Day 24 (Wednesday) - Time to “Up-sell”

Lesson Objective:

To create an up-sell for your site so you can potentially make more money from each
buyer.

Skills Needed:
· Basic Word Processing
· Basic HTML
· Basic FTP



Today’s Lesson:

Today I’m going to show you a little “magic trick” that can instantly increase your profits
20-60% even without getting any additional business or website visitors.


It’s a simple concept called an “upsell” or a “bump”.


Let me give you a couple examples from a recent ski trip and I think you’ll immediately
see what this is all about.


Last February, after an Internet marketing seminar – I decided to go skiing in Colorado.


My friend Bart and I headed to Keystone resort to go skiing for 2 days. He needed to rent
skis and when he was paying for his ski rental the guy behind the counter says, “Would
you like damage protection – it’s only a dollar more?”


So of course Bart takes the insurance (boy did he need it considering we were going off
10 or 15 foot jumps that day! ?).

And during this same seminar in Colorado - I met a man who was responsible for
millions and millions of dollars in sales via infomercials who gave me some incredible
upsell examples.

His name is Alex Mandossian and I had the opportunity to sit down and pick his brain. It
was amazing all the simple tweaks he added that significantly increased his company’s
revenue.


The first example was an infomercial for a 35-mm Nippon camera for $19.95 with 100
free rolls of film. A good deal and lots of people called in.


Now, here’s the “juicy” part. Every time an order was placed the operator read this script:


Operator: “Are you going to be using your camera to take pictures inside?”

Caller: “Yes.”


Operator: “Well, as a preferred Nippon customer you can get the flash attachment today
only for just $10.00 with no additional shipping or handling. That’s a savings of $9.00.
May I add that to your order?”


That’s it – that’s the simple script. Would you believe 60% - 80% of the people said
“yes”?


It’s true. The bottom line increase was incredible because there was no additional cost of
sale to reach this customer. They sold hundreds of thousands of units.


Here’s another example from Alex….


As the marketing director for one of the biggest tooth whitening toothpastes around he
found a simple, yet ingenious way to increase the sale. When callers called in to order
one tube for $19.95 here’s the script:


Operator: “How many members are in your family?”


Caller: “2”


Operator: “Well, as a preferred customer you can get 2 tubes for only $29.95 today only.
For just $10.00 more with no additional shipping or handling. That’s a savings of $9.95.
May I add that to your order?”


Wow! Do you see the incredible leverage here?


There is no additional cost per sale each time a person calls in. The upsell or cross-sell is
nearly all “extra” profit!


Here’s an interesting fact – did you know nearly all of the infomercials you see on TV
today wouldn’t make a profit unless they continued using their upsell? It’s true. And I
hope that gives you a small inkling of the power this concept could hold for your web
site.


You’ve got to understand the psychology behind it.

Once a customer makes a buying decision by calling to order the product they’ve already
decided to buy. They have a credit card in hand and they’ve mentally gone from prospect
to customer.

At this point it’s not difficult to increase their order by simply offering them some ‘deal’.


And an upsell can work everywhere!


On my web site (instantsalesletters.com) I introduce an upsell that 44% - 66% of buyers
take. That’s all extra profit for me with no additional cost. So cool!

It works like this: Once somebody clicks on the order button on my page they are taken
to another page (not the order page). On this new page I let them know that today only
they can become a special “Gold” member for only $15 more and they’ll get 2 additional
bonuses not available in the regular package.


This is so important. If you give people a preferential deal, some percentage will take you
up on it.

The upsell is one of the easiest (and most profitable) techniques you can start
implementing tomorrow. This is like the “would you like fries” strategy. Unless you’re
offering “fries” you’re missing out on tons and tons of profit.


You simply need to come up with a couple more compelling bonuses, packages or up-
sells that people will get for the upgrade.


A couple options are:

· More of your product or service at a special price (i.e. 2 tubes of goop).
· Special membership into a continuity program (keep billing them until they say
‘stop’).
· Additional bonuses they can’t get without the upsell (the better you make these
bonuses the more people will say ‘yes’).
· Etc., etc. etc.

I’ve even used something as simple as putting a check box on my order form on Instant
Internet Profits. It could be that simple. On this we get a 25% upsell rate. Take a look at
what appears at the bottom after the customer has already filled out their info to buy the
course:

Or, if you order from Amazon you’ll notice they also say something like “here are other
books that people who have ordered your book have also ordered”. I love Amazon and I
buy lots of things from them – here’s what shows up on the screen before you make your
purchase:



One of my marketing friends did a double upsell on his site. He would offer an audio
program for $29 and then he’d also let people choose from 2 additional packages when
they got to the order page. He told me 2/3 of the people took some kind of upsell.
(Incredible!)


Trust me, an upsell can be a huge moneymaker for you and if you’re already selling
anything – you’re losing money by not offering it.

Today’s Assignment:

1. You guessed it! Create an upsell for your product or service.

If you are a catalog site – it can be a recommended product/service that goes with
what people bought (start with your top 10 items first).

If you sell an information product – think of a complimentary product or service
you can offer as an upsell.

2. Get it up on your site.


Today’s Resources:

Public Domain Riches – how would you like a 100% legal way to get free content to
turn into upsells, bonuses or even entirely new products? The public domain is a vast
repository of millions and millions of works just sitting under your nose if you know how
to find them.

eBook Wholesaler - sells you the rights to different ebooks you can sell or give away as
your upsell. Excellent source for a fast upsell!