B2B Cross Selling Strategies

Cross Selling Strategies

Two strategies to drive revenue in the world of B2B sales and operations are cross selling and upselling. While they are often used interchangeably, they are two distinct strategies. Cross-selling is the process of offering additional products or services to existing customers that are related to what they have already purchased while upselling is the process of offering higher-priced items or services to existing customers.

Cross selling strategies are used to encourage customers to purchase additional products or services that are related to what they have already bought. This type of strategy is typically used when a customer has already committed to a purchase and has demonstrated an interest in the product or service being offered. There are a few different types of cross-selling strategies that can be used by B2B sales and operations professionals.

Prolifiq’s Cross Selling Strategy and Approach

Our marketing and sales teams work together to evaluate which product or products our clients have and analyze where there is additional growth. A few of the key metrics we measure to identify where to cross sell include:

1. The number of sellers/Operations/Support users – How many of these professionals does the organization have? How many licenses have we sold so far? If you’re selling any sort of software, having data in the account object that helps you identify accounts with additional core users that aren’t currently using your product is low-hanging fruit. We group our customers into segments based on the expansion revenue potential for their additional purchases.
2. Product Usage – We use Gainsight to understand how often people use the product. Focusing on which areas of the product they are/aren’t using, and how that adoption has grown over time to help segment the best accounts for our team to cross sell. Make sure to have a clear POV with product recommendations for each customer to suit their needs.
3. Complimentary Products they don’t use – We have 3 core products and segment customers only using one product (Relationship Map) as an example and target the buyer and core stakeholders with email marketing campaigns. Cross selling those customers would mean we attempt to sell our content management product, as our core account planning would be an upsell (we’ll dive into why shortly).

Sales

One type of cross-selling or marketing strategy to help drive sales is to offer complementary products or services via email, paid advertising, or sales outreach. B2B sales teams must find revenue more efficiently. Your customer base that already trusts and values you is a good place to start. As you begin to sell additional products to a larger portion of the company, the more likely you are to stick. Look at companies with renewals coming up in the next 90 days. What could you potentially renew early and add products on with the renewal to incentivize the expansion? Having account plans for your strategic customers will give you a leg up.

The benefits of implementing cross-selling strategies in B2B sales and operations are numerous. First, it can help increase revenue by encouraging customers to purchase additional products or services that they may not have otherwise considered. Secondly, it can help build customer loyalty by showing that the company is willing to go the extra mile to provide the customer with a better overall experience. Finally, it can also help increase customer lifetime value by encouraging customers to make repeat purchases or longer-term commitments.

Techniques for identifying cross-selling opportunities can include studying customer purchase histories, understanding customer needs and wants, and actively listening to customer feedback. By understanding what products and services customers already have and what they are looking for sales and operations professionals can better identify potential cross-selling opportunities. We’ll dive into some of this in our white space analysis section and cover different cross selling methods.

Upselling Strategies

Relationship Mapping

Understanding who is who within an account is a critical step in driving upsell revenue. Making a visual map of everyone your team has engaged over the first sales cycle while also understanding who your team needs to sell into and build trust with will make it easier for sellers, managers, and marketing teams to work together to drive a quality customer experience. Who are the people who will help you sell internally? These people supported you in your initial pursuit. Map out everyone who needs to be involved in the upsell process of selling other products and work with them. Can they make introductions for you? Help you understand their goals, challenges, or what they’re measured on that can impact their priorities and more products they could benefit from.

Build Out a Customer Journey & Reporting

You’ve done the stakeholder mapping and have a plan of attack and campaign in motion to drive the upsell strategy. The next step is to provide a clear picture of how they will use your additional product to win new customers, retain or grow key accounts, make their job easier, etc.

Upselling strategies are used to encourage customers to purchase higher-priced items or services. The approach to this sales technique begins shortly after the sale. Customers typically use this type of strategy when considering a purchase and looking for additional value from their purchase. There are a few different types of upselling strategies that can be used by B2B sales and operations professionals.

One type of upselling strategy is offering the next tier of a product or service that has additional capabilities. Another type of upselling strategy is to offer additional products or services that add value to the customer’s purchase. As an example of our sales process, we sell our core account planning tool to customers. Later in the year, we can upsell them our more expensive new tool. This selling strategy is a good way to increase the average value of a customer and the salesperson to hit quota.

