Question

Topic: Strategy

Cross/up Selling Or Other?

Posted by adammjw on 6/30/2005 at 5:17 AM ET 250 Points
Hi everybody!

If you do not mind I would like to take a bit of your time to help me address a following theoretical issue.
A company sells fancy designer leather items ranging from belts, wallets to suitcases.Having won a considerable number of customers they cherish good relationships with their customers offering products which the clients need, like and enjoy.Naturally trying to expand their business with their existing customers they also offer Kenzo belt to somebody who already bought a Kenzo wallet( cross- selling) and come up with more sophisticated or novel Kenzo belt as soon as it's launched(up-selling).However once in a while products run out of stock and it takes approx. 6- 8 weeks for a customer to have exactly what he needs.In such cases the company offers alternative products like a Prada belt instead of a Kenzo one.The offered product can be either very similar in design or nearly same price, sometimes cheaper and sometimes more expensive.My question is what would you call it? Is this alternative proposition an example of cross-selling, up-selling( perhaps when it's more expensive) or a hybrid?
Looking forward to your responses,

Thanks for your time.

Adam
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by Chris Blackman on 6/30/2005 at 7:47 AM Accepted
    Sounds like sales people solving logistics and supply-chain issues with creative product substitution to meet customer needs.

    Why does it matter what you call it?

    The important thing is you are meeting the customer's needs (otherwise they wouldn't fall for it) at the same time as you're meeting or exceeding sales targets.

    Regardless of the stock situation in any one brand or line.

    I think the name for this is just creative selling. And it's a problem-solving skill-set that's required to pull it off. Not everybody can think that fast, or on the fly. So if you wanted to embed the technique in a process, you could call it Substitutional selling, and create a matrix of products that could be sold in conjunction with other products, then another matrix or list of alternatives to the on/up/cross-sell products, let's call them "substitute" products.

    But maybe you're over-thinking it. If this is just one store, and you have creative sales people, half the fun for the customer will be the excitement of a unique combination every time they buy, rather than a pre-programmed exercise with predictable outcomes.

    Hope this helps.

    ChrisB
  • Posted by adammjw on 6/30/2005 at 8:10 AM Author
    Chris,

    No having closed the question I want to thank you for your imput.
    The funny thing is I termed it for myself as " substitute selling" and convinced the company to use it in order to not only give customers fun&experience but also ready to use solutions in such cases.The matrix of alternative products is already there as the company uses a network of distributors to sell the products.
    So apart from cross/up selling I think it's an additional technique.I didn't dare to term it creative selling as it's rather pre-programmed.

    Thanks again for your help.

    Regards

    Adam
  • Posted by adammjw on 6/30/2005 at 8:22 AM Author
    Chris,

    Thank you for your input.Now having closed the question as it seems to me the right answer, not only becasue I agree with it:).Funny to say I termed it to myself"substitute selling" as I didn't dare to call it creative selling.The thing is I convinced the company to use that approach not only to offer extra fun& out-of-the common experience to its customers but also to add value to their former cross/up selling.As the company has a network of distributors I came up with precisely a matrix of alternative products which could or even should be offered in case of stock shortages.Thus in my opinion it adds some extra value to the ways their products are marketed& sold.

    Thanks again for your help.

    Adam
  • Posted by ReadCopy on 6/30/2005 at 12:38 PM Member
    Sounds like "Customer Service" to me!
  • Posted by adammjw on 6/30/2005 at 12:50 PM Author
    Andrew,

    Of course you are right, but thus we could replace most terms&techniques calling them simply customer service.

    Thanks for simplifying the story.

    Adam
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