Cross Selling, Add-on, Suggestive Selling, Up Selling, Down Selling, Soft Selling and Hard Selling, all mean the same thing – more or less revenue generated at the customer sale point, and if done correctly, a happier, better informed, well satisfied repeat customer. Some approaches work, others do not…
The numbers can be staggering when looking at how minute changes in front-line staff behaviors can influence revenues into the millions of dollars. The following example is gleaned from real data gathered by National Shopping Service http://www.nationalshoppingservice.com, a 33-year veteran mystery shopping provider offering customizable mystery shopping services and solutions for Global 2000 retail organizations:
Let’s assume we have a chain of 900 C-Stores averaging 7,000 individual customer transactions each week. Let’s also assume that our historical mystery shopping observations have shown us that in only 10% of the transactions, the CSR offered an additional revenue producing item to the customer (…”did you need a bag?” does not qualify!) Lastly, let’s assume that a typical add-on sale, or suggestive sell item is valued at $1.00.
If we can motivate front-line staff with incentive programs, actionable mystery shopping feedback, and refresher training to increase the suggestive sell from 10% to 11% of our customer, base we can increase system wide annual gross revenue by a staggering $3,276,000.00!
The numbers speak for them selves, the trick is how does one motivate 25 or 25,000 front-line C-Store employees to consistently and effectively offer revenue increasing items or services to the daily customer flow. Furthermore, how does one deter staff from down selling (…”Did you want a small…”)?
The answer is to implement a consistent, reliable, non-biased monitoring tool and to offer training coupled with positive, constructive feed back. An incentive for employees to perform is a definite plus. A Mystery shopping program works extremely well to fill this requirement.
Statistics show that front-line employee suggestive selling training works very well…until they arrive to work the following day, at which point they place suggestive selling at the bottom of their list of duties. Most staff are initially uncomfortable “selling” – they are cashiers, not salesman. They feel as though they are “bugging” the customer or are being “forced” by management to sell something the customer didn’t want in the first place. At peak customer flow times, suggestive selling becomes just another task that slows down queue times – a built-in conflict as front-line staff have had customer through-put hammered into their heads.
Role-playing, a hand-full of various selling techniques, clear goals and protocol, and a little incentive is key to overcoming this aversion. Many employees state they are uncomfortable using only one suggestive selling technique for all customers, as each customer is different. Give employees fundamental training and freedom to “customize” their suggestive sell. It may not make sense to offer a customer a bag of chips to go with their 10 gallons of gas…but perhaps mentioning the recent hot weather and the in-store special of a 12pk of Coke does.
What if each employee was to state, “…Those are less expensive if you buy the three-pack that’s on sale…” instead of, “…Next.” Not only will the employee be helping the customer save money (and saving the customer money means a happy, returning customer), but he/she will also be adding revenue. It’s a win-win proposition.
Suggestive selling does not have to be scripted or limited to one or two items to work well. There are a myriad of additional items, larger items, sale items, complementary items, and services to softly and appropriately suggest to customers. If front-line staff understand effective and non-obtrusive selling techniques and have feedback tied to incentive on their performance, the end result will be happier customers, staff receiving positive reinforcement for a job well done, and greater revenue – A win-win-win.
