Sales techniques – Complementary selling

The complementary sale technique consists of adding another sale to the same customer in order to improve satisfaction while increasing the invoice.

Complementary and enriched sales

Complementary selling aims to add a product or service to make the offer more complete, whileupselling involves selling something better. These two sales techniques are similar, but different.

Examples of complementary sales:

• Selling coffee and croissants
• A meal with dessert
• A plane ticket with insurance
• A car with snow tires

Examples of enriched sales

• Offer a cappuccino instead of a regular coffee
• A la carte instead of a menu
• A first-class plane ticket
• A top-of-the-range car

Benefits of complementary sales

• Simple sales techniques
• We start by meeting the customer’s immediate need, which doesn’t scare him off
• If the complementary sale is lost, the sale already made is not reinstated.
• Easily increase sales
• Improves customer satisfaction

Sales stages

1. Sales preparation
2. Contact us
3. Discovering the customer’s immediate needs
4. Solution offer
5. Answering objections
6. Complementary products can also be used to respond to objections by answering the customer’s needs.
7. Closing the sale
8. Customer care

Complementary sales in the form of a global offer

The most sophisticated form of complementary selling is the global offer, which is known by different names depending on the business sector:

• Package deals with telephone companies or Internet providers
• Restaurant menu
• Tourism packages
• Bundle in IT

The sale then takes place in two stages:

1. The seller offers complementary products and services
2. He then offers the customer an even more complete package, with a higher overall price but lower individual prices. The customer gets more for a lower unit price.

In conclusion

Every company should train its sales reps in upselling, as it’s the simplest and most effective way of increasing sales.