101 Best Sales and Marketing Ideas
IDEA 16:
STRAWBERRIES AND CREAM
One sure way to sell more is to link selling one thing to selling another. This is true from marketing perspectives – for example mobile phone and call revenue, or computer printers and toner cartridges- but it is also true of selling. Historically, for obvious reasons, it has been known as the strawberries and cream technique.
Idea
Check out the Amazon website…
The way to make this idea work is to envisage links between one thing and a whole raft of others. The past masters of this are Amazon. Visit the Amazon website and notice how it is set up. Whatever you do no it-just view something, add it to a wish list, or buy it –the system makes use of what you appear interested in other suggestions to you.
For example, if you’re looking at book, it will provide link based on the author, the kind of book, the subject of non-fiction titles, and more. That the system works well in the terms of human psychology is demonstrated by how addictive it is. As a habitual book buyer I can spend a long time following a track through the system to see if it puts something interesting, unknown, and perhaps surprising in front of me.
It is worth examining your own product range to see how different things can be made to link together. Bear in mind that some links will be obvious, but other will not. All that matters is that there is a logic that is recognized by the customer. Linking purchases can save time and hassle: so someone selling paper to office might also offer spare cartridges for the printer (among other things). Paper is, after all, not much use without ink.
This technique can link effectively to others. For example, some companies vary prices on the basis of combinations of product, so paper might be offered at a lower price to those customers buying a toner cartridge, or depending on the quantity ordered. Now just to practice what I preach, let me suggest that if you bought this book, maybe you would also find another one helpful. If you want something on how to excel in your career, look no further: Detox Your Career by Patrick Forsyth (Cyan Books) is readily available.
In practice
- Again regular analysis is necessary here.
- This makes a useful topic for sales meetings, when different combinations can be explored and exchanged.