I got cross sold today

...and I bet you did too. But I also got offered an ancillary product and wasn't even a little bit annoyed by either.

We were staying at a hotel, getting ready for the evening, when my husband realized he had forgotten collar stays. We set out to solve the problem, and were pleasantly surprised to find a Johnston & Murphy right across the street. The sales associate greeted us pleasantly, let us browse for a bit and then asked if she could help. She promptly showed us where to find the collar stays we were looking for and then casually pointed out the sale items located close by. My husband saw a pair of sandals he was interested in, and she went off to look for his size. Unfortunately, they weren't available, but she arrived with two other sale shoes in his size (cross-sell!). As we proceeded to checkout, she mentioned the shoe shine products behind the counter (ancillary!).

While we left the store with only the collar stays we came for, the expertise of this associate resulted in our consideration of multiple other products. If implemented well, this type of strategy can result in a significant lift in revenue for a retailer. In this blog I will explore how others have added this type of sales technique to their strategy. I hope you'll come back to read more and share your experiences with excellent merchandising techniques.