Upselling and Cross-Selling: 8 Tips for Music Stores

9:42

Running a successful small business is all about using your resources to their greatest potential.

Even with a small retail space or limited inventory, you can achieve great success by maximizing the use of your resources. One of the best ways to do this is to implement upselling and cross-selling techniques.

A music store is a prime environment for implementing these techniques, which will help you sell more merchandise to every customer that enters your shop. In this blog, we’ll provide eight actionable tips for implementing upselling and cross-selling for your music business — both online and in store.

1. Understand Upselling and Cross-Selling

So, what are upselling and cross-selling?

Upselling involves persuading a customer to add an extra item or choose a more expensive one. Cross-selling involves selling related items together, either by displaying them side by side or bundling them into one purchase.

These techniques can boost the average purchase amount at your music store, adding to your bottom line. They also increase the rate of inventory turnover. If some items aren’t selling as quickly as you’d like, they can be upsold or cross-sold with other items to prevent them from sitting on the shelves.

If a bundle of items is sold for less than the price of the individual items combined, the customer will recognize a higher value — making them more likely to make a purchase.

Musical instruments need regular care and maintenance, requiring various tools, supplies, and replacement parts. These items can be easily upsold or cross-sold to customers.

Here are some items you could upsell or cross-sell to customers:

Cleaning cloths and brushes
Oil/grease
Digital tuners
Carrying cases
Sheet music books
Replacements for commonly damaged parts

These techniques also apply to the instruments themselves. For example, if a customer wants a basic or mid-level guitar, you could persuade them to invest in a high-end guitar that will last them longer and deliver a higher quality sound. While not all customers will choose the more expensive item, the more regularly you attempt to upsell, the more success you’re likely to have.

2. Know Your Products and Customers

To upsell or cross-sell effectively, you must thoroughly understand your products and how they relate to each other. Some accessories will be for string instruments, others for wind instruments, and others for percussion instruments. Try to upsell products that relate to what the customer is buying and that will improve their experience with the instrument. Otherwise, the customer is unlikely to buy in.

It’s also important to understand your various customer segments and their budgets. If a student is renting or buying their first instrument to participate in the school band, or more likely, a parent is renting or buying for them, price sensitivity is likely to be high — and they aren’t likely to be upsold to a more premium product. However, they may be likely to buy necessary accessories, desiring to buy everything needed at once.

A more experienced musician may be more receptive to a more expensive instrument. Ask questions to understand a buyer’s financial situation before attempting to upsell.

3. Train Your Staff

To fully implement upselling and cross-selling at your music store, you need to train your staff to consistently utilize these techniques. Explain to them how these techniques benefit the store — including increasing average purchase amounts and moving stubborn inventory. You might even pay them a commission based on how much they’re able to upsell.

To help staff improve their upselling techniques, you could do role-playing exercises during staff meetings. Have staff practice upselling to you and to each other. This will help them feel more comfortable and confident.

Train staff to interact with customers in a friendly manner and offer their recommendations without being unnecessarily pushy.

4. Enhance the In-Store Experience

There are several in-store strategies you can implement to increase sales. One is to create strategic product displays. If you have a certain instrument on display, display repair tools, replacement parts, and carrying cases with it to prompt additional purchases.

You might also display various brands of an instrument together — one for a beginner, one of higher quality, and one high-quality, premium instrument. This will help people understand their options and see your more expensive items.

Placing multiple items in bundles is a great way to cross-sell items. If you have a lot of students buying their first instruments, you can create a beginner bundle that includes everything a student will need to clean, maintain, and transport their instrument. Even if these bundles are priced higher than the instrument on its own, parents will have peace of mind knowing their child has everything they need.

5. Optimize Your Online Music Store

If you sell online, you can also implement upselling and cross-selling on your website. When a customer looks at an instrument, you can set your website up to recommend a higher-quality version or accessories related to the product. Many sites use algorithms that automatically connect related products or products frequently purchased at the same time.

Bundling can also be done online. Online shoppers often prefer to make one large purchase as opposed to several small ones, and to further entice a customer to buy a bundle of products, you could offer free shipping.

6. Craft Persuasive Messaging

Like any salesperson, if you’re going to upsell or cross-sell at your music store, you need to prepare a pitch. Think through how buying a more premium instrument or accessories for that instrument will help the customer.

Will it offer greater convenience? Will it help them to become a better musician? Will the instrument sound better? Whatever the benefit, communicate it clearly and persuasively.

You can boost your sales by creating limited-time offers, too. For example, if you have a beginners’ bundle that you usually sell to students, you might reduce the price of that bundle in August and September, when it’s most heavily purchased. By reducing the price, you can tell prospective customers that they can get it cheaper for a limited time, encouraging them to purchase the bundle quickly.

7. Run Promotions and Campaigns

Special promotions and marketing campaigns can help you do more upselling and cross-selling. In addition to back-to-school deals, you can offer bundles and deals for the holiday season and at other opportune times throughout the year.

Loyalty programs reward customers for making purchases. To encourage customers to make a larger purchase, you can remind them that a more expensive item earns them more points and gets them closer to their next reward.

Email campaigns can also be effective in keeping your music store top-of-mind for a customer. Based on past purchases, you can send customers information about upgrades, related accessories, and other deals to encourage them to make additional purchases.

8. Leverage Data and Analytics

The most successful companies use data to optimize their operations, and so can you at your small music business. One of the best ways to measure your success in upselling and cross-selling is to look at your average purchase amount — if it’s increasing, you’re likely succeeding in your upselling efforts.

As you look at sales data, pay attention to which products are frequently purchased together. You may find that some of these combinations surprise you. Investigate why certain products are bought together — and if you aren’t already, intentionally cross-sell these items.

Finally, seek out and consider customer feedback. Ask your customer to leave reviews and ask them in person about their experiences with your products. If they bought a bundle of products, ask them how it has served them and which products they’ve used the most. These answers can help you know what benefits to talk about as you sell these items in the future.

Upselling and Cross-Selling With Music Shop 360

When customers enter your small music store, they’re looking for an instrument, but they likely don’t know exactly what they’re looking for. By implementing upselling and cross-selling techniques, you can make sure they have a premium, high-quality instrument — and everything they need to take care of it. Not only are your customers more informed and better equipped when you do this, but you add to your store’s bottom line as well.

Upselling and cross-selling can significantly increase sales and profits at your music store, especially when paired with sound inventory management practices and a high-quality website. A point of sale (POS) system can help you with all of these tasks.

Music Shop 360 is an all-in-one, cloud-based POS system designed specifically for music stores. With payment processing, website development, marketing tools, and more, Music Shop 360 lightens the load of running a music store and empowers you to reach your goals as a small business owner. Schedule a demo today!