Increase Sales by Upselling Your Stitch Count through Customization

Increase Sales by Upselling Your Stitch Count through Customization

Upsell: To work creatively with a customer in order to suggest additional embroidery that adds customization to their design and a unique quality to their embroidered items – enough, perhaps, to evoke compliments and comments. And dare I say it: WOW!

And when it comes to embroidery, where stitch count is your price provider, the more stitches you can talk your customer into paying you for, the better. And so, you’ll want to pay a lot of attention to the person (customer) who stands before you. What kind of car did they drive? Any bumper stickers? Do they have a pet on a leash? Regardless of what they are looking for to be embellished, further customization is nearly always possible.

With your larger customers, who may be having shirts or caps embroidered with a logo, are they celebrating a special event? An anniversary? Do they support a particular charity or local organization? Are they aware that there are more than just left chest or cap fronts to brand? While you are not looking to make a simple job overly complex, it never hurts to suggest a little creative placement of slogans or dates.

And personalization is so “in” right now! To call it a trend may be too bold, but most folks love to see their name or initials permanently added to a favorite article of clothing. Think of suggesting it to the next person who comes in looking for branded items for their company picnic. By providing something unique and creative to their boss, you make them look like a hero, which almost guarantees their coming back to you the next time a project is on the table.

Personally, I think the promotion of personal branding is the most fun. You just have to find a happy medium between being thought of as A.) a helpful, inquisitive sales professional; B.) a clever individual who is looking for ways for the person standing before you to stand out from the crowd; and C.) a creepy stalker. You’ll want to avoid “C” at all costs. But by noticing personal aspects about the person, suggesting customization in a uniquely personal way can be done in good taste – with very clever results. I work with a fellow who loves golf. Suggesting he add a stock design of clubs or a green or a ball on a tee to shirts that he is having branded might be very appealing. Even winning you a, “hey, I didn’t know I could do that!”

Music to your ears: you have just educated your customer, upped your price and have encouraged the customer’s friends and relatives to remark, “oh, cool, where’d you get that done?!”

To read more on this subject, see Impressions magazine, August issue, page 48. Or click here.