Upselling is a sales technique aimed at convincing customers to purchase a more expensive, upgraded, or premium version of the chosen item for the purpose of making a larger sale.  For instance, when you go to a movie theater and order a small popcorn, the person behind the stand will likely ask if you want to upgrade to a medium for a dollar more.  This offer to upgrade the small popcorn to a bigger, more expensive popcorn is an upsell.

Statistics say that 34% of prospects will buy additional products or services at the time of their original purchase, if they’re asked.  With this in mind, it’s no wonder why businesses rely so heavily on this tactic: if you simply ask the customer to upgrade, they’re likely to say “yes” which means your revenue will dramatically increase. 

In addition to this, here are some more benefits to upselling:

1. Upselling helps you build better relationships:
   Upselling is not just a dirty sales tactic if you put it into perspective. If it focuses on helping your customers ‘win’ by suggesting upgrades that will deliver more value and make them feel like they got the better deal, it will turn out to be a customer happiness tactic that also generates additional revenues.
2. It’s easier to upsell to customers you already have:
   Lead generation is expensive. It is much easier and cheaper to sell to a customer who already trusts you and is about to make a purchase now than to sell to a new prospect who has never heard of your brand.
3. Upselling leads to increased Customer Lifetime Value (CLV):
   Customer Lifetime Value is the net profit contribution a customer makes to your company over time. You can split your customers into three main categories: not profitable, profitable, and very profitable.  Upselling is one of the best ways to turn prospects into very profitable customers and keep them coming back.
4. Customers come back for more:
   Upselling adds value so your customers keep coming back.  By creating an easy way to make life straightforward for customers you are ensuring that they will return in the future if they need more of what you are selling.