Sales Strategies for a Mixed Product Portfolio

This article previously ran in the October 2020 issue of PS Magazine.

Strategies like cross-selling and upselling have been around for years, but they don’t always have the best reputation. The mere mention of these terms may evoke an adverse reaction; they might be perceived as a pushy or very transparent sales tactic. In spite of this, these strategies can provide an excellent level of service to your prospects and clients.

For a simple example of cross-selling, think about how grocery stores have evolved over the years. At one point, you never would have dreamed of buying an area rug, jewelry or a T-shirt at the same place you go to stock up on milk and bread. Today, however, it is quite commonplace to wander up and down the aisles of a grocery store to fill your cart with household items in addition to groceries. The appeal of this concept is twofold: the buyer enjoys the convenience of a one-stop shop, while the seller has an opportunity to capture a larger share of wallet from each customer.

Selling a mixed product portfolio can provide many of the same opportunities and is vital when it comes to increasing customer loyalty. Keeping your prospects and customers loyal to your services is all about delivering what they want; you simply can’t risk the chance that they leave disappointed because they are seeking a product or service that you do not offer. This opens the door to competitors that may have a broader portfolio and can also weaken the customer’s bond with your business and its offerings.

Cross-Selling Multiple Products

When done correctly, cross-selling is a crucial component of delivering the best possible customer experience. Cross-selling can be a strategy on its own — it involves selling products that are related to or complement something that a customer is already buying from you. In the words of Steve Jobs, “people don’t know what they want until you show it to them.” Cross-selling is often required because your intended audience isn’t aware of all the products and services you offer. In short, your customers and prospects don’t know what they don’t know, so sellers have to keep them informed.
 
Although it may be tempting to focus on the offerings that you’re most comfortable with, the largest opportunity exists in educating your audience about all your products and services. In many cases, consumers will make a purchase once they understand why it makes sense to purchase that complementary product. Once a customer understands how you can accommodate their marketing needs with both printed and promotional products, it is very likely that they will see a natural fit. As an added benefit, they will also know to turn to you when a future need arises.

Mixed Products and Upselling

Upselling provides your customer with choices and, in some cases, the customer might not have been aware that these choices even existed. Although upselling often has a negative connotation that is associated with luring the customer into buying a more expensive version of a product, it doesn’t have to be this way. When the value of the higher-priced product is properly explained, customers will usually appreciate the chance to make a decision that works best for them. This might mean ultimately purchasing a higher-priced product because the true value of that upgrade has been effectively communicated.

Here’s a great example: Let’s suppose your prospect comes to you requesting support for a direct mail campaign that accompanies the promotional products they intend to distribute for their upcoming event. Rather than rushing to make a quick sale, stop and consider the reason they are holding the event in the first place. It is likely that they are competing for mindshare or market share, and they need to find new ways to elevate their brand. If you take the opportunity to educate your buyer on the value of leveraging print embellishments and personalizing the campaign, this higher-priced offering can improve the value of your expertise and offerings. At the same time, however, upselling must be performed intelligently. It is never wise to just put the offer on the table; you must communicate with the prospect or customer about why this offering is right for them. In many cases, customers will choose to make an extra investment if they understand what makes it worthy of their consideration.

Sales Strategies

Now that you have a clearer picture of two proven ways to leverage your mixed product portfolio, you must wrap a sales strategy around at least one of these methodologies. You can spend countless hours creating a sales strategy and then debating how to address the components that make it most useful, so don’t allow yourself to become overwhelmed. Keep things simple, and never lose sight of the fact that a strategy is meant to provide guidance for scalable and repeatable success.

The best sales strategies are built from a well-understood current state of the business. The more you know about what your customers buy from you and why, the more steps you can take toward fostering increased customer loyalty and improved revenues. Start by considering the following: 

1.    Conduct a quick assessment of what your customers buy from you. This might mean building a chart to identify the “white spaces” or additional opportunities that you can immediately approach with other products in your portfolio. A white space analysis is a tried-and-true practice that is quite effective in pinpointing the precise areas of opportunity.   
2.    Develop an understanding of why your prospects or customers should buy from you, as well as why they might choose to purchase additional products and services from you. The conversations that you have with your prospects must address the business problems you are attempting to solve. There is much that can be said about knowing your “why.” Don’t be tempted to skip this step — without it, you will become just another provider of print and promotional products with no clear value proposition. 
3.    Narrow your customer’s choices. Although this may seem counterintuitive to the upselling strategy of providing choices, too many choices are seldom a positive. Everyone wants to make their own decisions, but an overabundance of choices can make the process overwhelming. In 2006, Bain conducted a study that demonstrated the value of reducing complexity by narrowing customers’ choices. This strategy is a clear path for lowering the cost of sales and improving revenues. Whereas nothing will happen if prospects and customers are peppered with too many choices, implementing a solid sales strategy can prevent deals from stalling. Consider a strategy of bundling products that complement each other’s intent. For example, if your client wants to increase brand recognition using promotional products, the inclusion of personalized packaging aimed at the audience’s interest would be a great add-on service. 
4.    Make it easy to do business with you. McDonald’s has become a master at selling hamburgers, but not because its food is the best available. Instead, McDonald’s employs a business model that makes it accessible and easy to do business with. Patrons know exactly what to expect throughout the entire process, from order to delivery and consumption. Removing any friction from the buying process can foster loyalty and improve the overall customer experience. You can create a hidden competitive advantage by becoming easy to do business with. To start out with this process, ask your customers why they are currently doing business with you and what can be done to make things easier. 
5.    Inspect what you expect. Set benchmarks so you can measure what is working and acknowledge what is not. If you take the path of bundling product lines, will the story behind why you’ve bundled those specific items hold up for all prospects and customers, or will you need to modify your approach based on particular industries? Setting benchmarks enables you to collect metrics that, in turn, provide evidence that can be used to improve business results. You can then understand if you need to do more of the same to succeed or maybe make changes due to demand and industry fluctuations.  

The Bottom Line

Some of the biggest brands out there have perfected the art and science of selling a mixed product portfolio. When you’re making an online purchase, think about how often you will encounter “frequently bought together” messaging. Long before this phrase became popular, retailers were perfecting the practice of intelligent merchandising. For example, displaying multiple products that complement each other together can not only increase spend but also make it easier for a consumer to get more of their shopping done in a single location. Some brands have literally built their business models on leveraging product bundles — think about Amazon, Spotify, and just about any cable or internet service provider.  

The practice of selling multiple products under a single umbrella is already quite common and becoming more popular all the time. Success comes from acknowledging that a well-thought-out strategy provides additional value to your customers. Offering a mixed product portfolio can save your customers time, as well as the potential expense of dealing with multiple vendors. This can elevate the value of the products that your customers offer to their intended audiences. Don’t be apologetic about seeking opportunities to increase customer spend or presenting your customers with a choice. In the end, the partnership will seldom be challenged if the seller can help the buyer make sense of their choices.
Karen Kimerer is the director of production services for Keypoint Intelligence – InfoTrends. She has experienced the many challenges of expanding current market opportunities and securing new business and has developed a systematic approach to these opportunities, addressing the unique requirements of becoming a leader in our changing industry.

Karen Kimerer is the director of production services for Keypoint Intelligence – InfoTrends. She has experienced the many challenges of expanding current market opportunities and securing new business and has developed a systematic approach to these opportunities, addressing the unique requirements of becoming a leader in our changing industry.