He’s a wonderful husband, loving father, respectful son yet marketers and sales people are perplexed by him.
Not loyal to any brand, my husband is what we call a price-driven consumer which makes it nearly impossible for marketers/companies to connect.
He has no problem walking out of a store if an in-store price comparison on his smartphone shows the store down the street has what he’s looking for at a lower price.
When my beloved is out shopping it’s usually because there is a need. He’s not unlike many men in the marketplace who simply loathe shopping and equate the process to a hunting expedition where the goal is to return home with the best deal or biggest prize.
But one store was able to upsell him.
He had my full attention as he told the story. I wanted to know every single detail. How in the world was this retailer able to upsell my beloved?
Here’s how.
Hire/Train the Right People. The associate knew about my husband’s project and based on his personal knowledge was able to make a pointed recommendation. Zappos founder Tony Hsieh preaches on the necessity of hiring the right people. The wrong people can cost a business thousands in potential revenue. If the sales associate assisting my beloved had not been passionate and knowledgeable he would not have made the recommendation. The business would have lost money and missed the opportunity to inch my husband closer to becoming a brand loyalist.
Benefits. Benefits. Benefits. The sales associate was able to show my guy the immediate benefits of the additional purchase. The pitch was so casually stated that my husband didn’t feel like he was being sold to. This is key! No one wants to feel like they’re being taken advantage of or that they are your next bonus check. This upsell was about saving my husband frustration and time. The additional revenue to the company was irrelevant because the benefit was clearly defined.
Any upsell has to clearly show what’s in it for the consumer. There has to be clear value to the consumer and saving time is extremely important to most if not all of us in the marketplace.
Created sense of urgency without being pushy. The sales associate walked this tight rope perfectly. Buy this part now and save yourself time and aggravation or come back in a few months and tear it all apart again to replace this one part. This rep laid out all the options on the table and price wasn’t even a factor. The urgency was you’re already doing the work, don’t put it all back together to only have to take it down again.
It is possible to upsell even the most unenthusiastic of consumers because when done right, upselling always considers the needs of the consumer and has knowledgeable and trained staff to close the transaction creating a win for all. Kudos to the sales staff at AutoZone for connecting when others have tried and failed.
