Cross-selling made easy: first, ensure that all of your employees know the bank's products inside out. Then, train them to ask basic questions about customer needs.

• Author: Sparacino, Joseph
• Position: Fundamentals: Selling to Existing Customers

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Everyone has heard the statistic: Selling a product or service to a new customer costs five times more than selling an additional product or service to an existing customer. Not surprisingly, many banks view cross-selling as an attractive growth strategy--a way to bolster revenue by expanding customer relationships.

Successful cross-selling requires more than mere "selling." It calls for efforts in the areas of both customer service and relationship building. Financial services companies that are good at cross-selling view it as an ongoing process to meet--and exceed--customers' expectations through a full range of financial products and services. To these institutions, cross-selling is the highest form of customer service: a process whereby the right solutions are provided to the customer in the right way at the right time.

What can these leading banks teach you about cross-selling? Let's look at the best practices of some of these top performers--six approaches that drive revenue growth and customer loyalty.

1. Develop a true dialogue with each customer.

   Cross-selling begins with having a conversation focused on uncovering your customer's financial needs. Today's banking customers are much more educated and savvy than ever before and are looking to their bankers for financial advice. They know when they're being sold to. The warning bells go off immediately when a banker approaches from a position of "pushing" a particular product versus really understanding each customer's unique needs.

   Build rapport with your customers by getting to know them and their needs. Ask thought-provoking, open-ended questions about their financial goals and what concerns they may have. Listen closely to the answers. When a potential need arises, ask what steps they have taken to solve it. This type of collaborative dialogue helps establish you as a trusted financial adviser seeking to satisfy each customer's acknowledged needs, rather than merely trying to make a sale.

2. Know the ins and outs of your product offerings.

   In large measure, cross-selling success is grounded in product mastery. It means knowing the features and benefits of your bank's products and services down cold and being able to provide customers with an immediate, seamless verbal link to fulfilling their needs. When mastery is achieved, you can respond to customers in a way that delivers your value proposition and positively impacts your organization's bottom line.

   Be familiar with each product's strengths and know its capabilities and compatibilities with other products your bank offers. Develop...