The Art of Upselling & Cross-Selling with Webinars

Sales boost is all about a solid strategy and efficient tools. Let’s take a closer look at upselling and cross-selling techniques and how to apply them in webinars to deliver results at the end of the day.

Whether you’re planning a product demo or just trying to close some more B2B sales, digital presentations can be used at every stage of the funnel. Cross-selling and upselling are two of the most popular and effective ways of engaging your audience and persuading them to take action.

Although they appear similar at first glance, in the context of webinars these strategies serve very different purposes.

What is upselling in webinars?

Upselling is commonly referred to a the practice of offering a buyer a more advanced version of a product they were already intending to purchase. For example, if you’re selling a laptop and your clients have already decided to buy it, you can then upsell them on a more advanced version of the laptop with bigger memory, additional ports, better battery, or even more ergonomic keyboard.

A common obstacle in upselling is the price difference. With the advanced option included, buyers would have to justify the higher cost since they already had an expectation for what they planned to spend.

Webinars are a perfect solution to this issue. The key is to show the prospect the true value of what you’re upselling.

A webinar provides a live opportunity to do just that. During the presentation (or even afterwards in an extra video) you can use screen share to demonstrate the product or service. Seeing the product in action is helpful because prospects can get the “try before you buy” experience or at least get a stronger image of what they’d actually do with this service. This is especially helpful for products with complicated features.

You can even use your Q&A session to enforce why your clients should choose the premium version. There are lots of creative ways to use webinars for upselling, but these ideas can help jump start your own sales plan.

What is cross-selling in webinars?

Cross-selling is suggesting the purchase of a product that is complementary to the one the buyer has already decided on. Some common examples of this include a training session or an online course (with a special discount, of course).

Let’s say you’re in the tech industry and your main product is an advanced IT system. If a buyer is interested in integrating it within their organization, they’ll need to teach their employees how to use it. You can use a webinar for the training and include a special prize as an extra incentive to purchase.

In this way, you’re not necessarily upgrading the product itself. Instead your offering other helpful tools that allow customers to get the most out of their purchase. If you’re looking for new products or services to cross-sell, you can also use your webinars to crowdsource ideas.

During Q&A sections, take note of any and all inquiries regarding what customers need to know or do after they’ve started using the product. Chances are they have some problems in common (like the training example above). Those commonalities can be used to create new complementary products or services for future prospects.

How Can I Use Webinars to Upsell and Cross-Sell?

Here are some creative ways to use one or both of these strategies:

• Use a call to action pop-up in your webinar. Link the button to a dedicated landing page with a purchase form for a hassle-free buying process.
  Choose one strategy and stick to it. Attempting to upsell and cross-sell in the same webinar can lead to buyer fatigue. Instead, use one of these techniques sparingly.
• Experiment with each technique and compare results. If you plan to run multiple webinar sessions, try upselling in one and cross-selling in the other. Get a feel for what works best for your audience with the help of quick surveys or polls during your webinar.
• Transparency is key. Customers can sense when you’re trying to make an extra buck versus when the item you upsell or cross-sell will actually help them. Use documents and whiteboards to provide evidence of how great your product or service really is.
• Present your the facts about upgrade or complimentary product. Use KPIs and customer testimonials to demonstrate how great it is so the customer can come to that conclusion on their own. Webinars help you show instead of tell.

Upselling and cross-selling go hand in hand with webinars and you can use many of the tips and tools mentioned in this article to take action today. If you’re looking for more great ways to improve your business, be sure to check out our other great sales solutions.