How To Get Your Customers To Spend More Money With You Every Time They Buy!

This is one of the most powerful profit-building concepts you'll ever learn. So, learn it well.

The reason this step is so important is that once the customer has already decided to do business with you, he or she already trusts you (at least a little bit). And when you get them to make a purchase, they have to relax their grip on the purse strings. And while the purse is open, it's easy to get them to dig a little deeper.

Look at it this way. You've already spent the money to acquire this customer, so any additional sales automatically have a higher profit margin than the original sale.

You've got no marketing expense associated with the additional sale.

And the customer is in a buying mood!

Two of the best techniques for this are The Bump and The Upsell

Let's start with a perfect example of The Bump. Have you ever been to McDonald's?

That's probably a silly question, but believe it or not, Brad has a friend who's in his mid-forties and claims to have never eaten at a McDonald's.

He may be the only person in the country who can say that. Anyway, next time you go to a McDonald's, order a sandwich and drink (but no fries) and see what happens. You'll personally experience a simple, ridiculously easy, million-dollar bump.

That's right. McDonald's has made untold millions of dollars with the most simple bump of all.

You see, if you place an order that doesn't include french fries, the counter person will immediately and cheerfully suggest some hot, delicious fries.

And, if you're anything like the rest of us, you'll probably have him or her add fries to your order.

Just the mere suggestion causes a certain percentage of people to go ahead and order the fries.

And we're not talking about a few isolated cases, either. One contact we know told us that between a third and three quarters of the people who don't initially order fries, add them on.

Does this really add up to anything?

Let's take a look. Let's say an order of fries sells for about eighty cents and costs about a dime. These are guesses, but they're close enough for our example. Further, say that an average of 200 people a day at each McDonald's don't initially order fries.

If only half of them add the fries (100 people), that means each McDonald's just added $80 per day to its sales and $70 per day to its profits.

Multiply that for a whole year and it's $29,200 in sales and $25,550 in profits.

Now, there are about ten thousand McDonald's in the U.S., so that adds up to $292,000,000 in extra sales and $255,500,000 in extra profits from this one little bump. And all they do is make a simple little suggestion.

Let's look at a few more examples of effective bumps and then start thinking about how you can use this hot technique to bump up your own profits.

Back when we were in the video business, we used bumps and upsells very effectively. One example is whenever someone bought a new VCR, our salespeople would simply ask whether they wanted three or four video tapes to start with.

They almost always bought three.

Why did we offer them three or four?

Well, we found through testing that if we offered one or two, they usually bought one. If we offered two or three, they usually bought two.

But, if we offered four or five, they often went all the way down to one. That probably means that we tried for too big a bump.

You see, back then video tapes were around $20 each so five tapes was a hundred-dollar bump. That's a bit more than an eighty cent order of fries, isn't it?

Let's bump a little bit more.

Have you ever bought new furniture without the salesman asking you to add on the Scotchguard stain protection? Probably not.

That's because when you buy a thousand-dollar sofa, it's not very hard to convince you to add stain protection for only fifty or a hundred dollars.

Our sources in the furniture business tell us that about 80% of their customers buy the bump and that it costs them peanuts to do the service.

In fact, they say that it's almost all profit. What if a furniture store sells five major pieces a day and they're open about three hundred and sixty days a year. If they add $75 profit to each of these sales it adds about $135,000 a year to the bottom line.

Remember, this technique costs nothing, and doesn't even require any kind of a hard sell. Simply suggest the appropriate option to what the customer has already decided to buy.

It's basically a numbers game. Even with just a mere suggestion of the bump, a certain percentage of the people are going to buy it. No muss, no fuss, just added profit.

Car salesmen are experts at the bump. Most people, when they buy a new car, negotiate their best deal. Then, after the deal is struck, the salesman suggests such things as additional options, rustproofing, service contracts, etc.

By the time the customer signs the final papers and takes delivery of the car, the price is often several hundred (or thousand) dollars higher than the original deal.

Want to make your bump even more profitable? Of course you do. After all, we're talking about doubling your business, aren't we?

Try this. When you decide on the option or accessory to use for your bump, offer it at a reduced price.

Explain to customers how much more enjoyment or usefulness they'll get from the widget they just bought if they also have a gadget to go with it.

Tell them the gadget usually sells for X dollars, but they can add it to their purchase today for only Y dollars. Point out that eventually they'll want to add it anyway, and that if they wait, they'll have to pay the regular price.

Generally, this approach bumps enough more people to more than make up for the discounted price on the gadget.

Here's an important concept that you should always remember, everybody loves a special deal. Therefore, you can often use something that's only loosely related to the customer's purchase for a bump.

Offer a special discount on something the customer may want in the future.

If the bump is something that doesn't become stale, dated, or obsolete quickly, many customers will buy it just to get the savings even though they may not need it right away.

Of course, you don't have to be in a retail or service business to use a bump. It's an extremely powerful technique in mail order too.

Why not add a bump to a powerful sales letter? The technique is the same.

Once the reader is salivating to get all the wonderful benefits of your main product, offer a little bonus if they also add the bump.

If you do follow-up telemarketing with your mail order sales, the telemarketer is in a perfect position to offer a bump.

