100 GREAT BUSINESS IDEAS • 127Cross-selling means selling additional products to a customer
who has already purchased (or signaled their intention to purchase)
a product. Cross-selling helps to increase the customer’s reliance
on the company and to decrease the likelihood of the customer
switching to a competitor.
The idea
An idea that fi rst gained momentum in the 1980s, cross-selling
involves fi rms offering a variety of products and services to
customers, then using an integrated selling process to market
this range to existing clients. For example, if customers trust a
fi rm to provide them with health insurance, they may also trust it
to provide car insurance. The company can take advantage of this
trust by offering both services, and targeting existing customers
with marketing schemes.
Internet-based travel agent Expedia offers an impressively seamless
and effective example of cross-selling. When customers complete
an online order for a hotel or plane ticket, they are presented with a
webpage offering them the opportunity to purchase car hire. Low-
cost European airline easyJet uses cross-selling on its website, for
example, by offering travel insurance to customers in the process of
purchasing a ticket.
However, smaller businesses and offl ine companies needn’t be put
off; cross-selling does not need to be a technologically advanced
process. Simple integrated sales pitches can be just as effective.