How to Upsell to Increase Customer Retention

About this video

Dan Martell teaches how to use upselling to increase customer happiness and retention through expansion revenue - the money added from upgrades and add-ons that offsets contraction and downgrades, with the goal of net negative churn. He learned the concept while building Flowtown and applied it via strategic pricing, packaging and plans. He says he taught coaching client Ryan a support-based approach that helped Ryan increase expansion revenue by 10% on an annual basis. Three tactics: 1) offer an account review - Martell cites a Zoom email around Christmas offering a free review of usage, questions and upcoming roadmap, which he passed to a team member; such proactive calls create a chance to offer upsells, add-ons or pre-sell future modules. 2) QBRs, which he calls EBRs (Executive Business Reviews) because they are not always quarterly - set the expectation at onboarding, typically for accounts at 10K annual contract value or higher, review goals, usage data, dormant accounts and gaps where an add-on fits. 3) support selling - Ryan had about 20 support staff speaking to hundreds of customers daily; by tagging accounts in support software by plan and modules used, support can solve a problem then offer a relevant missing benefit. He gives GoDaddy as the best example, recalling a proactive call about an expiring item where the rep noted his 27 domains and suggested a subscription that could save 10%. He offers his EBR flow planner, a nine-box agenda model, as a download.

Key takeaways

• Expansion revenue offsets churn and drives net negative churn
• Offer free account reviews to surface upsell opportunities
• Set EBR/QBR cadence at onboarding for 10K+ ACV accounts
• Train support to sell after solving the customer’s problem
• Use account tags to spot missing modules customers need

Episode details: published October 7, 2019 · 9:21 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are Dan Martell’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.

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