By Scott Manning
Manning Methods, LLC
Every great profit maximizing company has become masterful at getting its clients EVERYTHING they can possibly need or want in relation to their products or services. These companies do not leave money on the table or things to be desired from their clients.
The concept of the “add-on” is one that is elementary to sales people, a foundational method for increasing sales. This is the most basic level and probably one most companies teach and use within their sale process…the ultimate question; is it maximized and does it really generate additional profits?
I believe the a la carte style ordering is really unjust in most businesses. If you want to be a Client Service Expert and keep your people coming back for more, you’ve got to give them what they NEED, which is seldom satisfied by just providing what they WANT. The method I am alluding to is packaging and/or bundling products or services to increase the size of transactions.
Understanding that, you spend a certain amount of resources to acquire clients and get them to “raise their hand” to do business with you. Capitalizing on EVERY transaction level, whether initial, basic, or upgrade products or services is what all ridiculously profitable companies do. Maximize EVERY transaction.
First things First – Take a look at your products and service and evaluate the things you know your clients need to effectively and completely utilize your service or product. Begin with your initial sale, or your core business, and start adding.
Keep in mind that add-ons are not necessarily the end-all of the sale, just an option that you (and your sales people if they are on the ball) know that every client should walk out with in addition to their additional purchase or they will be unjustly under-served! When you adopt that seriousness, you will come across in a way that is sincere and believable
and your clients should feel as strongly about getting the add-on as you do about convincing them to make the purchase.
I will give two sets of examples, the blatantly obvious and then some to think about – finally I will explain how to implement and maximize this usually common-sense method of increasing your sales. Keep in mind that we’re not looking at this only in the way the common business does – add-ons are easy, typically done in all businesses, just not to the level you will be using this valuable marketing method.
Reminder: two things on which we base everything.
1)Are we doing everything possible to do what is right for our clients and doing it in a way that goes overboard on service and blows away their expectations?
2) Is it going to be crazily profitable and a consistent, systematical integration to your business?
Examples—Blatantly Obvious:
Hair Salon:
$20 cut and style (standard) + $15 gel to style with (add-on)
$50 perm (standard) + $30 color (addon)
Restaurant:
$10 regular meal (standard) + $5 dessert or appetizer (add-on)
Bookstore:
$12 book (standard) + $2 bookmark (add-on)
Car Maintenance:
$30 oil change (standard) + $20 tire rotation (add-on)
Some to think about it:
Hair Salon:
$32 cut, style and gel product (standard) + Mirror, styling, comb, neck trimmers.
Restaurant:
$13.50 meal and appetizer + dessert special to take home
Bookstore:
Buy 2 books – get bookmark of your choice free
Car Maintenance:
Pick: Option 1 – oil change, car cleaning
Option 2 – oil change, car cleaning, tire rotation
Option 3 – everything that’s needed, no questions asked!
Put it together
By now you should be feeling much more in control of your business – so many business owners spend time thinking about everything, all the little details, etc. – just never paying
any attention to the things, the main things that are responsible for your mere existence – revenue generating activities
All the details are important, but not if you aren’t making a profit. Nothing else matters! Take this add-on concept seriously and look at all the potential. I think every day about some-thing I heard on a tele-seminar with Dan Kennedy, “you condition the people you do business with to do business the way you want them to.” That’s right; your clients are condition-able. If you have effectively established your business in your market, then future clients and clients should trust whatever it is you ask them to do.
Scott Manning
President, Manning Methods, LLC
317 407-3382
sj@manningmethods.com
