IN THE TRENCHES: Upselling could improve your produce sales this year
IN THE TRENCHES: Upselling could improve your produce sales this year
It's hard to believe that the month of January is quickly coming to a close. This is about the time most people who chose to go on a diet are now backing off it.
Also, those who purchased or received one of those awkward exercise gadgets have tucked it away with the others, either in the garage, attic or basement.
You've heard that old saying, "After the first of the year, I'm going on a diet to lose weight." Or something like, "We'll get to it after the first of the year." Everything always seems to be planned for "after the first of the year."
There is already evidence of most resolutions, promises and personal commitments starting to fade away. It normally takes until the end of January or the early part of February for the "after the first of the year" meaning to begin wearing off. Soon afterwards, it's back to the norm again.
Diets or no diets, do you think fast-food eating establishments are going to settle for fewer sales after the first of the year? Won't happen. Never has, never will. These skilled marketers will upsell consumers more than ever before because management must continue to generate sales growth.
If you're one of the many recent dieters who quickly abandoned your program, you will eventually ease your way back to a fast-food eatery and resume where you left off in December. You'll order a No. 3 combo with fries and a soft drink. Then the upselling fun begins all over again.
Fast-food restaurants, automobile dealers, furniture stores, cashiers and especially paid-programming infomercials are all about upselling. They are geared to sell consumers more of something than what they originally wanted in the first place. And the upselling approach works wonders for them.
During my consulting business activities, I find it absolutely amazing to see how many sales opportunities people let slip through their fingers. It's one thing for salespeople to obtain an order, but if that order is all they settle for, sales income will stay the same or may even be less.
Being comfortable with only obtaining the usual order will not cut it in this business anymore. All sharp operators use an upselling technique to add incremental sales into their system.
We've all heard of these persuasions consisting of extended warranties, airline enhancements, rental car upgrades and advanced software versions. These are all upsells to consumers.
Upselling is nothing more than convincing a customer who buys your product to simply buy more of it or buy something else in addition to it. And when they do, sales could increase by an additional 5-25 percent.
There are endless opportunities that many produce salespeople miss by not saying a few attention-getting words such as, "But wait." or "Oh, by the way." These simple words are the doorway to extra sales.
During my produce career, I encountered many salespeople who let extra business slip away.
Here is a typical scenario that happens every day in our industry.
First scene: A produce buyer is short two pallets of green peppers and just gave the order to a salesperson on the local terminal market. The salesperson responded, "OK, two pallets of peppers. Got it"
Second scene: The same produce buyer needed a pallet of strawberries to fill store shipments and gave the order to a different wholesaler on the same terminal market. After taking the order, the salesperson excitedly said, "By the way, how about a pallet of gorgeous red raspberries that just arrived off the truck?"
In the first scene, the salesperson wasn't very eager to sell, only take an order. It's not very difficult to identify these people. They stick out in the industry. But in the second scene, the salesperson used a good upselling attitude that encourages the buyer to want to say, "Yes, we'll take the raspberries too."
Bingo, additional sales.
There were times when I tried to excite produce buyers into selling me a few extra pallets or even a truckload of something, anything. Then we would ship it to the stores to capture incremental sales volume. This is what I call "reverse upselling." The customer has to ask for the upgrade.
On the other hand, many passionate buyers would track me down in the trenches wanting to sell me something special. Not only did they sell the original amount, but they also managed to persuade me to take even more of it. Those types of expertly energized buyers actually "create" additional sales for the produce industry.
Upselling is not hard to do. It doesn't take a genius to make it work for you and your company. You just have to know as much as possible about each of your customers and their vision, programs, standards, particular needs and especially people. In addition, have good timing and add a value to every upselling opportunity.
It doesn't matter whether you're a grower, packer, shipper, wholesaler or retailer, upselling will increase your total sales volume. There are millions of dollars in extra sales opportunities just waiting for your company to capture. Upselling is not a once-in-a-while thing; it's an ongoing process. The four most powerful words to get you started are, "Oh, by the way."
Use them.
