“What else can I do?” The Art of Cross-Selling
“Is there anything else I can do for you today?”
This article explores examples of successful cross-selling strategies and what happens when we ask our customers, “What else can I do?” We will dive into the three main principles of successful cross selling and look at practical ways to implement this at your community bank.
These principles are: 1) Relevance, 2) Timing, 3) Be Helpful.
As described by The Financial Brand, E-Commerce is likely in the lead when it comes to cross-selling. Amazon exemplifies this better than most with their section titled: “Products Customers Bought Together.” As a customer on Amazon, I can go to buy a phone and see a case, screen protector and ear buds all in one place, at the point of sale. Extremely relevant, perfectly timed (I am already in the mindset to buy) and many times these are presented as bundles.
It is easy to look at Amazon and other new giants and think: “Well, they are Amazon, they can do anything.” Let me break it to you, even our friend Bezos in all his entrepreneurial genius did not reinvent the wheel here. Amazon pulled from tools that have been used in retail for years.
Let’s look at a classic example to see what I mean:
“What else can I do?” The Art of Cross-Selling
When you are in the grocery store, where are the cheap, impulse snacks? They are at the check out. Take a moment to ask yourself why… One reason is that you are at the grocery store looking at food for the week. Your mind is starting to talk with your stomach and your stomach starts to growl. You tell yourself you can wait till you get home, you’ll have to cook all of this anyway. You finished walking laps around the store and you’re about to check out when you see a $2 pack of Doritos… you think to yourself: “Well, it’s just one bag, and it’s on sale, and I am hungry, it’s only 400 calories and I burned that looking for the 2% milk…” And boom, you're hooked.
This is a silly example, but the principles hold true. The keys to cross-selling here are: relevance and timing.
This next example comes from the grocery store too and displays a more honest approach to this whole cross-selling deal. There is a new product about to be launched called Snap-N-Seal ™. This is a tool that keeps bags sealed air tight, chips and bread are their main markets. Grocery stores will place them on the bread aisle and the chip aisle (Where chip clips used to be). These products have a symbiotic relationship - it’s common sense to put them side by side.
Here we find the third and final principle of cross-selling: “Be Helpful” or, helping your customer with all of your available resources.
You may be thinking to yourself, this is great and all, but how do we go from the grocery store to the bank? I’m glad you asked, I’ll give you another example. You have a new customer, Jerry. Jerry signed up for a $1000 Business checking account to start a new side hustle. Jerry started the side hustle partially because he is struggling to keep up with his mortgage at the bank he currently works with. Here is your perfect opportunity to win a new mortgage account at your bank. Let’s not forget, Jerry probably also wants a company credit card. He may also want to get a hold of a company car… and on and on.
Now you get it, but before you get after it, remember the last principle, be helpful, does not mean be annoying. If someone comes in for a checking account, ask them simple life questions and work from there. Assuming they will need and want every product you offer is not relevant or helpful.
Want to learn more about what you read in this article? Reach out to the author at: wrainer@banekrbounty.com
