ASA 66 | Profitable Up-Selling Tips

 

Making a more profitable sale through upselling is always great, but it is not always possible. Alex Mandossian shares the story of T. Harv Eker back when he was selling ladies’ shoes, and the lesson he learned after a failed sale. In this episode, Alex talks about how upselling is faster, better, and easier with micro-commitments. Learn how to apply upselling with high-frequency retail purchases or products bought more than once a year. Alex dives into upselling opportunities and strategies and how to up-sell one-time offers with a free physical offer.

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Listen to the podcast here:

Profitable Up-Selling Tips

This is the show that is devoted to coaches, consultants, and other service professionals who want to get more premium clients but don’t enjoy the selling process. Is that you? We believe that seeding through storytelling is the new selling. What do you believe? No matter what you believe, nothing happens in your business until something is sold.

If you don’t like the word selling, call it enrolling or inducting people into your world. It doesn’t matter what business you’re in. If you hate to sell, then this show is for you. After you read a few episodes, you’ll find out that selling can be fun as long as you know what to say when to say it and how to say it.

If that’s what you’ve been looking for, then you’re in the right place because this show teaches you how to sell by obliterating objections that typically lead to that anticipated personal rejection that many professionals dread. If that sounds interesting to you, all you need to do is lean forward and read carefully.

Although ethical influence is central to our discussions, you and I will also explore other fascinating and important topics to getting more exposure, attracting the right JV partners, how to create an Amazon bestseller from scratch in less than 30 days as I did, and podcast SEO tactics without being a search engine optimizer.

Getting high-end clients, creating irresistible offers, designing a curriculum where your prospects can ascend and make more money for you. Productivity habits, storytelling formulas and even ninja marketing tips to name a few.

In this episode, you’ll learn three key insights that are critical to making you a highly-skilled ethical influencer. It’s not enough to be an influencer, you want to be ethical. You’re going to discover, number one, how upselling is faster, better and easier when you get micro-commitments. Number two, you’ll discover how to apply upselling with high-frequency retail purchases.

Number three, you’ll learn how to upsell one time offers online after making a free physical offer, like a book, an audio or something that is low cost. Lean in, read carefully because this episode could have a significant impact on how you can win the hearts of others with total and absolute certainty.

If English is your second language and over 50% of our readers are from outside of North America, I hope that you read this and all the other episodes, not once, not twice but three times because nothing empowers the fluency of learning a new language than the art and science of ethical influence.

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The Story Of T. Harv Eker

Have you heard of T. Harv Eker? Not only is he my most profitable strategic alliance partner since 2005, but he also built one of the most profitable and highly successful event marketing companies the world has ever seen. It was called Peak Potentials and it still is. He sold it to the world’s largest seminar company called Success Resources.

[bctt tweet=”When you have a customer, remember three words, ‘now or never.'” username=”AlexMandossian”]

I still teach a course that he created and it’s evolved. We call it Guerilla Business Intensive. It’s a five-day event. Most of them are done overseas, outside of North America. Inside of North America, there’s the world’s greatest marketing seminar, which you may have heard of. There’s also Guerrilla Business, which is not Guerrilla Business Intensive, its Guerrilla Business School. By putting those two together, then the five-day event is called the GBI or Guerilla Business Intensive.

During the intensive, copywriting session, I tell a story about Harv being at the tender year of seventeen. He was age seventeen, still in high school, and he was selling ladies’ shoes. A salesperson who sells ladies shoes makes more money in commissions than a salesperson who sells men’s shoes.

In fact, other than high-end men’s shoe stores, most people don’t sell men’s shoes. Most men’s shoes are sold on a do-it-yourself basis. Let’s say at a Foot Locker or a leisure shoe store. Even if you go to a department store many of the men’s shoes are there because men are do-it-yourselfers mostly. That’s a big gender difference I’ve noticed over the years, but the biggest difference is when you go into a walk-in closet or you look at the place where people store their shoes.

Take a look at a woman’s shoe collection and you probably will see 5 to 6 times more pairs of shoes than the men’s shoes. Men don’t buy shoes as often as women do. Many times, women will buy the same type of shoe but in multiple colors. They’ll buy many pairs of shoes along with accessories in one visit.

I don’t know if Harv knew this but he was working in a shoe store and he made one of the cardinal rule mistakes, a woman had put 5 or 6 pairs of shoes on the counter and she said, “I’m going to go walk around in the mall. I’ll be back.” He said, “Sure.” He was excited because there was probably $500 worth of shoes, even back then, when he was seventeen.

