Question #43: What’s An Up-Sell Offer And What Are The Best Types To Utilize?

Answer: An up-sell is where you sell up someone in the same transaction to more products. Let us explain.

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What’s An Up-Sell Offer

A product can be software or service I’ll just use product in a generic sense.  That means when someone is buying something from you, a prospect, for the first time an up-sell is where before they place their order they have the opportunity, which is critical to buy something else.

That’s why they call it up-sell.  Traditionally the word up-sell means from the lineage of the term, if you were to sell a direct response television spot and you saw an up-sell it would be two of the same species of product.

If you got roll-o-magic you would get a second one for half price.  If you got Thigh Master you’d get a second one for half price that’s called an up-sell.  If you get a blender you get the second one for half price or third, free or whatever that’s an up-sell.

I use up-sell more as a colloquial term as a catch-all selling anything.  Typically, in the direct response circles they call that a cross sell, because you’re cross selling different species of products, so if you want the handbook to roll-o-magic to teach you how to chop up food it’s an extra $5 that’s a cross sell.

If you like the recipe book for the juicer, that’s a cross sell it costs $5 more.  I’m just going to use the up-sell as a generic term.  The best and easiest way to up-sell anyone is through repurposing.  When you up-sell food and you repurpose it through a book what a great up-sell.

If you’re up-selling a diet program and you up-sell it with food like Weight Watchers does then you’re up-selling it’s in the same transaction.

What I love about an up-sell in the information marketing business forget consumer products for now, in information marketing even though every product is consumable, an information product is consumable and if you doubt that, if you bought five books from Stephen King and all five weren’t ready you won’t buy a sixth one.

You have to read at least one or two of them and consume the book then going to the sixth and seventh one, so every information product is a consumable product just like every business is an information marketing business every information marketing product is a consumable product.

Do you see how this works?  You’re a consumer of information.  Video, written word or audio you are consuming isn’t that beautiful how it works.  It’s like poetry.

Therefore, what happens is, when you have an up-sell with an information product I love putting pressure and tension in giving people access to the content on perpetuity.  I love to build pressure and tension to give people access to the content on perpetuity.

What does that mean?  That means forever.  What does that look like?  This is what it looks like.  If you buy an audio-based live teleseminar let’s say at AskBobProctor.com.  You go to a page on that address and the question that’s raised is; what’s your most important question about reprogramming your mind for more riches and wealth?

You ask the question, you Opt-in and now we have your Opt-in and your question.  Then you say great I’m glad that’s your question.  You may even print it on the next web page to show them here’s the question and some of the other questions we may cover during the live teleseminar.

That’s a thank you page on steroids.

So you list those questions, because you know you’re going to ask those questions of yourself or someone else.  Then you say listen, for $29 would you like to attend this teleseminar?  Again, we’re back to a teleseminar, because it’s fast and easy.

If no one shows up there’s no humiliation you can hang up, which is unlike a physical seminar.  I hope you’re smiling, because that’s true.

With that teleseminar before they order the $29 there’s an intermediary page.  It goes in between the order and the shopping cart.  The shopping cart is where they make the final purchase.  It says $29 then boom they click and it says wait, before you go would you like to get access to the PDF enhanced transcripts from this call as well as the online audio and downloadable.

How much did that cost me?  Nothing, other than editing it, because I’m not giving a CD; enhanced, edited, audio transcripts, so I’m getting the PDF transcript and I’m getting the audio.  That’s an up-sell and that’s also repurposing.  How would you like to get that for $10?

Do they think $39?  No, they think $10.  They’re buying a call for $29, which you’ve established and for $10 more they’re getting the audio transcript that’s a world-class up-sell.  That can get traction of 85-90%.  I’ve gotten as high as 93%, which is unheard of.  Why?  It gives people perpetuity forever access to the content.

Also, if they can get a refund up to 365 days after the event, even better because there you’re taking the burden of truth and putting it on your shoulders.  That’s the best up-sell I’ve found in repurposing a teleseminar.  What’s the best type of up-sell?  A repurposed up-sell.

What type of repurposed up-sell is best for a teleseminar?

Audio transcripts for $10 or $20 more.  Does a CD work?  Sure, but that’s physical and plastic, it’s not green and you have to mail the thing, which costs you money.

If someone refunds you it’s more trouble and more struggle.  A digital PDF transcript is something I’ve already talked about that you digitally download something via molecules with a PDF.  Audio can be an online button as well as a digital download as a bonus.

It’s like taking a podcast into their iPod or portable media player, so you see all the cascading audio content and written content, so now they can go through that call for life.

You say, even if you can’t make the call they’re registered anyway, because if you get the audio transcripts you can get access to it for life and you have a 365 day guarantee.  Boom, instant order!

How do you get an instant order, even though I’ve been doing it for years?  You up-sell the repurposed content I hope that makes sense, it’s so powerful.  What’s the best type? Repurposed content that’s the best thing.

The best up-sell script for a television show that I’ve been a part of is one where we forced the issue and it looked like this.  It wasn’t a cookbook to a wok or juicer, it wasn’t a membership and it wasn’t up-selling vitamins it was a flash.

We were selling the Nipon Camera, which was a 1995 35mm camera with a flash that was $19.  We said this you do want to take pictures indoors don’t you?  What do you think they said?  They said yes, of course.  If you take advantage of today’s special offer you get the Nipon flash for $5 less plus we’ll pay for shipping and handling.

Look at the power of that.  You save $5 plus we pay for shipping and handling.  Did you know we pay your shipping and handling?  It puts more pressure on a yes than shipping and handling is free.  When you say we pay, for whatever reason it has a higher traction on the prospect.

Remember these, because these are templates and tested sentences that sell.  We pay your shipping and handling versus free shipping and handling.  We pay beats it out every time.  Two for the price of one does not beat out buy one get one free.

Buy one get one free does not diminish value of the one you’re getting free, but two for the price of one does diminish the value.  You may have heard me say it before, so buy one get one free is what you want to say, so you don’t diminish value.

Two for the price of one is cutting that in half and saying it wasn’t worthwhile anyway, we were over charging to begin with.  Do you see the insinuation there that’s powerful?  With up-sell remember the word relevant that’s why Google is Google, because of relevancy.

If Google had you look up things that didn’t show up for the search results, if Google didn’t give you relevant results than you wouldn’t use Google, so relevance is critically important.  Make sure your up-sell is relevant.