What Else Would They Buy?

I just got back from a guitar workshop led by Robin Nolan. Robin’s a terrific musician and a good teacher. But he missed a real opportunity at the workshop.

The 6-volume Robin Nolan Gypsy Jazz Songbook series is considered the “essential text” by students of the genre. Robin’s also written several other well-regarded guitar books. I own volumes 1-3, and brought cash to buy the rest of the set. But he didn’t have any of the books with him. So he lost about a hundred bucks in incremental revenue from me. Multiply that lost opportunity by the other dozen students in the class, and you’ll have an idea of how much he could have made if he’d brought books to sell with him.

A Customers in your store or on your web site may have come for a specific item. Some of them — not all, but a significant number — could be upsold into related items or services. Some examples:

On the web, Amazon always offers something extra under the heading “People who bought [your item] also bought…”.

When you buy a suit from Men’s Wearhouse, their salespeople always lay out a selection of shirts and ties that match the suit. Not everyone bites, but a lot of customers walk out of the store with an extra bag full of “stuff.”

What else would your customers buy — if only you made the offer?

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