninterested in their product or service. It’s just painful to actually pay for anything. So, a salesperson’s task is to persuade you. They have to prove the pain of paying is eclipsed by the joy and value you’ll get from your purchase. And then, once you buy one product or service, they have to win you over on companion products. It could be a cross-sell or an up-sell. Either way, it piggy-backs off the initial sale. But what is cross-selling online training? More importantly, how does it help you equip your sales team with the skills and tools they need to max out their purchase totals and increase customer satisfaction?
5 Creative Ideas For Cross-Selling Training
1. Up-Selling Vs Cross-Selling Video Demos
The cross-selling online training technique involved in these two sales pitches is the same. You want to convince your customers this additional purchase will improve their lives even more than what they initially bought. A cross-sell is a product or service that works well with the first one. For example, a mobile phone could be accompanied by a phone case, earphones, a hands-free kit, or a screen protector. You could also cross-sell a data plan or phone insurance.
The up-sell is about upgrading what you already have. You want them to bump their basic subscription to a premium package. Or you want them to buy the latest version of the phone they already own. You have to convince them those additional features are worth the added cost. Either that or talk them into a trade-in, though they’d still have to top up the balance. Develop video demos that highlight the distinctions between these two techniques so that employees understand their nuances. As well as how to ‘read’ the customer and evaluate the transaction to choose the right approach.
2. Role Reversal Scenarios
Start by walking employees through a cross-selling online training script template. Put yourself in the buyer’s position and think of all the reasons you’d give for not buying a product. Sales employees need to be armed with responses to customers’ inevitable protests and address each one. List down your objections, then turn around and counter your own arguments. Develop these into a script you can offer to your sales team. You can even get them involved in the process. Before you give them access to the script, run them through an exercise. Have them cite their own refusals and responses. This primes them for the coming approach.
Some common examples include, ‘I don’t really need the product.’ You can respond by offering light, funny scenarios where they will need the product. It can be a completely ridiculous scenario. If you can get them laughing, they’ll be more receptive to your pitch. Ask your sales employees to learn the script. At first, they should memorize it, but later, you can invite them to tweak it for their own context. This will help them internalize and own the cross-sales pitch.
3. Simulated Sales Calls
Armed with the right words, have your sales team try out their new guidelines in cross-selling online training. They can ‘talk’ to a simulated in-course character programmed for varying levels of difficulty. Start with the ‘easy’ customer and proceed to increasingly stubborn ones. The character will be designed to react differently based on what the salesperson says or types. At later stages, they can practice on each other using messaging apps or web conferencing. Moderate the exchange and let your sales employees play both roles – buyer and seller.
You can also train your team on sales prep. Before they approach a customer, they should troubleshoot. Train them to spend half an hour (or more) listing every possible protest the client might have. ‘It’s too expensive.’ ‘I already have a competing product’ or ‘I don’t like the color.’ And so on. Get them to write down these rebuttals and jot a workable response next to each one. This trains their bargaining muscles, making it second nature.
4. Employee-Generated Troubleshooting Library
Develop an aggregator that gets populated over time. It’s a kind of ‘common objections’ portal. Pre-program it with standard customer claims and invite your sales employees to add their own. Any time a salesperson runs into a new excuse, they can add it to the database. As well as share tips and tricks for how they overcame the issue on the job. Then, for practice, other sales employees can log in and randomly generate a list of customer counter-arguments. It will help with the pre-sale prep, and it can also be a light way to pass time and calm nerves.
5. Product Knowledge Matching Games
Knowing which products and services tie into the original item is crucial. What better way to help employees make perfect pairings than a matching game. This serious game allows employees to not only choose the ideal cross-selling online training items, but identify customers’ needs and preferences. For example, the employee must read the customer’s body language, use their active listening skills, and assess their buying history to find a suitable complementary product.
Conclusion
Clinching one sale is hard work. Trying to sneak in a second one may seem impossible. It all depends on your worldview. The second sale could be harder because it feels like pressing customer limits, like being a bother. Or it could be easier, because they’ve already shown a willingness to buy from you. With a little training, you can help your sales staff secure that second sale, maybe even a third. Give them a cross-selling template they can memorize and modify. Run simulations so they can explore the script and try it out for themselves. Offer them a glossary of potential client comments and effective sales responses. Then round out the cross-selling online training course with serious games that impart product knowledge.
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