Band-Aids and Iodine

Perfecting the Art of the Add-On Sale

What is an add-on sale? When I took my first job as a pharmacist, the owner of the pharmacy told me the following: “If a customer is buying a bottle of Tincture of Iodine, ask if he or she has Band-Aids or a sterile dressing.”

He explained that every over-the-counter sale has a companion product that I should suggest the customer purchase. He said that I would probably score about 80 percent of the time — 80 additional sales per hundred customers each day.

Here is a thought. Your company may make an average of 100 OTC sales each day. That means your sales staff is speaking with each of these customers, helping them find the products they seek, reviewing with them how best to use the products and establishing a relationship. Think of what it would mean to your bottom line if your staff were to “add on” one item to each transaction.

Incentive

Reward your salespeople as they perfect their technique to make add-on or companion sales. When you hold your regularly scheduled staff meetings, offer a prize to the salesperson who shows the best results in this area.

Prizes such as a dinner for two or tickets to a show go a very long way toward boosting employee morale and creating an environment of friencly competition. Give your salespeople another reason — in the form of an incentive — to seek add-on sales for your company.

Enthusiasm

A little enthusiasm can make a big difference when you deal with a customer. It can help you close a sale, for instance. Moreover, showing a little enthusiasm when you’re dealing with an irate customer can help resolve a difficult situation. However, you must not fake enthusiasm — false enthusiasm is obvious and ineffective. When you are excited about what you are doing — as you all should be — that enthusiasm will help your company grow.

Service

I’m old enough to remember when “Uncle Miltie,” or Milton Berle, was a television star. What made a lasting impression on me was how the sponsor of his show, Texaco, spoke about its service. Singers, dressed in the Texaco uniform, sang praises about what drivers could expect when buying fuel at their stations: service! Many years later, I still recall what they offered — and delivered.

Service makes for satisfied customers, and satisfied customers will tell their friends and neighbors about what you did. You can’t purchase this kind of advertising — you must earn it.

The other side of the coin is poor service. A disgruntled customer can do a great deal of damage. When the client complains to a friend or neighbor about what you did (or did not do), this can seriously harm your otherwise good reputation.

Thank you

One of the most effective ways to build goodwill — and earn the privilege of obtaining the add-on sale — starts with a simple “thank you.”

When you sell or deliver a piece of equipment, make a phone call the next day to inquire “Has the equipment arrived?” “Have you received instructions for its use?” or “Do you have any questions?” and to say “Thank you for the purchase.” Such a call will go a very long way toward building repeat business. Several dealers I know also send a little note expressing their appreciation for allowing their company to supply the equipment the patient’s physician ordered.

Sheldon “Shelly” Prial is a partner with HPS Healthcare Management. In 1987, he founded the Homecare Providers Co-op, now part of the VGM Group. He can be reached by e-mail at [email protected] or by phone at 888/367-7208.