(Ron Pelger is the owner of RONPROCON, a consulting firm for the produce industry. He can be reached by phone at 775/853-7056, by e-mail at [email protected], or check his web site at www.power-produce.com.)
Also, those who purchased or received one of those awkward exercise gadgets have tucked it away with the others, either in the garage, attic or basement.
You've heard that old saying, "After the first of the year, I'm going on a diet to lose weight." Or something like, "We'll get to it after the first of the year." Everything always seems to be planned for "after the first of the year."
There is already evidence of most resolutions, promises and personal commitments starting to fade away. It normally takes until the end of January or the early part of February for the "after the first of the year" meaning to begin wearing off. Soon afterwards, it's back to the norm again.
Diets or no diets, do you think fast-food eating establishments are going to settle for fewer sales after the first of the year? Won't happen. Never has, never will. These skilled marketers will upsell consumers more than ever before because management must continue to generate sales growth.
If you're one of the many recent dieters who quickly abandoned your program, you will eventually ease your way back to a fast-food eatery and resume where you left off in December. You'll order a No. 3 combo with fries and a soft drink. Then the upselling fun begins all over again.
Fast-food restaurants, automobile dealers, furniture stores, cashiers and especially paid-programming infomercials are all about upselling. They are geared to sell consumers more of something than what they originally wanted in the first place. And the upselling approach works wonders for them.
During my consulting business activities, I find it absolutely amazing to see how many sales opportunities people let slip through their fingers. It's one thing for salespeople to obtain an order, but if that order is all they settle for, sales income will stay the same or may even be less.
Being comfortable with only obtaining the usual order will not cut it in this business anymore. All sharp operators use an upselling technique to add incremental sales into their system.
We've all heard of these persuasions consisting of extended warranties, airline enhancements, rental car upgrades and advanced software versions. These are all upsells to consumers.
Upselling is nothing more than convincing a customer who buys your product to simply buy more of it or buy something else in addition to it. And when they do, sales could increase by an additional 5-25 percent.
There are endless opportunities that many produce salespeople miss by not saying a few attention-getting words such as, "But wait." or "Oh, by the way." These simple words are the doorway to extra sales.
During my produce career, I encountered many salespeople who let extra business slip away.
Here is a typical scenario that happens every day in our industry.
First scene: A produce buyer is short two pallets of green peppers and just gave the order to a salesperson on the local terminal market. The salesperson responded, "OK, two pallets of peppers. Got it"
Second scene: The same produce buyer needed a pallet of strawberries to fill store shipments and gave the order to a different wholesaler on the same terminal market. After taking the order, the salesperson excitedly said, "By the way, how about a pallet of gorgeous red raspberries that just arrived off the truck?"
In the first scene, the salesperson wasn't very eager to sell, only take an order. It's not very difficult to identify these people. They stick out in the industry. But in the second scene, the salesperson used a good upselling attitude that encourages the buyer to want to say, "Yes, we'll take the raspberries too."
Bingo, additional sales.
There were times when I tried to excite produce buyers into selling me a few extra pallets or even a truckload of something, anything. Then we would ship it to the stores to capture incremental sales volume. This is what I call "reverse upselling." The customer has to ask for the upgrade.
On the other hand, many passionate buyers would track me down in the trenches wanting to sell me something special. Not only did they sell the original amount, but they also managed to persuade me to take even more of it. Those types of expertly energized buyers actually "create" additional sales for the produce industry.
Upselling is not hard to do. It doesn't take a genius to make it work for you and your company. You just have to know as much as possible about each of your customers and their vision, programs, standards, particular needs and especially people. In addition, have good timing and add a value to every upselling opportunity.
It doesn't matter whether you're a grower, packer, shipper, wholesaler or retailer, upselling will increase your total sales volume. There are millions of dollars in extra sales opportunities just waiting for your company to capture. Upselling is not a once-in-a-while thing; it's an ongoing process. The four most powerful words to get you started are, "Oh, by the way."
Use them.
(Ron Pelger is the owner of RONPROCON, a consulting firm for the produce industry. He can be reached by phone at 775/853-7056, by e-mail at [email protected], or check his web site at www.power-produce.com.)
