There are many ways that freelancers and small business owners can boost their income, and one of these ways that doesn’t involve increasing prices or taking on new clients – both of which might not be viable or desired options at the time – is by upselling and cross-selling services and products to your existing client base.
You’ve probably come across this technique as a consumer, where you’re offered an upgrade or additional complementary product at the point of sale. Whether it’s a worldwide fast food restaurant offering you the option of a ‘supersized’ portion or an e-commerce store suggesting other products you might like at the checkout, the premise is the same – to increase sales.
But how can you apply this simple but effective sales strategy to your freelance business?
Let’s take a look:
What to consider when creating an upsell
In essence, upselling and cross-selling are basically the same, but there are slight differences. Upselling, generally speaking, means the add-on is an upgrade or higher-end. Whereas cross-selling is adding a related, complementary service or product. Semantics aside, both can be used to increase your income and improve cash flow.
When creating your upsell, there are some key points to take into consideration.
When generating ideas for your upsell, think about the services you currently offer and then the type of offer that might work well alongside them. This is where mind mapping or a whiteboard brainstorming session might come in handy. Naturally, the add-ons or upgrades should be relevant to your client’s needs, something valuable to them, and help provide a solution or get results.
Listen carefully and pay attention to what’s happening in your client’s business. Have they taken on more business lately that they may need help with, or perhaps they’ve added a new product range? It might even be that the client has identified their needs and requested the additional service from you! Either way, it pays to have your ear to the ground and think about future needs and how the market is developing so you are ahead of the curve, thus benefiting both you and your client.
You could even consider collaborating or partnering with other freelancers if they offer a complementary service that would add value or provide a solution to your client’s needs.
Examples of potential upsells
To give you a taste of the types of upsells and cross-sells you might consider, here are some examples.
– A freelance writer could offer an SEO package.
– A website developer could offer ongoing maintenance and cybersecurity.
– A copywriter could offer to create social media posts or run paid advertising.
– A social media manager could offer a tiered pricing structure and provide more posts or engagement depending on the chosen tier.
And so on.
Your additional ‘sell’ doesn’t need to be restricted to adding supplementary services or creating service bundles. You could offer access to a paid newsletter, a short course or online seminar, access to a mastermind or a summit, an in-person event or a live workshop or simply a fast-track turnaround.
If you are a content creator, you’ve probably already got a backlog of great content that could be repurposed or repackaged. You could be sitting on a gold mine of potential products!
When it comes to upsells and cross-sells, as long as it’s helpful and adds value to your client, the only limit is your imagination.
When to offer your upsell
Like most things, time is of the essence. While having a good client relationship before proposing an upsell to your current client base is advisable, there’s no reason why you can’t offer a potential upsell in your freelancer proposal to new clients. Once you’ve listened carefully to the client’s needs following a discovery call, you might find that you can help them in other ways, rather than just your initial service.
You can offer upsells during a running project, too, especially if you identify a gap that needs filling that could benefit your client.
Whenever you decide to offer your upsell, you’ll want to ensure you get paid promptly.
Invoice Ninja is a leading free invoicing software for small business invoicing, fast online payments, tracking expenses and billable tasks. It also includes attractive, professional invoice template designs you can customize with your logo and brand colors. You can also create payment links for upsells!
Payment links allow you to build an instant shop front where you can bundle your existing products into direct link purchases.
Try Invoice Ninja for free here.
~
We hope you found these tips helpful. Please share with others whom you think would benefit!
