As professional service providers, most of our new business probably (should?) comes from our existing customers. Whether you call it cross-selling, up-selling, or anything else, being able to identify additional needs and sell services to meet those needs is an important part of business development.
What this really boils down to is listening. You have to listen to your customers and care about their needs.
Often, the challenging part of listening is just slowing down and making the effort. It’s easy to get in a hurry. It’s common to think of the next thing we want to say rather than really listening to the other person.
Listening and asking probing questions has to become a habit. Looking for cross selling opportunities isn’t an item to be put on a checklist.
If you ask your customer if they are “interested in payroll services” because that’s what you were told to do in this month’s staff meeting, it’s going to come across as a pitch. Your not going to feel comfortable doing it and your customer is probably going to feel uncomfortable turning you down.
When you notice a symptom of a problem (deadlines being missed, complaints, rework), take the time to ask about it. Have a conversation about how the problem impacts them personally. Ask what the cost of doing nothing is, they probably have never thought about that. Now you have laid the groundwork for having a real conversation about what you can do (if anything) to help them solve the problem.
One more thing – don’t assume that just because they have bought from you in the past that they will totally abandon their buying process. The “sales cycle” should be shorter and easier, but don’t shoot yourself in the foot by not providing the type of information, in the way they like to receive it, to help them make their decision.
