How to Do Suggestion Selling Effectively
What other businesses do not realize is that they can sell more products to the customer aside from the one that the customer is buying. This is possible through suggestion selling. Suggestion selling is selling additional goods and services to the customer. It does not mean loading down customers with unneeded or unwanted goods and services. Rather, it involves selling customers other items that will ultimately save them time and money, or makes the original purchase more enjoyable.
For example, consider the customer who buys a camera, takes it home, and only then realizes that he or she has no film for it. That means another trip to the store before the camera can be used. The salesperson would have had a sale by suggesting film as an additional purchase.
Suggestion selling benefits the salesperson, the customer, and the company. You benefit because the customers will want to do business with you again. Your customer benefits because he or she is pleased with the original purchase. The firm benefits because the time and cost involved in suggestion selling is less than the cost of making the original sale.
Here are some rules to make you guided on how to do suggestion selling effectively:
Rule 1. Do suggestion selling after the customer has made a commitment to buy, but before payment is made or the order written. Introducing additional merchandise before the sale has been closed can create undue pressure on the customer. The only exception to this rule involves products whose accessories are a major benefit (like dolls with extensive outfit wardrobes). Salespeople who sell such products often introduce the additional items during the sales process to help close the sale.
Rule 2. Make your recommendation from the customer’s point of view and give at least one reason for your suggestion. For example, a customer is asking you to print some pocket folders to be used by the company. You may suggest having the pocket folders layered into three or six pockets so that more files can be segregated. A customer is usually willing to listen to your suggestion when it sounds though you have his or her best interests at heart.
Rule 3. Make the suggestion definite. Don’t ask. “Will that be all?” Instead say, “Many companies that do pocket folder printing will suggest this one too.” In most cases, general questions such as, “Anything else?” take too much effort for customers to consider. They invite negative response.
Rule 4. Show the item you are suggesting. Merely talking about it is not enough. In some cases, the item will sell itself if you let the customer see and handle it. For example, putting a matching purse next to the shoes a customer just decided to buy can be quite effective, particularly with some commentary. You might say, “This purse matches your shoes perfectly, doesn’t it?”
Rule 5. Make the suggestion positive. For example, you could say, “This scarf will complement your coat beautifully. Look how perfectly it matches the color and how fashionable it looks on you.” You certainly would never say, “You wouldn’t want to look at scarves for your new coat, would you?” Such negative statement shows a lack of enthusiasm or perhaps confidence on the part of the salesperson.
These five rules for suggestion selling have been used and are still being used by those large corporations now. Learn from it and be one of them. It worked on them; it will definitely work for you.
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