Cross-selling, already well-known as an effective means of increasing sales revenue. Although their benefits are obvious, sometimes difficulties arise in mastering and using this strategy in contact centers. This article is about how cross-selling can increase revenue and, accordingly, increase customer value for the company.
What are cross-selling?
If you suddenly forgot, cross-selling, or as they are also called, cross sales, is encouraging the customer to purchase related goods/services from adjacent categories that he did not intend to purchase, but which can make the purchase and subsequent use of the main product/service more enjoyable, functional, or balanced.
More about cross selling, and how it differs from upselling, read in our material on upselling and cross-selling in the call center.
How to create an effective cross-selling offer?
An effective cross-selling offer must meet certain characteristics to be attractive to the customer and contribute to increased sales volume. Mostly marketing specialists mention 5 characteristics regarding a cross-selling offer:
Relevance to the customer
The offer should be relevant to the potential customer, meaning it should meet his needs or solve his problems. For example, take the connection to a mobile communication tariff: for users who frequently make international calls, the call center agent may offer an additional package of roaming minutes or discounts on international calls for an additional fee.
Ease of understanding
The related product/service should be understandable to the customer. For example, a company purchases a contact center platform under the CCaaS model. The seller can talk about the possibility of additionally purchasing WFM software, which automates shift exchange for call center operators. The customer understands that this system will allow agents with similar or identical skills to change their shifts without involving a manager or supervisor. As a result, the customer receives a call center scheduling software that increases the efficiency of his contact center.
Relevance
The offer should be relevant to the customer. Everyone agrees that the smartphone screen is its most vulnerable area. That’s why hardly any smartphone sale is made without the offer to purchase a protective case or screen protector. Similarly, rarely is a loan service provided without accompanying insurance.
Personalization
If the cross-selling offer is personalized to the specific needs or interests of the customer, it will be more effective. This happens, for example, when a mobile operator offers related services based on the customer’s consumption pattern.
Optimal cost
The cost of the related product or service should not be more expensive than the main purchase.
Strategies for Increasing revenue through cross-selling
To increase cross-selling in the call center, you need a strategy and an understanding of your offerings. It’s essential to smoothly and without pressure convince the customer that the related product or service is an investment that will enhance their life or solve specific problems. So, how can you increase profits from cross-selling in the call center?
Understand your customers’ needs
You need to understand what problem the product or service solves for the buyer. Then it’s easier to determine which related products will strengthen its beneficial effect. How to do it? Contact centers have many tools to identify customer needs:
- Computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI)
- Feedback forms
- IVR system
- Speech recognition systems
- Call tracking systems, and so on
Using these tools allows call centers to understand what customers want, the path they took to the main purchase, and which channels are more convenient for them to communicate with the business. With this data, it’s much easier to formulate a cross-selling offer.
Empower your team
Telemarketing agents are specialists with communication and telephone sales skills. However, these skills aren’t developed overnight. It’s essential to invest in training operators in telephone service and sales techniques. Additionally, training on the products or services sold by the company is necessary. Through this training, agents will gain confidence in their abilities and be better prepared for effective customer service.
Corporate training and services from experts in the business process outsourcing market, like Global Bilgi, are crucial for developing your team, ensuring top-notch service, and optimizing cross-selling in the contact center.
Leverage CRM system capabilities for the call center
A CRM system stores all information about customers, their purchases, and interactions with the call center. It helps segment customers, personalize service, and offer them what they truly need. When handling complex sales situations and interacting with customers, the CRM system can provide conversation scripts, text prompts about previous inquiries and purchases, suggestions for cross-selling products or services, and information on customer service standards.
Furthermore, CRM call center systems allow for tracking sales results in the call center, analyzing campaign effectiveness, identifying products/services with the highest demand, and more. Thus, they serve as a powerful tool for enhancing cross-selling strategies in the call center.
Avoid pressure on clients
As mentioned before, cross-selling is encouraging customers to purchase related products. However, no one likes being pressured. An overly aggressive sales tactic can push customers away. A Gartner report shows that the final 5% of interactions with the customer are the most critical for an agent. The initial 95% consists of information that customers gather and process independently. This underscores the importance of building trust in these crucial 5%. Customers want more explanations than pressure. Therefore, provide well-founded recommendations based on their past buying patterns and likely needs.
A friendly and honest approach to customers and their needs contributes to more effective cross-selling. Moreover, it leads to increased repeat sales and customer satisfaction levels (CSAT)
Enhance customer experience (CX)
Customer service in the call center is a crucial point of contact between the business and its customers. Exceptional customer experience in the call center makes it an effective platform for fostering trust and loyalty. This opens the door to cross-selling and upselling.
Not sure if you’re serving your customers well enough? Be sure to read the article on customer experience meaning on our blog. From it, you’ll learn what customer experience looks like from a business perspective and how its metrics can be measured.
Cross-selling with Global Bilgi outsourced call center
The outsourced contact center of Global Bilgi provides our clients with solutions for multilingual telemarketing and phone-based cross-selling. We have extensive experience in telemarketing outsourcing for companies of various sizes and industries and can deliver the best results for your business development!
Through telemarketing outsourcing, your business will benefit from experienced agents specializing in phone sales, providing high-quality services to increase revenue. We work with all types of telemarketing, including cold calling, and guarantee high effectiveness in attracting new customers.
We offer your business not just a telemarketing outsourcing service solution but a well-established system that includes personnel selection, training, monitoring, and reporting solutions combined with a powerful IT infrastructure for the contact center.
Learn more about our services on the main page of the Global Bilgi website!
