Jump-start cross-selling: guidelines and suggestions for implementing an effective cross-selling program.

• Author: Sandenaw, Richard L.
• Position: Sales

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Perhaps this story is familiar: With the best of intentions, management introduces cross-sell training but, after a while, because of other organizational priorities, the program loses momentum.

The reality is that the initiating or improving the effectiveness of cross-selling is a process that takes time and requires continuous reinforcement. Like many long-term projects, cross-selling should have a senior manager who is assigned organizational responsibility to get the job done--like that of a project manager on a core-system conversion project. Cross-selling must become part of every process, including staffing, so that even prospective employees understand its importance before being hired.

There are several techniques for implementing a cross-selling program. And there is plenty of opportunity for customizing for each situation. However, the recommended approach is for the project is to have tasks implemented as part of a continuous, ongoing process, and not simply as a one-time event.

How should a bank get started? The following suggestions can be incorporated as applicable into a list with two categories: (1) Short-term tasks to begin with, meaning those things to work on now and during the next several months, and, (2) Tasks to undertake over a longer period.

Short Term

(1) Getting started.

The bank's senior management team should hold a planning discussion focused on cross-selling to decide the undertaking's goal. Some of the questions that need to be addressed:

* Who will be the organizational champion.

* How to describe the project to employees.

* How to measure cross-selling activity.

* How to recognize when the culture has changed.

It might also be useful to perform at least an informal evaluation of the staffs' current cross-selling skills. This might be as simple as reviewing current reports on new-account growth, loan production, and the number of products and services per household. It might be useful to know about recent training efforts and emphasis programs, and revisit what worked and what didn't. It might also be useful to interview a sample of customer-contact personnel about cross-selling to determine what they think is expected and what they think might be beneficial.

(2) Conduct initial in-house training.

The senior management team should make sure that there is clear communication to all personnel on the purpose of cross-selling and the reasons for the organizational emphasis. It is advisable to discuss expectations and explain why this project is being tackled, especially with customer-contact personnel.

Initial training should cover basic cross-selling approaches with examples and "scripts." Employees can be given start-up phrases that are similar to those used in a fast-food restaurant: "Would you like French fries or onion rings...