Have you ever bought anything from an infomercial?
It’s hard to get off the telephone with the representative, because it’s his or her job to upsell you to a bigger quantity, an enhanced version of the product or to other products and services offered by the company.
A great online example is Amazon.com. When you order an item, Amazon gives you suggestions, including “Frequently bought together” and “Customers who viewed this item also viewed”.
Marketing guru John Carlton says, “A product is not a business.” Just having one product or service is not enough to have a viable business.
You always have to be thinking about what else you can offer to your customer. It doesn’t even have to be something you make or do yourself. You can joint venture or affiliate with other businesses to offer more to your own customers and get paid a fee for that, or at least develop “symbiotic relationships” and make cross-referrals.
Most businesses try to get a customer to make a sale. Many of them don’t even bother to collect customers’ contact information.
Smart businesses make a sale to get a customer, including getting customers’ contact information. Then smart businesses work at building a relationship of trust to sell more to that customer again and again.
Would you like my help developing ideas for doing more business with your customers? To schedule a complimentary initial conversation, please write to me at mgray@profitadvisors.com.