He waited, tapping his feet and crossing his arms. Finally, she never got back. One of the old veterans came up to him and said, “Harv, I have to tell you something. When you have a customer, whether woman or man, I want you to remember three words, now or never.”

Micro-Commitments When Up-Selling

With consumable high-frequency retail offers like shoes, accessories, belts, shoe polish and other things like that related in a shoe store, then you want to get micro-commitments so you can upsell. That’s the first thing you need to do. Get that first pair of shoes sold and then make sure that you seal the deal and get the sale.

Unlike episode 65 where I talked about profitable down selling tips with high-end offers, lower-end offers, especially in retail, if you can think of Amazon where you’re buying books, there’s always upselling opportunities. If you bought this book, then we recommend this. If you buy some vitamins, if you bought this, then other people have also bought that. That’s part of Jeff Bezos’ genius.

If it’s consumable, which shoes are, and there’s high frequency, meaning you’re probably going to buy shoes 2 or 3 times a year. I know some women who buy shoes once a week. Get the micro-commitment first and then start upselling. Harv, at seventeen and then at eighteen, became one of the most profitable ladies’ shoe salespeople in all of Toronto.

ASA 66 | Profitable Up-Selling Tips

Profitable Up-Selling Tips: Upselling works with low-end products, especially if they are complementary to each other

 

What I want you to understand are with the offer anatomy, the anatomy of a great offer, unlike a high-end offer, which I talked about in episode 65 as it related to downselling, which is much easier than upselling with high-end offers. If you have a $12,000 product and they say, “No.” It’s more difficult to sell the $30,000 product or the $100,000 product or service or mentoring or coaching whatever you want to call it.

Upselling works with low-end products, especially if they are complementary to each other like a book that’s related to the same topic or an accessory with shoes, like in Harv’s case. It’s both logical and emotional buying decisions, especially if you have high-frequency and consumability, upselling works well. Most people don’t know how to upsell.

I was part of an infomercial back in 1993 where we showed on the television $4.95 for two bottles of these vitamins that were supposed to do something. I forgot what they did. By the time they were done and they call the 1-800 number which was toll-free, they would be getting an average sale of about $55. They would lose money on the $4.95 but that would make the call come in and then there was an upsell process that the operator did.

These people weren’t salespeople. They were operators and there was a script. They followed the script. Even with the script, with someone who’s not a salesperson, they would go from $4 to over $50. That’s over ten times. They did it as a result of upselling through the first micro commitment of less than $5.

Upselling Opportunities

What are some examples of upselling opportunities because many people I know who are coaches or consultants or service professionals, when they get a sale, they celebrate. That’s not the end of the story. That’s the beginning, the introduction. It’s the foreword to the book. It’s not the epilogue. It’s not the end. You have much more you can do and serve the client.

For example, AppleCare. When I get my iPhone for myself and for my kids, the easiest upsell in the world is a $12 a month AppleCare that’s put onto my phone bill. I always say, “Yes.” Why? Because based on history, I’m going to drop my phone, break my phone and lose my phone. If you’re in insurance, you have your main insurance and then Umbrella coverage is inexpensive. It’s a simple upsell for the insurance salesperson.

When you’re renting a car, if you have a good car rental salesperson, they’ll talk about insurance and how you don’t have coverage for certain types of accidents, insurance in rental. Supersizing popcorn or soda at the movies when I go to a movie, if I get the medium size they say, “For $1 more you can get one that’s twice as big.” I can’t even finish with my kids but I say, “Yes.”

Would you like to supersize that soda for $0.25 more? $0.25 more doesn’t seem a lot but when you multiply it by several tens of thousands of people who go through that theater each year, it’s a lot. The extra soda is about $0.2 from the fountain. How about buy one, get the second one for 50% off? I see this at the vitamin shop every time I go in there where I shop here in Corte Madera where I live.

If you buy one, if you get the second one for 50% off, even if you’re getting the second one at cost, the store is benefiting because they get volume discounts from their suppliers and they’re not always keystoning which doubling their prices. If a vitamin is $20 and you get the second one for $10, then you’re getting two bottles for $30. Not only are they generating more sales but they’re generating more volume, which means they’ll get better buying capability from their wholesale supplier.

[bctt tweet=”Lower-end offers, especially in retail, always have upselling opportunities. ” username=”AlexMandossian”]

Back in 1995, I was selling Supersmile whitening toothpaste. I’ve told the story in previous episodes. I created a continuity called Club Supersmile. After someone called, there would be recording which was tomorrow’s special offer and the next day’s special offer said, “Today’s special offer,” ask your customer service representative who gets on the phone in a few minutes, “Is getting a second tube of Supersmile for half price.”

