Upselling and Cross Selling Techniques for Freelancers
Marketers, salespeople, and entrepreneurs in every industry have relied on upselling and cross selling techniques for ages to increase their profits.
If you aren’t employing these time tested strategies, you are leaving money on the table. This post will look at a variety of ways to earn more money from every client simply by offering them products and services that they are already in need of.
But first, let’s take a quick look at the difference between upselling and cross selling.
What Is Upselling?
As the name implies, upselling involves upgrading the customer’s purchase. Typically, this involves some sort of premium version of the same service or product. It could also involve persuading the customer to increase the quantity of their purchase.
The “deluxe” burger on the diner menu that comes with bacon, lettuce, and tomato, for example, is an upgrade of the standard burger. Getting a second t-shirt for half off when you buy one is another example of an upsell.
What Is Cross Selling?
Cross selling is similar to upselling, but it’s worth understanding the distinction. With cross selling, you are marketing closely related products to those that your customers are already buying from you. Basically, you say to yourself, “If my customers are buying X, they probably need Y as well”.
For example, a business that sells specialty coffee beans might also decide to start selling coffee presses, grinders, and mugs. A writer who specializes in SEO-optimized blog articles may decide to start offering other SEO services that their clients are probably in need of, such as keyword research.
Upselling and Cross Selling Techniques You Can Use Today
If you still aren’t quite sure, here’s a simple way of understanding the difference between upselling and cross selling:
Upselling is “Do you want to supersize that?”
Cross selling is “Do you want fries with that?”
So, now that you know what these two timeless marketing strategies are, here are a bunch of upselling and cross selling techniques for freelancers that you can start implementing in your business today to boost your profits.
#1 – Create Bundle Packages
If you are selling your services on a platform like Legiit, a super easy way to upsell customers on buying more of the same service is simply to offer packages based around quantity.
For example, maybe you sell guest post back links. If you currently only offer one package of $50 for a link, you could encourage customers to buy more by just by creating bundles. Offer 3 links for $150 and 10 for $500, for instance.
You can also experiment with discounting increased quantities. But this isn’t necessary. Bundles themselves have a psychological effect that will make buyers more likely to increase the quantity of their purchase.
#2 – Offer Related Services
A taco stand will never make any money cross selling drinks if it doesn’t keep them stocked. In other words, you aren’t profiting from the cross sells that you aren’t offering.
So the first step is to figure out what services your customers are probably already buying from someone else. Then, narrow your list down to the ones that you would actually be able to offer. Sometimes, this may require you learn new freelancing skills, but often it won’t.
An easy way to figure out what services you could offer is simply to browse the categories on Legiit. For instance, someone who currently only offers logo design could look at everything else being sold in the Graphics & Design category. A quick browse opens up a lot of opportunity:
- image editing
- infographics
- illustration
- banner ads
- book covers
- social media design
- t-shirts
- 3D models & product design
Someone who has what it takes to design logos could most likely find a number of new services within these niches to start cross selling today.
#3 – Offer Relevant Add-ons
If you were selling burritos, customers might be able to add guacamole for a buck.
Well, you aren’t selling burritos, but there are likely upsells that you could be offering in order to make a little bit more on each sale. Take some time to brainstorm ways that you could upgrade your existing services. Here are a few examples:
- Someone selling PBN links could add on on page SEO
- A writer could offer to interlink to the client’s existing content
- Someone offering keyword research could offer a white label report
- Any service can upsell a faster turnaround time
When it comes to add-on services, it’s worth thinking about pricing. A common strategy is to avoid pricing any upsell more than 25% of the original purchase price. So, the max you should charge for an upsell on a $100 service is 25 dollars.
This isn’t a hard and fast rule, but it makes some psychological sense if you think about it. There just comes a point when an upsell no longer feels like a little extra to the buyer, so it is less likely to convert.
#4 – Sell After Delivery
If you do good work, it’s easier to make sales from existing clients than acquire new ones. Sometimes, all it takes is inviting them to buy more.
Whenever you deliver an order, you can include links to relevant cross sells within your delivery message. Something as simple as this added to every order delivered could bring an SEO freelancer plenty of new sales every month:
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#5 – Don’t Be Sleazy
The sleazy used car salesman stereotype exists for a reason. Every one has probably experienced a heavy-handed, high-pressure sales pitch at one time in their life. Even if they land the deal, the pushy salesperson probably isn’t going to get any repeat or referral business from that customer.
While employing upselling and cross selling techniques is about making you more money, it’s also about making your clients happier. So be helpful and honest. Be someone that your clients will want to tell their friends about. Most importantly, be Legiit.