Why would you let a customer choose something?
That has everything to do with the psychology behind choices. Having something to choose makes you feel free, experience control or just make you happy. Just think. How nice is it when you are considering a purchase and suddenly see that you get a second purchase for half as much? If you are not given a choice, you will feel trapped or cornered more quickly. It is then say, take it or leave it. Choices are experienced as pleasant in both the B2C and B2B market. It is therefore very advantageous (for you and the customer) to offer multiple options in your proposals. Just don't choke, because too many choices takes time and in turn leads to doubts. We prefer to drop out, afraid of making the wrong choice. Therefore, do not give more than three choices in your proposal. We will tell you how to do this and what benefits it brings in the following 4 steps.
Step 1: Think customer-oriented
Do you want to get more success and revenue from your proposals? Then immerse yourself in a customer and discover their buying motives. Know what is important to them before starting your proposal. So, when making your proposal, think customer-oriented and give alternatives that remove possible doubts. Make use of upselling and cross selling and you will see that a customer agrees faster.
Step 2: the power of upselling and cross selling in proposals
When you know what a customer finds important and what the (larger) goals of an application are, you can vary with upselling and cross selling. Both sales techniques are demonstrably successful with consumers and businesses. If you know their larger goal or ambition, you can offer additional products or services in your proposal that help achieve those goals more quickly. Trigger the interest in long-term solutions and demonstrate why the customer is better off with this. Suppose you provide sales training and a company asks for a proposal for a training to improve the outbound calling skills of their employees. Experience plays a major role in telephone acquisition. During a conversation you find out that precisely that experience is lacking. You can then offer 3 options:
- a 1-day training (cheapest)
- a 2-day training with return day (slightly more extensive and more expensive)
- a 3-day training and an expert for two weeks (the most expensive but smartest option)
Step 3: work out all the choices
Include what the customer can expect for each choice. For the aforementioned training options, you can include:
a 1-day training: Your employees learn the most important principles and work with existing calling scenarios in just one day.
a 2-day training with a return day: After the basic module, your employees will deepen their knowledge and learn how to write successful call scenarios themselves. During the return day we check progress and make adjustments where necessary.
a 3-day training and an expert for two weeks: After three days of training, your employees can independently write successful calling scenarios, have smooth conversations and onboard new employees. Our expert coaches your employees on the job, guaranteeing quality and results.
Step 4: advise a customer
You can give advice in different ways. For example: Based on our conversations, we are happy to offer you the following three options. Options 1 and 2 are in line with your goals and within budget. Your employees are guaranteed to feel more familiar with telephone acquisition. For the most optimal results, also in the longer term, we advise you to go for option 3. This will lift your department to the next level. The price is slightly higher, but this package is fully in line with your goals and ambitions and guarantees the experience in the long term.
Or a bit more subtle (the unconscious brain is sensitive to this) you give the options value. Option 1 then becomes, for example, the Basic program, option 2 Excellent and option 3 Premium. Finally: a nice button with Most chosen always works well and what about a bonus or VIP arrangement. These are all power words with which you bring a customer or prospect into the right mindset and action mode!
Then this: how do you incorporate your options in your proposal?
With an online proposal tool you can easily make upselling and cross selling options. Interactive tables with check boxes provide an overview so that customers can make a choice very easily. Moreover, you avoid unnecessary time spent on mutual contact about the possibilities and rates. Offorte's proposal tool is a smart platform that allows you to quickly and convincingly put these techniques into practice. Give it a try!