The tube was expensive, it was $20. The second one was $10 and then I’d say, “We will pay for your shipping and handling.” That was a better script than saying, “It’s free shipping and handling for the second one.” We would end up making $30 instead of $20. The cost of the toothpaste for the second tube was negligible. We get better volume buying discounts, but that didn’t even hold a candle to when I had Club Supersmile.

I said, “For $1, you can join Club Supersmile.” That $1 was important because it was a micro commitment. I say, “Each month, depending on the number of people you have in your family, we will send you the tubes automatically.” That way you don’t have to keep calling us and you never run out. When you run out of Supersmile, then you’ll know the difference when you buy Crest or Colgate or Mentadent or every other competitor I could think.

That company went to several millions of dollars. It was in debt when I got there. When I left after the birth of my son, Gabriel, and moved our family here to California, I ended up having 5% of the company. The company was eventually sold and I cashed out. I made $300,000 from 5% of that company. I did that because of the continuity program that was an upsell for $1 and people were now in the club.

If you want to check out Supersmile, it’s still online, go to Supersmile.com. How about in a car wash? In a car wash, for $10 more, they will clean your mats inside the car. They will clean the rims. They will put Rain-X wax that makes the water bead when it lands on it. I don’t know if it works, but I always take it. It cost me $29 for the carwash. For $39 I get all those extras.

For lady shoes, going back to T. Harv Eker at age seventeen, you get the first pair of shoes, she’s looking in the mirror and looks great, then you get another color of the same shoe. After she says, “Yes,” to the second color of the same shoe, then you get two different belts, two different belt colors that match the shoes.

We’re not done. At the counter, you say, “Would you like some special shoeshine? All the other different ones will ruin the shoe.” If it’s true. You always want to tell the truth. You have that additional sale at the register. Again, upselling.

How about getting air conditioning? That’s not a high-frequency sale. It’s not consumable. You probably will get one air conditioning system if you’re getting central air. If you’re getting a local unit, maybe you’ll buy 2 or 3 in your lifetime. What about a warranty? That’s an upsell. How about a frequent buyer card? If you go into an ice cream or coffee shop and there’s a card they give you where they put a stamp every time you go in, how do you get upsells?

If you say, “If you buy a second cone of ice cream, we’ll give you three more stamps.” You buy one cone, you get three stamps. You need five more and you get a free ice cream cone. There are many different ways you can upsell. It’s all in your message. Let me give you an example that I’ve asked you to go and check out. It’s the one-time offer strategy, the OTO strategy and that is for the book, Alexisms.

ASA 66 | Profitable Up-Selling Tips

Profitable Up-Selling Tips: The psychology behind one-time offers is giving a steep discount for the impulse purchase.

 

This book is 25 years of my sayings. Everyone has isms that they utter all the time. I had over 550 of them over the 25 years I’ve been speaking on stage. I crowdsourced it with my list and with my tribe and they picked 140 of them, all 140 or less than 140 characters because those are great Twitter tweets. The book took me about 30 days to publish from stem to stern.

Why? It took me 25 years to come up with and I wanted to put it in one book because many of my students were talking about all these Alexisms. If I followed them going on stage, then I look like the imposter. I had this book. It’s a lead generator. People love it. Would you call it a real book? It’s a published real book. It’s Hardcover, softcover, there’s a Kindle version. It’s 25 years of sales and marketing know-how that can be read in 25 minutes according to Carol. Carol Mandossian is my mother.

What we show on the page at MarketingOnline.com/book, it’s for $7.95 and you get the book. What you’re paying for is the shipping, handling, the package and for my fulfillment cost. The book is free. It’s not costing you $15 or $20 like you see on Amazon. If you’re outside of the US, we add about $8. It’s about $15 outside of the US. I lose money on that offer.

You go through a sequence of one-time offers. There’s productivity secret. There’s push-button influence training. There are web communication secrets. The result is I go from $8 to about $38 for an average sale because of the sequence of upsells. You don’t have to get them, but your purchase is incomplete until you’re done saying no to all those OTOs, like at a retail store.

OTO, one time offer, that’s what it stands for. The psychology is giving a steep discount for the impulse purchase. Web communication secrets are over 90% off. If you go to WebCommunicationSecrets.com you’ll see that it’s over $3,000. Push-button influence is $2,000. Productivity secret is $1,000, but if I’m giving 90% to 95% off on the impulse purchase then like a magazine, at a grocery store register, people will say, “Yes.” It’s only available for that price during that process. That is the free book funnel.

