Upsell offer, free with alternative revenue stream.
Lost chapter, author note.
I removed this upsell because I didn't think enough businesses would be able to use it.
That being said, it does crush.
2019-ish.
The following is a rough paraphrasing of a story a gym owner told me who taught me?
Number one, an excellent downsell, upsell strategy, and number two a really nice way to graciously exit anyone from a sales conversation who doesn't want to buy your main product.
When someone walks in towards the place and says no to joining, which used to kill me.
I had this realization.
Instead of awkwardly escorting them out of my gym, why not offer them something free instead?
Instead, I say, no worries, and hand them a USB drive.
Here's everything you need to do this program from home, absolutely free.
You should see their faces.
In this industry, everyone's trying to lock you into contracts.
They think I'm some kind of saint.
But here's the real move.
After I give them the USB, I simply add To get you a head start, let's book you for a nutrition orientation so you can see the results you want.
The orientation's on us.
We just want to get this community healthy, and maybe when you can afford it, you'll think of us.
Almost 100% of people who said no to my gym membership ended up in these nutrition orientations.
And guess what?
During these orientations, we sell them supplements instead of workout programs.
Here's the crazy part.
These people, who initially rejected working out, spend 50 more on supplements than my regular clients.
I've basically created a no prospect left behind approach and my sales team loves it because they help everyone who walks in.
Everyone around here calls it the no sale sale.
Perfect name, right?
I'm selling to people who think they aren't buying anything.
And once I started doing that, I thought to myself why not offer this free USB as my front end and just kept people in.
Then I can upsell them an in-person version for money, or they can keep buying supplements from us every month and not use up gym space.
Win-win.
So that's what I did, and it worked.
It goes to show that people want the same problem solved in different ways.
Offering multiple ways to solve their problem gives you a few more at-bats.
What's more, the strategy allowed him and the gyms who subsequently modeled it in our community a way to turn every single prospect into a sale.
There are a few ways to use it, so let's dive in.
As a downsell, like in the story, or as a primary offer which he alludes to at the end.
We'll dive into both.
Description.
This is an offer that depends strongly on the types of monetization.
Slash revenue streams available to a business.
In the simplest terms, we're providing one type of service or product for free and upselling something else.
You can upsell something as a one-time service or product to offset advertising costs.
Or you can make the upsell recurring.
Or you can plan your entire business around giving one thing away for free and monetizing with another.
It works for one-time services or even recurring services, provided the alternate revenue stream has sufficiently high margins to afford both fulfillment types.
But most variations chunk up to the two larger buckets.
Paired upsell, which is I give you thing A for free in exchange for buying thing B.
Or independent upsell.
I give you thing A for free and I will encourage you to buy thing B.
Those are slightly nuanced ways of expressing the same concept or offer, but they will hopefully generate some different ideas for you on how to use this in your business or your client's business.
Examples.
Storage.
Offer.
You get a free month of storage.
Paired upsell.
Do you want to buy a lock for your storage unit?
The lock only fits.
Our doors are the only ones we sell and cannot be purchased anywhere, by the way.
Weight loss clinic.
Offer.
Free 28-day program.
Independent upsell.
At the nutrition orientation, kick off a program after first sign-up.
You're going to want this 400 supplement package to get the best results for the free 28 days of service.
Physical therapist.
For free treatments.
Independent of self.
You're going to need these orthotics bands braces, oils and athletic tape to maximize the effectiveness of the for free treatments info coaching, education and software.
Offer.
I will coach you for free indefinitely on your agency as long as you use our software.
Paired Upsell.
We monetize inherently on the software.
Real examples, free book on real estate.
Upsell one, shipping cost.
Upsell two, audio version.
Upsell three, deal contract templates.
Upsell four, where to find deals, training.
Upsell five, how to find financing if you have no money.
Note.
Each of these things are necessary requisites for being successful using the strategy outlined in the book.
The hardest sale is the first sale, the opportunity vehicle, the book.
The rest of the upsells are things they will need along the journey.
Free versus discount note.
This works with a discount wrapper.
You can get service from us for only 5 per month normally 100 a month as long as you continue to buy and use our products.
An acquaintance of mine who had a very successful chain of 200 plus weight loss clinics grew it on this simple offer.
They offered 5 per month of weight loss services for a year if, and only if, the client used their supplements bars, shakes and meal program.
Their guarantee was contingent on this continued usage and purchasing.
They were a successful business, employed doctors and nurses at the facilities but despite this, gave their service away because they made so much on their consumable products.
This gave me an interesting insight.
Details.
Details. you'll want to use a multi-step sales process with this offer.
If you're marketing thing A for free, then you must be able to give it away for free.
So it is key that you give something that has low incremental costs, ie adding another unit doesn't cost much.
If you're using it as a free front-end offer, you want to make sure the next thing you're selling or upselling them is going to be the next natural thing.
The prospects would need.
It is key to understand your prospect's problem and the solutions available better than they do.
That is where good money model design becomes paramount.
In the examples I gave, the money model does not end here.
There are still more upsells that will occur in each of these scenarios.
Storage would upsell boxes, larger storage units, and commitment.
Weight loss clinic will upsell.
Continuity of service, continuity of supplements, done-for-you meals bars, homeware treatment, etc.
They'll also likely close a card for continuity of service.
So the free service is also a free trial plus penalty.
This way, you're capturing multiple streams of revenue.
Physical therapists will probably upsell a long-term treatment program bundle, etc.
The effectiveness of this play is based on two things.
Number one, the prospect's perception of how essential slash required.
The next thing is like the lock in the storage unit scenario.
Number two how seamless.
Thank you for watching.
Then you know, you are making 300 times 80 times 80 equals 192 per free thing given away.
And that's just the first upsell.
There will and should be many others.
But since the take rate is so high and it is upfront, this is one of the easiest ways to generate cash upfront with little to no operational drag.
Physical and digital products pair very well with services for this specific money model.
We use this all the time for internal stuff.
What I mean is using it to market to an existing audience.
You can encourage them to bring friends for the free thing.
They'll be excited to do that and participate.
So it'll end up generating new customers and revenue with an easy offer.
Basically, this combines a free trial with an upsell.
Since most of your clients take the offer, in many cases you make more money going free, plus the upsell, than selling a moderately priced thing up front.
Consider meeting with 100 folks and selling 30 people at 99 a thing, versus meeting with the same 100 folks and selling all 100 a free thing, then upselling 80 of them on the 300 products.
You end up with more money and more customers plus the referrals.
You can obviously use this upfront.
With cold traffic, you're going to want to close a trial plus credit card on the first transaction, then upsell product on the second.
Otherwise, you'll get a lot of no-shows.
Note, if someone does not buy the upsell, they are unlikely to stay.
It's the greatest predictor of backend conversions.
So, although the sell may seem minor, it's the most important for the long-term value of the customer.
You have to focus on it.
It's not a nice to have, it's a must have.
Summary points.
Great internal play to your audience, generates lots of referrals, easy to sell.
Pair it with a free trial for cold traffic so you can assume the back-end continuity and far better back-end conversion.
Can generate more cash than selling something low-ish ticket.
Almost always gets a lot of volume in the door.
