Page 52 - Banking Finance December 2023

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M arketing practitioners and banking consultants selling (Polonsky et al. 2000). Early jargon for a related selling
practice is "bundling." Bundling refers to "the practice of
alike understand the need for relationship
development in establishing and maintaining
marketing two or more products and/or services in a single
a solid customer base. This relationship is
particularly important for services like Banking and insurance 'package' for a special price".
where the relation between the customer and the service Many experts feel that by selling additional products and
provider is of trust. Adding to the magnetism of customer services to existing customers, the cross-selling operation
retention as a strategy is the finding that it can reportedly creates more value for both customer and service provider.
cost anywhere from five to ten times as much to acquire a On one side by offering more products from their
new customer than to retain an existing. One of the more contemporary product portfolio, service providers create
widespread strategies for customer retention is the practice value for their customers, who now can procure services
of cross-selling. from a single vendor. On the other hand, cross-selling enables
service providers to boost up their sales and exploit their
Cross selling has been defined as "offering current customer broader product portfolio, thus contributing high turnover
additional products or services that can provide added value with only marginal costs. They experience no extra costs in
for them". Cross selling has also gone by other names such acquisition or distribution, because their customer relations
as companion selling, suggestive selling, and complementary and sales channels already have been recognized. The
marginal cost of selling additional products is relatively low
About the author when compared with total costs, and most services offered
by firms are interdependent in nature.
Sanjay M. Nafde
Chief Manager (Formerly) In spite of all the benefits of cross-selling, many companies
State Bank of India & Freelance Writer including banks still come across various economic and

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