What is cross selling?

Cross-selling is an after-sales strategy that consists of making the customer, after having made a purchase, buy a complementary product or service.

With cross selling, the meaning of the sale ceases to be punctual and expands: a single item can become a channel to multiply our income without investing large amounts of effort and money in promoting each particular offer.

Importantly, it should not be confused with up-selling, which involves suggesting products of the same type but of a higher range or belonging to a luxury brand. However, one strategy does not hinder the other, so we can combine cross selling and up selling to increase our sales. Having addressed what cross-selling is, we will analyze the practice of cross-selling with examples and, later, which cross-selling techniques are most effective.

Understanding cross-selling in examples

Let’s imagine that a customer visits our store looking for an e-book reader. If cross-selling is part of our strategy kit, we wait a reasonable time to offer the customer, via email, some related products such as a case for the device, headphones, etc.

Another example of cross selling would be to do it in the services area, as in the case of graphic design businesses. Let’s say we have a client asking us to create a logo for his company. We can suggest, as a complement, helping him to improve the business stationery, the corporate identity manual, the website design and other elements within our area of competence.

Cross-selling techniques

There are numerous cross-selling techniques. But you should keep in mind that it is not always implemented soon after the purchase. Being a post-sale strategy, we may have to wait days, weeks or even months before it is relevant to cross-sell.

Having clarified the above, let’s look at some of the most commonly used cross-selling techniques today:

Propose complementary products and/or services during or at the end of the transaction (the examples in the previous section are illustrative of this technique).
Designing product kits. In other words, selling according to the all-in-one philosophy. If, for example, the customer comes to buy an electronic cigarette, we can offer him a kit with battery and spare resistors, charger and other implements.
Add extra elements to the service. For example, in an Italian restaurant we can suggest to the diner a special offer or to include in his order one of the additions available on the menu.

At this point, you already know what cross selling is with examples of cross selling techniques (there are many more examples, although the ones mentioned are the main ones).

The essential thing about cross-selling is not to be imposing, but to persuade the user in the most convincing way possible. If we try to make them buy more by bombarding them with advertising, we run the risk that they will not buy again. In cross-selling, the meaning of “cross-selling” has a subtle connotation, so it must be done very tactfully.