To cross-sell, or not to cross-sell, that is the question. After such events like the Wells Fargo incident in September 2016, the word “cross-sell” hasn’t been the same for many banks and credit unions. In fact, we’ve seen some financial institutions do away with the word all together (mainly due to its now negative reputation).

Internal Discussions

When bank or credit union employees talk about cross-sell offers internally, should they still use the word “cross-sell”? Let’s look at a few alternatives and see what some of the options are:

  • Upselling
  • Alternative product offers
  • Other product/service offers that account holders may want based on what they currently have but may not know they need

Okay, so that last one is a bit of a mouth full, and “upselling” almost sounds worse than “cross-selling”. As it turns out, it can actually be tricky to find a good replacement. However, whether the word “cross-sell” is used or not, as long as the account holder’s best interest is in mind, there’s no harm in using the word internally.