Three strps to cross-sell success.

• Author: Triplett, Ted
• Position: CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIPS/RETENTION

IT'S EASY TO BUILD A CASE FOR CROSS-SELLING additional products and services to customers. The hard part is developing a program that's measure-able and effective.

Cross-selling is essential to developing strong, lasting customer relationships. Therefore, the first phase of creating a successfully cross-sell program should be a series of value-focused touch points that provide information about your bank and encourages customers to provide feedback.

First: Make your initial messages service-oriented. They should highlight the value delivered by your bank and products -- and highlight messages that stress the specific benefits of having a relationship with your bank.

These initial communications set expectations and educate your customers about your products and fees. It's important at this stage to provide customers with opportunities to provide feedback, ask questions and clarify information about your bank and its products.

Active, satisfied engagement leads to long-term cross-sell success much more effectively than pushing products and services. Why? It shows your customers you care more about them, not what you sell.

Second, focus on identifying and meeting the needs of your customers: Only by learning what your customers need can you provide them with appropriate offers. And, the more insight about your customer needs, the more successful your cross-sell program.

This stage requires two-way communication with your customers. The best way to find out what customer need is simply to ask them via a personal needs assessment. To be effective, ask customers if and when they plan on experiencing specific life events in the next 12 months -- such as graduating from college, becoming a parent, getting married, buying or selling a home.

The customer's responses allow you to send relevant offers at the specific time the customer expressed a need. If the customer doesn't express a need on the assessment, you can use analytics (next-best or predictive modeling) to determine the offer.

Third and last: Make the offer. It...