The benefits of add-on sales

Add-on sales are a great way to develop your business as well as enhance the experience of your customer

CREDIT: This is an edited version of an article that originally appeared on Indeed

Add-on sales provide customers with additional value when teams execute the strategy correctly. They can enhance a customer’s experience, and businesses often encourage individuals to buy them to help them make the most of their new purchases.

This tactic creates a relationship between the company and the customer, as the sales team communicates why an add-on will benefit them, and the business can increase its customer lifetime value by providing customers with additional benefits.

Add-ons also help to promote a company’s business operations and get rid of excess inventory; offering a wide range of products, and implementing add-on tactics, can increase revenue in ways that may not have been possible when only selling the products individually.

To make the most of your sales, here are some tips for implementing more add-on tactics to your operations and developing your business knowledge.

Understand what you’re selling

An understanding of your inventory, product lines and characteristics helps you tailor sales tactics to the customer. Having a working knowledge of a product’s specifications, such as its material, ingredients, price and available discounts, often helps sales employees make an add-on more enticing.

Teams will sometimes require specific training and knowledge about what they’re selling for more complex products – for example, an electronics sales employee probably has in-depth knowledge of not only consumer technology, but the accessories and add-ons that complement the products.

Engage with the customer

The best way for a salesperson to upsell products is to develop a personal connection with the customer and understand what their needs are. If a customer is shopping for a new laptop, they might not think they need a case unless a salesperson discusses the matter.

Conversing with the consumer often reveals specific traits and characteristics about them that assist the salesperson – if someone reveals that they’re clumsy, selling a case as an add-on is significantly easier than if they’re always careful with their items.

Mention the benefits of the add-on

The best way to sell an add-on is to mention how it can benefit the customer. The more in-depth, personal and relevant a salesperson is to the consumer, the higher chance they have of selling supplementary products.

Add-ons are largely effective because individuals don’t know the full details of a company’s inventory, a product’s specification and how these aspects might enhance their lives. After a conversation with the salesperson, the customer better understands the benefits they are likely to receive from the additional products.

Arrange products strategically

Selling products, whether online or in a retail shop, requires careful arrangement and strategy. Placing related products near each other in a retail shop or recommending similar items online can encourage a customer to explore the shop more closely and consider buying additional items.

Businesses often choose to experiment with different strategies, such as creating visuals to pair an add-on with another product, or strategic zones within the shop that entice customers to buy more products.

Be subtle with the sale

Consumers don’t always like it when a salesperson is direct about trying to sell additional products to them. A more efficient way of selling add-ons is by being more subtle with suggestions.

Communication is the foundation of all good sales, so the salesperson may mention certain phrases to entice customers. Some things you can talk about include:

• Mentioning how the product is popular and in limited supply

• Explaining why other customers like the add-on so much and what they’ve said about it

• Providing customers with a personal testimonial on why they like the product

• Detailing how the product has value for the customer

• Discussing how there are special deals or discounts for the add-on

Add-on sales can help to boost revenue, build customer relationships and enhance the customer experience.