Upselling

Encouraging more upselling

Upselling to clients is the most efficient way of growing a business. How can you encourage more of it?

It may not seem obvious at first glance, but we repeatedly hear from users that better information helps account managers upsell to clients. How does that work? There are two elements to it.

Secrets of upselling

Upselling starts with the planting of an idea to a client. And who's the best person to plant such an idea? Someone your client trusts, someone who is credible and confident and has a track record. Someone who is already on the case.

Upselling opportunities can happen at any level and at any time. It might be about expanding a project, or bringing forward a phase, or increasing its scope, or planning an entire new project altogether.

There are two keys to this. For upselling to work, your client needs to have:

  • Trust in the person and process proposing it.
  • Confidence that the project can be successfully delivered.

Giving your team better information increases their credibility, helping clients trust them more. In turn, this further increases team confidence. They like to shine at every touch point. It becomes a virtuous circle, improving morale.

Giving your team information that is clearer, more focused to them and always up to date can lead to an increased likelihood of individuals actively helping to grow the business. Let's look at the specifics of how Synergist helps.

How to achieve upselling

  • Faster answers to queries. How much time do you and your team spend each month simply searching for information that a client is looking for? How does that look to the client? How does that feel for your person at the front line?
  • Fewer mistakes. When under pressure, and faced with unclear data, mistakes happen. Having to scramble every time a client asks a question is a pain for all. Having fast access to the right information leads to calm and knowledgeable communications.
  • Know what everyone's working on today. Compared to working in a chaotic environment, it’s liberating to know exactly what your individual priorities are today and tomorrow. It means that you and your colleagues are always focusing on what’s important.
  • Know where each project is at. It is illuminating to be able to see at-a-glance which colleague is working on which project and what its current status is. It pulls the team together.
  • Not missing deadlines. Clients see deadlines as sacred. You need a system that helps keep you on track and able to communicate that.
  • Not forgetting anything. With complex projects happening simultaneously, it's so easy for things to fall through the cracks. This includes billable time and expenses that can go astray without a proper system to support you.

So what’s the evidence that project management software makes a difference? Here are two comments from Directors using Synergist:

The user insights

“Upselling takes place now. Before Synergist, we wouldn’t have been able to achieve that. Having the data makes all the difference.”

Phil Robinson
Founder & CEO
ClickThrough

“Empowering the account teams means they can advise the client rather than merely work on the job task. It’s a more consultative relationship, more valuable.

“It’s given them more of a sense of responsibility, more discipline. The team have become much more commercially-minded now. They understand margins. It’s also helped our account managers & account directors earn more from existing clients.”

Steven Clark
Finance Director
Tayburn

See the user stories of:

ClickThrough

Tayburn