Glossary
Cross-selling
Cross-selling is selling an existing customer a different product or service that complements what they already buy, such as adding a security product to an existing cloud contract. It grows revenue per account without the cost of winning a new customer.
What Is Cross-Selling?
In short Cross-selling sells something different that fits with what the customer already has; upselling sells more of the same thing, such as a higher tier or more seats.
A CRM vendor that moves a customer from its basic to its enterprise plan is upselling; one that adds its marketing automation product is cross-selling.
Existing customers already trust you and have passed procurement once, so a cross-sell usually moves faster than a new deal. It also raises net revenue retention, and a customer who depends on two of your products has more reasons to stay.
Cross-Selling Example
Example: a company sells payroll software to 400 customers and launches an expense management product. It targets the 120 customers with more than 100 employees, where expense claims are a known pain. 18 buy in the first quarter at $6,000 a year each, adding $108,000 in annual recurring revenue without a single new customer.
Cross-Selling in Practice
In B2B, cross-sell opportunities often sit in other departments. The marketing team that buys your product may have colleagues in sales or support with a related problem. Account managers map those teams, ask the current champion for an introduction and reach out to the new department with a reference to the existing relationship.
FAQ
What is the difference between cross-selling and upselling?
Cross-selling offers a different, complementary product; upselling offers a more expensive version of the same product. HubSpot's web hosting example: adding a domain and SSL certificate is a cross-sell, moving to a higher-tier hosting plan is an upsell.
What is an example of cross-selling in B2B?
A payroll provider selling its expense product to existing payroll customers, or a cloud provider adding a security product to a compute contract.
When is the best time to cross-sell?
After the customer has seen value from the first product, for example after onboarding or a business review that shows results. Offered too early it reads as a pitch; offered when a related need shows up it reads as help.
Is cross-selling the same as expansion revenue?
Cross-selling is one source of expansion revenue. Expansion revenue also includes upsells, such as higher tiers and more seats, and usage growth from existing customers.
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Related
- GTM Glossary
Every GTM term, grouped by topic.
- Upselling
- Net revenue retention (NRR)
- Customer success
- Customer lifetime value (CLV or LTV)
- Account executive
- Ken features
Sources
| Source | Checked |
|---|---|
| Salesforce: What Is Cross-Selling? | |
| HubSpot: What Is Cross-Selling? |
Changelog
- Page published.