The Fools Gold of Telemarketing - the Supplementary or Upgraded Sale

Before working in the bus hire business I was involved in the telemarketing of dining cards. This article is based on the dining card industry but it equally applies to all telesales efforts.

The fools gold in the dining card industry are: 1. Supplementary Cards and 2. Gold/Platinum Cards.

The Supplementary Card

What a great idea! We sell say 100 cards per week. What if we were to up sell to every buyer a supplementary card for say half price? In that way we issue a piece of plastic in the name of the wife or relative and scoop another 50% with very little extra outlay. What could be wrong with that? Answer - everything!

The medium term result of doing this is that the 100 sales you were making at full rate end up being 60 full rate sales and 40 supplementary sales. Ouch. What just happened to the revenue?

The reasons for this are likely to be: - sales consultants and managers start to consider a supplementary sale as just another sale and therefore feel like they are reaching their quota early. Sales consultants start to make dodgy sales. When no supplements are available the sales consultant will strongly consider that the person buy a full membership for their relative or at least give them the names of their relatives so that they can call them to sell a membership. With supplements they tend to say "Hey, I can get you another membership for half price." Full sales lost!

The Upper Level (gold or platinum) Cards

Similarly, introducing a card that costs double seems like a great idea. If 40% of people are prepared to buy a card for a different color for 50% more money, what can be wrong with that. Answer - everything!

The reasons that it isn't a good idea are: - products that are sold with telemarketing need to be very clear and very simple. They have to be fully explained on the phone and a sale must be closed on the phone. If you introduce two levels of membership (or a second product altogether) then that creates maximum confusion and a choice for the customer - a choice and confusion that usually results in a rejection.- the existence of an upper level membership tends to reduce the value of the standard membership. The standard membership loses.

So, keep it clear and keep it strong. Don't try to upgrade or up sell your customers. It's fools gold. If you want to up sell your customers, try doing it at a later date. Don't try it at the initial sale.

As a footnote, you might be wondering whether the same applies to bus hire or car hire. Well, no. This is about telesales. In the car hire industry you can upgrade customers at the point of sale. They are standing in your showroom and 99% of the time they have ordered your product and they are at the collection stage when they are in your office. Telesales is an entirely different matter. For more information visit to bus hire.