Techniques for identifying upselling opportunities can include studying customer purchase histories, understanding customer needs and wants, and actively listening to customer feedback. Understand what products and services customers already have and what they are looking for. Sales and operations professionals can better identify potential upselling opportunities and get another product into your customer’s portfolio.

Revenue and Cross-Selling

The relationship between cross-selling and revenue is an important one. Cross-selling is a powerful tool for increasing revenue in B2B sales and operations. By offering additional products or services related to what customers have already purchased, sales and operations professionals can encourage customers to make multiple purchases and larger purchases, increasing overall revenue. Additionally, cross-selling can help increase customer lifetime value by encouraging customers to return to a business for additional purchases over time.

White Space Analysis

The process of uncovering these hidden sales opportunities is known as white space analysis. Performing a white space analysis will take time, as it requires thorough knowledge of your customers, their needs, and use cases.

Unfortunately, customer data isn’t always so readily available. You want to go through the process of analyzing the white space, so many companies don’t take advantage of it.

To make it easier, start by identifying a few key accounts to analyze and ask yourself:

1. What product(s) are they using?
2. Do they have a need that any of your other products could fill?
3. Do they currently have a solution in place?
4. Is there high adoption of your tool? Are there trends or tendencies in how often they purchase certain products or services from you?

Benefits Of Cross Selling And Upselling

The benefits of implementing upselling strategies in B2B sales and operations are clear. First, it can help increase revenue by encouraging customers to purchase higher-priced items. Or services that they may not have otherwise considered. Secondly, demonstrating a commitment to providing the customer with a better overall experience can help build customer loyalty. Finally, it can also help increase customer lifetime value by encouraging customers to make larger purchases and longer-term commitments. The strategies to upsell help you penetrate the business and are one of the best ways to grow current customers.

Sales and operations professionals identify new cross-selling opportunities that may not have been identified through traditional methods. Secondly, it can help increase revenue by encouraging customers to purchase additional products or services that they may not have otherwise considered. Finally, it can also help increase customer lifetime value by encouraging customers to make larger purchases and longer-term commitments.

Techniques for conducting white space analysis can include studying customer purchase histories, understanding customer needs and wants, and actively listening to customer feedback. Additionally, sales and operations professionals can use data analysis tools to identify patterns in customer behavior and uncover new cross-selling opportunities.

Conclusion

In conclusion, cross-selling and upselling are selling strategy that should be leveraged in just about any business. Effective cross-selling strategies leverage more customer data and customer segmentation. It’s also crisp messaging and a deep understanding of your customer base. Cross-selling strategies involve putting a plan together to sell products that are complementary. Meanwhile, upselling strategies involve offering higher-priced items or services to existing customers. Both strategies can be incredibly effective in helping B2B sales and operations professionals increase revenue and customer lifetime value. Moreover, you can use white space analysis to identify new cross-selling opportunities.

To increase revenue, B2B sales and operations professionals should understand the various types of cross-selling and upselling strategies. As well as how white space analysis can help identify new cross-selling opportunities to sell the same product to other teams. This will help improve retention and revenue as well, among other things!

 

FAQ

What is the key to cross selling?
Answer: One aspect of cross selling that cannot be overlooked is having good data in a CRM to help your team know where to sell another product. Who are the people they need to engage? Why did they bring in your product or service initially? What measures of success can you point to thus far that shows you’re providing value to them? An effective cross selling strategy takes all of this into account to deliver a customized offer that will further strengthen the relationship. It’s also nearly impossible to effectively upsell or cross sell your products if your customer retention is subpar.

How do you cross sell and upsell effectively?
Answer: There isn’t one single way to answer this, but bringing in good-fit customers is critical for b2b sales teams. Tips we give to customers include having a clear visual or template for teams to understand where white space exists. Keep it simple, make sure that stakeholders in different business units can easily understand how you’re going to help them achieve their goals. Incentivize your customers with bundle discounts or deals to help solidify their pitch internally. Lastly, any time you can leverage executive outreach to help connect the dots at the highest level. Our President plays a critical role in key strategic deals.