You’ve defined what upselling means to you and what signals to look for, which brings us to the question: when do you make your move?
Do you check into your client’s DMs every month? Every week? Every year? Let’s think about this.
First of all, to answer the question, NO! You do not present your brilliant upsell idea to your 1-month customer!
As I mentioned before, there is a huge element of trust in upselling, and you just won’t get that kind of relationship with a customer who is just starting out with you unless you have a very well-known brand name and you capitalize on that…
Give them some time to explore the product, understand what it's all about, get set up, etc. They may not see the full value yet, and that's okay.
Expert advice
Data is your best friend here. As you get more clients, you’ll start to see patterns. How long does it take for a client to feel comfortable with your tool, how long until they feel comfortable with you and your teams, etc.?
For us at LGM, that sweet spot is around month four or five. That’s when we know they’ve run enough campaigns to start to feel the value and consider staying.
It may seem like a long time, but we're talking about a software-as-a-service (SaaS) investment. It takes time before you know you've found the right one.
You may have guessed it, timing is key here! Too early, and you're just that pesky salesperson. Too late, and you've lost your chance.
Example
At LGM we have our own rhythm, it makes sense to us
Every quarter we do a bit of upselling, we create a series of multi-channel campaigns dedicated to a series of different audiences so we can personalize it as much as possible!
But again, we focus more on selling better than selling more. That means getting them to pay up front, which is the golden egg for us and, frankly, should be for most companies looking to upsell.
This is our workflow :
If it's not even three months yet, don't bother. They're still in the honeymoon phase with your product. Pressing for payment up front could backfire, making you look desperate.
Once they hit that 3 month point , you can drop a suggestion, setting the stage for the idea vp business development email list of getting even more out of your service.
It might be a little early, but they're starting to get it. You be the judge of that!
At six months , you can increase the intensity and present your case with a more personalized message.
If they've been with you for a year and aren't on board with prepaying unless there are cash flow issues, you have to ask yourself: What's stopping them?
It's a delicate balance and not always objective, as the process relies on your ability to maintain and grow a relationship, but do it right and you'll see the benefits!
Time your upselling efforts appropriately:
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