RETAIL THERAPY: Add-ons and upselling

In-store marketing expert and retail consultant, Corin Birchall is one of the UK industry’s foremost and experienced thought leaders on using the right sales techniques in MI stores. Here he tells you how to add sales without being too pushy with customers…

As a consultant I regularly get called into a retailer to grow its turnover.  Whilst we will explore new channels, new customer acquisition, improved conversion and increased repeat spend, the immediate wins are often found getting existing shoppers to spend a little more. Many will regard this as the easiest way to increase turnover.  From my experience working in the music industry over the past 20 years, there is a huge opportunity here.  

Why? Well, because many music retailers give accessories away; many retail staff avoid mentioning additional product for fear of losing the sale and many customers are shown entry level product first.

My attitude to accessories changed dramatically after an experience working in a music store during the 1990s.  A customer called the store on the telephone to see if we stocked the Korg Trinity, I enthusiastically enticed him to travel the two hours to come and see me in store.  On arrival I did thorough job taking him through the product and showing the full capabilities of the workstation.  He eventually made the purchase and I carried the product to his car, sending him happily on his way. From my perspective I’d done a great job.

Approximately three hours later I get a call from the customer.  If I’m honest, I was half expecting him to share how terrific the service was…I was wrong. He was furious. 

For those of you that are not familiar with the Korg Trinity, it was a professional workstation and Korg’s most significant release since the M1. Professional workstations of the era rarely had speakers built in, or any other accessories for that matter.  Manufacturers assumed perhaps, as I did, that a professional player had speakers, cables, stands and pedals.

Well it turned out my player didn’t, in fact he didn’t even have headphones.  He’d heard everything setup in our demo studio, on a stand, with pedals and cables and not given it another thought, as had I. The customer had in fact done a five hour round trip, spent a lot of money and effectively bought a coffin full of circuit boards. 

It was at this point when I stopped thinking of add-on sales as being pushy, but rather as being thorough as a specialist.  The next day I introduced a phrase I use to this day…”before you go, can I check you have everything you need?  I’d hate you to get home and not be able to use this?”  I would go on to to check they had cables, pedals, headphones, speakers, and so on.  When the question is phrased in this way, it doesn’t feel like a sales pitch at all, but great customer service.

I was sharing this story with a dealer and he said: “When I worked in the car sales trade, we would do a hand-over document, checking we had done everything, and get the customer to sign it.”  He took that idea to his music store and introduced it when selling drums “can I confirm you have a kick pedal, throne, sticks, mat to protect your floor…” It was a brilliantly thorough approach and the document distanced the salesperson from the process.

Some 20 years on, when selling add-one I would encourage sales people to introduce them well before the counter.  We make a mental shift when we arrive at the counter, it is all about the transaction – so additional products at this point can be perceived as being pushy. I would argue that stands, cables and headphones are not add-one or extras, they are essentials. We should therefore look to introduce them much earlier in the demo as part of the ‘solution’.  

A technique I use in training is ‘perfect partners’. Every product has a perfect partner. A microphone has a perfect partner in a popper stopper, stand, cable, case or wind shield.  Developing this language in store and encouraging staff to be constantly thinking about perfect partners can help them to introduce it into the product demo, long before the customer gets to the counter. 

Using influence to sell accessories is another useful sales technique. Phrases such as “most customers would also get…” Draws on a concept known as social influence, and can work well to present accessories as a popular addition, rather than something you are pushing.  “I’d recommend…” uses a persuasive technique known as authority.  Assuming you have positioned yourself as a credible and authentic expert in your field, your recommendation to match this product will be persuasive.

In part two we will explore selling more expensive product.

Corin Birchall is a retail and marketing consultant.  He is the founder of retail consultancy Kerching Retail.  You can connect with Corin at: Facebook.com/kerchingretail ; Twitter.com/corin_kerching

Email him at corin@kerchingretail.com or visit www.kerchingretail.com/music-retail