Cross-selling as a Client Service: Why didn't you call me?

Cross-selling is often positioned as a relatively easy and cost-efficient way to increase revenue:  by reaching deeper into the pockets of existing clients, you extract more money and strengthen relationships without exerting as much as you would to acquire a brand-new client. Apart from the internal political strife cross-selling often causes, this view tends to place the burden of education and purchase squarely on the shoulders of the potential client.

Case in point, related to a matter of personal finance, a broker recently asked my partner and I, "Why didn't you call me about X? I could have helped you with that." My question back, "Why didn't you tell me you could help me with X so that I could have called you?".

From the broker's perspective, he was absolutely correct. It would have been mutually beneficial to call upon his additional services: we'd already filed most of the necessary paperwork with his office and established the relationship. However, the broker's question placed the responsibility of knowing his line of work on our shoulders. Without regular communication from him or his firm, how were we to know that in addition to A, he also offered X, Y and Z? He has the responsibility to educate existing clients about his expertise and that of his firm making future transactions more seamless all around.

Are you positioning cross-selling activities as a client service? Are your client alerts and newsletters regularly communicating your full suite of services to existing (potential) clients?

Some examples of cross-selling content on JD Supra include:

• Content written or translated into languages other than English  to communicate cultural expertise (see recent posts by Littler or Bilzin Sumberg)
• Consistent industry or geographic updates that focus on business rather than practice area - Are you familiar with the Northern Long-eared bat, for example? Firms that do work in the Northeastern United States certainly are.
• Continuing Legal Education like this upcoming CLE webinar from Foley & Lardner

Educating clients about your full range of services can improve your brand and the sales potential for each individual practitioner. This can alleviate internal strife and deliver value to your clients while increasing revenue. It doesn't mean you should attempt to become everything to everybody rather, as you craft content remember that your clients can only know as much as you share. More simply put, clients can only buy what you offer for sale.