White Bits case study – taking the upselling process to the next level

Challenge: Create a profitable, repeatable upselling process that will address the needs of subscription-based clients.

We have been working with White Bits for a few years now. We have mainly focused on improving the sales process, implementing customer success initiatives, and metrics, as well as developing the team’s skills.

At the beginning of 2022, as we were planning the yearly budget, we realized that the revenue sources required diversification. The main revenue stream until then was monthly service subscriptions (MRR – Monthly Recurring Revenue) and one-time projects. These sources, however, had some flaws – they are time-consuming and risky as taking part in tenders rarely results in landing a lucrative job.

While searching for alternative revenue sources and working on project profitability, we discovered that the upselling process was not yet sorted and had a lot of potential.

What does the upselling process usually look like at our client’s companies?

The upselling process is usually treated as a set of actions that will happen naturally without engaging anyone within the organization: “Customers reach out to us and ask for additional service.”

At the start of our cooperation with new clients, we rarely see their upselling activities structured and tailored to the needs of their clients. Proper frequency and measurement are not common either.

How do you improve the upselling process and what can you expect?

Upselling can be a goldmine for many businesses. It is an additional source of revenue that will support your diversity. It is also a great tool for building relationships with clients or defining the USP (Unique Selling Point). The ultimate goal of implementing the upselling procedures is to bring clients more value while simultaneously contributing to churn prevention.

Action plan

We gathered all the information concerning the current state of the projects and upselling activities. After analyzing the data, we decided to put the process in order by dividing it into 2 stages.

Stage 1. Educating the team

We had to verify whether the upselling potential even existed among the clients. We knew it did but we needed to make sure and base it on particular cases. We had to change the way the team approached the upsells.

It turned out that employees know what should be offered to the clients to make the current service more comprehensive but, for reasons unknown, decided not to present the possible cooperation options. In order to change this attitude, we had a workshop highlighting the advantages of the upselling process. This allowed us to evolve the thinking from “This is not the scope of our contract” to “We have an idea how to do X to achieve Y, and it will only cost an additional Z.”

If you are running a marketing agency, it is natural that your clients chose you as their supplier because of your industry knowledge and market expertise. They expect you to provide them with accurate guidelines on how to achieve better results in the future. Even if it’s hard to meet these goals, the client believes that you – an expert in the field – will suggest the best options.

These simple steps will contribute to:

• building an image of an expert,
• increasing customer trust,
• and projecting an image of a business partner who is engaged (not only “doing their job”).

Stage 2. Creating a project chart

After the training that helped us structure and describe the benefits for clients, we needed to accumulate all the gathered details in one place so everyone could easily access it. The project chart included:

• the number and types of current services.
• information about the main goal of a given client (number of e-commerce carts, reach) and whether it’s currently completed (yes/no).

Preparing the dedicated offers was the crucial element of the process. We added a new column to the chart to address the timeline – the team’s quarterly task was to prepare new offers to help clients reach their goals. They were more or less able to do so, however, new difficulties emerged.

Running out of time

Apart from their everyday tasks, it turned out that the team didn’t have the time to offer new services to the clients or run the entire upsell process. 

Initially, we considered Paweł Stempniak, the CEO of White Bits, to be responsible for the upselling process. We thought that his position in the company and personal engagement would provide more benefits to bonding with clients. It wasn’t the most optimal solution as Paweł also couldn’t make time for it. The lesson learned here is: while implementing the upselling process, remember to have one dedicated person to be responsible for it, such as:

• a salesperson who onboards the client,
• an Account Manager responsible for relationship building,
• or a Project Manager who takes care of the project and is the buffer between the specialist and the client.

In this case, we decided that Dawid who works as an Account Manager would be responsible for the upselling process. It was a natural move, as during his meetings with clients, he presents the current results and shows, based on estimations, what could be achieved if the scope of work was wider (new distribution channels, more content, more ad budget).

It was the first such broad upselling activity in White Bits. Thanks to the engagement and hard work of the entire team, the upselling effects were visible – they reached 127% of the forecasted revenue in Q2. It’s worth mentioning that the upsell level almost doubled compared to Q1.

We set up more and more ambitious goals. The structured process easily contributed to completing the sales targets for the upcoming quarter. Upselling the subscription-based services created long-term profits.

After the first upselling project in Q2, the team figured out what could be offered to the clients and entered the necessary data into the CRM to simplify the analysis.

What made the upselling project a success?

Such results wouldn’t be possible without the team’s joint efforts and mutual cooperation. The specialists were truly engaged in the process and – together with Dawid – wanted to broaden the range of services. The positive feedback from the clients triggered further engagement.

However, it all started with Stempniak, who trusted our expertise and decided to implement the process according to our guidelines.

Let’s talk numbers

Thanks to the new process and the team’s engagement, 100% of the clients received a dedicated upselling proposal.

• The average value of the upsell reached more than $1000.
• The value of all upsell orders in the last 3 quarters totals more than $40000.
• Upselling in Q2 reached 127% of the forecasted revenue.