Benchmark Business Group

If You Aren't Cross-Selling You Are Letting Down Your Clients

July 21, 2020

The benefits of cross-selling are widely known. It helps boost sales! Clients with more products are less likely to change companies. It costs less to sell to current clients than it does to prospective new clients. It’s easier to sell to existing clients than someone brand new.

Yet, cross-selling is still a struggle for many financial services professionals. It simply doesn’t happen consistently. Which is why we created Service through Selling, an Inspired Action Series training that naturally brings cross-selling to the forefront of your client conversations. Naturalizing the cross-selling conversation creates sticky customers and increases sales.

One of the main issues is how a team views cross-selling. If you or your team has a negative, or even neutral, attitude about cross-selling, then it will always be difficult to get the team to implement the practice.

A few red-flag attitudes include:

  • Seeing cross-selling as a way to nickel-and-dime clients
  • Believing it takes too much time
  • Viewing it as something that “isn’t my job”
  • Thinking that clients will tell you if they have a need
  • Not wanting to overwhelm a client
  • Believing you don’t have enough knowledge to ask about a particular area of need

The truth is cross-selling is an essential part of the promise that you make to your clients.

If your team isn’t actively doing the following three things, they’re simply not fulfilling your client’s needs:

  • Listening for opportunities
  • Asking questions about those needs
  • And taking action to help clients understand their options

Your clients come to you with the expectation that you will help them minimize their risks and maximize their opportunities. It’s harsh to hear this, but if your team isn’t on the lookout for opportunities and making sure clients are aware of their options then you are letting your clients down.

Chances are you and your team pride yourselves on the quality of your service. Therefore, it might hurt to think you may not just be missing sales opportunities, but instead are missing the chance to fully service a client. Yet, that’s what happens when Service Through Selling isn’t a part of every conversation you and your team have with each client.

Naturalizing the cross-selling conversation and giving yourself and your team new ways of thinking and taking action will revolutionize your sales results. Take action today to give your clients what they deserve – the conversations that ensure they understand their risks and opportunities, and are making the best decisions for themselves and their families!

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