PB Week: The web and the great cross-sell, up-sell conundrum

The quest to up-sell features and cross-sell products is one that has always troubled heads of sales, writes Peter Dunkley, marketing director at Total Objects.

Arkwright, Ronnie Barker's shopkeeper in Open All Hours was, of course, a master of the art; always able to extract another few bob from the purse of even the tightest customer.

The arrival of the internet as a channel increased the challenge; a whole new set of techniques had to be developed to replace Arkwright's powers of persuasion. But it also allowed senior management to finally grasp control of the corporate sales messages, which they had always suspected were being ignored by the sales