Major mail order companies are expert at this. They know how much additional profit it represents.

Now get out a legal pad and start brainstorming what you can use for bumps in your business.

List all the various options and accessories available for your main products.

List any and all additional services you can add to your main service.

List any (even loosely) related products you could provide to your current customers.

List everything that comes to mind -- even if it doesn't make sense right away. You see, many times a ridiculous suggestion can lead the way to something quite workable. Let your creative juices flow.

Finally, think about any informational products you could create to complement the products and services you sell.

Information products are incredibly profitable and carry high perceived value. You could probably produce a series of reports, or manuals, or how-to materials which your customers would love.

Also, consider creating your own audio or videotape sets to use as both main products and bumps. They carry an enormous perceived value and cost peanuts to produce.

Now, let's look at another great way to get your customers to increase the size of their order.

It's called The Upsell.

An upsell is related to the bump, but it's a slightly bigger step. In this case, you're going to sell some of your customers a bigger or better item instead of (or in addition to) adding a bump.

Simply show the customer a widget that's better, bigger, or faster than the one he or she was considering -- but with some special consideration such as a substantial discount, more favorable payment terms, extra options, or accessories.

If you become known as a business that delivers incredible values, you can't lose. Remember, people can't resist a bargain.

Offer to sell the higher-priced model with a larger discount than the moderately priced one. Everybody wins here. The customer gets a much better value, and you get a bigger sale.

You're taking a smaller percentage of profit on the higher sale, but you're probably making more actual dollars. Plus, the customer is usually thrilled with the great deal.

That's where the magic comes in.

Make certain the customer is happy. Don't try to sell the customer something that's way out of their price range. They'll end up resenting you for it. Don't get greedy!

A long time ago, Brad made his first (of very few) stock market investments. He bought a stock recommended by a friend. From the moment he bought it, the stock started steadily rising.

This excited Brad so he bought more. And then more. And even still more.

Soon, he had quite a bit of money invested in the stock. It was still climbing, and Brad had already doubled his money.

Do you think Brad decided to sell some of his stock, take some profit, and reduce his risk?

No way. He was going to make a killing.

What do you think happened? That's right, the stock tumbled in a short time and Brad ended up losing even more than his entire original investment.

He learned a valuable lesson...

Bulls make money and bears make money, but pigs get slaughtered!

The same is true with your upsell. If you get greedy and try to "bleed" your customers, you'll end up losing big in the long run.

Of course, you don't want to go to the other extreme either. Don't be afraid to sell your customers things which will benefit them. Offer them terrific values without trying to suck them dry and you'll make a fortune.

The upsell can be as simple as moving the customer to the next better (more expensive) model. A certain percentage of customers are going to easily move up and spend more money. That's added profit.

Or, you can create a deluxe package of products or services that includes a better model. The package deal is much better than the regular deal so many customers will buy it.

Or you could do a "buy two get three" sale. Some people would call this a bump, others would call it an upsell. Either way, it means more profit to you, and a better deal for the customer.

Don't confuse an upsell with "bait and switch." They are entirely different things. Bait and switch is a sleazy tactic that some retailers use to lure customers into their store and unscrupulously upsell them.

In these cases, the retailer advertises something at a ridiculously low price to lure customers into the store. There's nothing wrong with that, except that the retailer then tells the customer they're out of stock on that item.

Sometimes, even if they have the item in stock, they use high-pressure, intimidating sales practices to force the customer to buy a more expensive model.

Don't do this! It's unethical and in many (if not all) states, illegal!

And if your sense of ethics doesn't prevent you from trying this, let your greed keep you honest.

It's been proven time and time again that practices like this, although they may generate short-term profits, will end up costing you far more in the long run. Customers, even those who buy the more expensive item, end up feeling cheated.

They won't be in a hurry to do more business with you, and they'll spread the word to their friends. In the long run, practices like this will put you out of business.

Does that mean that you shouldn't advertise low prices? Of course not. It simply means that you should only advertise what you're willing to sell.

Instead of bait and switch tactics, use step-up selling or the upsell.

Here's how. Go ahead and advertise a great deal on a leader item, but be ready to offer an even more enticing deal on a more deluxe product.

When customers come in looking for the advertised special, be polite, informative, and helpful. Treat them with respect.

Point out that you do, in fact, have the advertised model in stock and ready for immediate sale. Point out also that the better model is also on sale and the savings on it are even bigger.

Teach them the benefits of the better model and offer to show it to them. Many of them will eagerly buy the more expensive model and be glad you took the time to show it to them.

The key is that you gave them great service and a great deal. You're happy with a bigger sale and they're happy with a better deal.

Another way to get customers to increase the size of their orders is to make it easier for them to pay for them.

Offer as many easy-payment methods as you can. Offer financing, credit cards, cash checks, layaway, and whatever else you can think of.

The easier you make it for them to spend money with you the more they'll spend.

Just like the bump, the upsell isn't confined to retail stores. If you sell by mail and someone calls to order an item, you can still perform the upsell.

If you're selling a book, upsell them to a home study course. If you're selling a home study course, upsell them to the version with audio or videotapes, or a package including telephone support.

The possibilities are endless.