You can use it for other things as well, audios or low-ticket items. That’s the funnel that you get, not only a tutorial but an explanation step-by-step of how it works. The king, queen, prince and princess of upselling are Jeff Bezos and his team at Amazon. When you buy something at Amazon there’s always a recommendation of what other people purchase and it’s the consensus or social proof of what other people buy. If they didn’t have that, then they wouldn’t make as much money.

Alexism: Ripest Fruits

Amazon Prime, which I belong to, allows me to watch movies for free, get free shipping and delivery. That’s an upsell, but it’s a monthly continuity program like Club Supersmile. The Alexism for this episode is this. The ripest fruits on any tree are typically not at the roots, but the hardest to reach at the top of the tree. The ripest fruits of any tree are typically the hardest to reach. Go for them. Climb that tree through upselling and watch what happens.

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Here’s a quick review of the insights you and I both rediscovered in this episode. They only work if you work them. Please apply them and execute because from now on, you can look through a new lens of upselling because nothing I taught you is new. You experience it but maybe you didn’t look at it through the lens of a salesperson or an enroller.

In this episode, you discovered how upselling is faster, better and easier when you first get a micro-commitment, like a $5 purchase of a vitamin or that first shoe or a belt and then shoes. Number two, you learned how to apply upselling in these high-frequency retail purchases whether they’re online or offline. I gave you the story of T. Harv Eker at age seventeen. You got to get the sale and it starts with a micro-commitment.

[bctt tweet=”The ripest fruits on any tree are typically not at the roots, but they’re the hardest to reach at the top of the tree. ” username=”AlexMandossian”]

Number three, you learned how upselling one time offers with a free physical offer that shipped to you like a book or maybe a CD or something that’s low-ticket, meaning low priced, that works well where you can show $7.95 for Alexisms and most people will end up with $38 worth of purchases average. Some people end up with more.

Remember, these insights will only work for you, my friend, if you work them. Please make sure you execute what you’ve learned because this episode was designed for you if you hate to sell. That way you overcome those anticipated objections that lead to rejection. If you do any of the things I taught you, your future will definitely will be bigger than it is. It’ll be brighter and you’ll get to create it on your own terms. Isn’t that a good promise?

Speaking of reviews, if you’ve already given me a review on iTunes, then write down your biggest takeaway on an index card. It may be your a-ha moment or the distinction that you learned and that way you can go back and review it. If you have not given me a review on iTunes, then go to AllSellingAside.com/iTunes. Write your biggest a-ha in the review section. iTunes calls it reviews, I want a distinction or a specific takeaway that you got from this episode.

Don’t review the entire podcast as a bunch of episodes because anyone can do that. I want the big takeaway, be specific, it’ll mean a lot to me. Once you do that, you’ll be asked to rate the episode and even subscribe. I hope I’ve earned five stars from you. If you rate review and subscribe, then you’ll automatically get 25 years of sales and marketing know-how delivered 25 minutes at a time once a week.

That review will take you three minutes, but what you declare could provide you and others reading it valuable lessons. Please go to AllSellingAside.com/iTunes. The one final gift I have for you, in honor of this episode is a physical copy of my Amazon bestselling book Alexisms. You’ll get free access to the most reliable marketing funnel that can triple what you show on the page to any physical offer such as a book.

You can experience the whole process at MarketingOnline.com/book. That does it for this episode. I hope that you do connect with me somehow, somewhere either on YouTube or you can come to MarketingOnline.com or AllSellingAside.com. I hope our paths cross again in the next episode. It’s available on Stitcher, Google Play, and iTunes.

It’s dedicated to making you a better ethical influencer to bring more certainty in your personal and professional life. Do whatever it takes, my friend, to join me next episode because our topic is choosing whom to lose. When you choose who to lose, when you’re going after your target audience, then you will automatically get rid of the people who are not right for you.

If you’re selling hamburgers, you don’t want to attract vegetarians. Are you with me? I encourage you to invite a friend, bring a colleague or bring a study buddy. Don’t wait till the next episode, bring them now because it’s so much more fun to learn with someone else.

A study buddy will help you learn faster, better and easier. We call them accountability partners. Plus, it’s free. I can’t wait to connect with you then. It’ll be a fun episode. Choose who to lose is the topic and title. I want you to join us with your study buddy. Will you do that? I hope so.

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