Samenvatting

Cross-selling is the action or practice of selling among or between established clients, markets, traders, etc. or the action or practice of selling an additional product or service to an existing customer. Within Total Nederland N.V. the management has indicated it is an important matter which deserves attention.
However, cross-selling has been placed on the official agenda only a few years ago, due to several mergers and reorganizations. Today, cross-selling is the responsibility of the specialties department. I have been asked to write my graduation report on cross-selling, because I work at the specialties department and one of my tasks is to keep the administration concerning cross-selling up to date.
The central research question which should be answered and examined is: "How can Total Nederland N.V. increase the turnover which is generated by cross-selling by at least 25% and how will cross-selling lead to a stronger affinity amongst customers with the Total brand?"
To be able to provide answers to these questions it is important to determine which elements cause an increase in cross-selling turnover. These elements are employee's attitudes, the organizational structure (is the structure optimal for cross-selling success) and to identify the barriers which employees prevent from cross-selling. Furthermore it should be examined which measures and actions stimulate people to cross-sell, as this will eventually will increase turnover.
Sub-questions about cross-selling which help to find answers of these elements were drawn up and different research methods such as an online survey, interviews with employees and desk research served as tools to collect the needed information. The research has been conducted in relation to the BEST Selling Model; a theoretical model from Ford Harding, which emphasizes the importance of communication and a clear rewarding system for cross-selling success. Johnson puts the focus on people's engagement to explain the success of cross-selling. A combination of these elements has been the structure for the research.
After analysis of all the research results it can be concluded that cross-selling is supported throughout the whole organization. Employees as well as the management realize that a successful cross-selling policy is beneficial to the organization. However, there are various barriers which prevent people to spend more time on cross-selling. Insufficient internal communication, insufficient knowledge of products of other departments and a registration system which is not up to date are the most important ones. Furthermore, due to the organizational structure, employees are mainly concerned with the results and objectives of their own department, which makes them hesitate to involve and introduce colleagues of other departments to customers.
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These elements are confronted with each other in a confrontation matrix and as a result, a variety of recommendations have been drawn up in order to make full use of the advantages which cross-selling has to offer and to reduce the organization's limits and threats to a minimum. A total of 18 recommendations have been made, most of them have to be implemented by the cross-selling back office, the sales managers who are responsible for the various segments of the commercial departments and the directors who are in charge of those departments.
The most remarkable finding of this research is the fact that the current registration system is not up to date and needs to be replaced by another system, which will make sure that all cross-selling customers are recorded, including their turnover. If this is done, turnover is likely to increase significantly because a lot of cross-selling customers have been left unidentified in the past years.