Marketing Mistake: Not Upselling, Cross-Selling, Or Back-Ending Your Present Customers

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As every agency owner knows, identifying prospects and converting them to customers is a costly process. Yet what do most agencies do when they obtain a new customer? They ignore them entirely and put all their marketing efforts into getting additional new customers.

Once a person has bought from you, that person will most likely want to buy from you again (assuming, of course, you deliver what you promised!). You should list all people who buy, or just inquire, and then attempt to sell them all kinds of related products, services, or upgrades.

The best prospect of all is your existing customer.

Instead of concentrating only on front-end sales, an agency needs to devote a large part of its marketing efforts to upselling, re-selling, and cross-selling to existing customers and prospects.

This concept is not limited to just selling additional insurance products, either.

For example, you can make arrangements with painters, wallpaper hangers, carpenters, or yard services. Refer your qualified Homeowner clients to them for a percentage of the profits they earn from your referral. Then have them do the same for you.

The figure below illustrates the dynamics of this concept. For people who buy product A, a certain percentage will also want to buy product B. A smaller percentage will want Products B, C, and D. A very small (but extremely profitable) number will purchase all the products you have to offer. These are your best customers. They become your advocates.

By not offering other products to them you are literally throwing away huge potential profits.

Brainstorm with your producers and office staff to find any number of related products or services that your customers would have an interest in. If you don't want to sell any of these related items yourself, make a joint venture with someone who does. Give them the names of your customers in exchange for a part of the profit. Don't be afraid to ask for as much as 50% of the profits. After all, it's a sale they probably would never have made otherwise.

Work the back-end again and again.

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