We all want to do better with cross selling, right? Yet all toooften, the campaigns fall short of our expectations.

A fair argument may be that our goals are too aggressive. On theother hand, when you look at data that tells you that the averageconsumer has seven banking products yet only two are likely to bewith the same financial institution, you'd think that cross sellingwould be a greenfield of opportunities.

Sure, there are lots of reasons why a customer doesn't take youup on a cross-selling offer. However, after looking more carefullyat cross selling from a business and IT perspective, there arethree main reasons why many campaigns deliver lower-than- expectedROI.

1. A one size fits all approach. A commonscenario that happens during the campaign brainstorming process isto think about a creative offer and present it to all of yourcustomers. Hence, the flood of expensive banner ads and glossydirect mail pieces.

While a lot of customers may be exposed to the campaignthrough these marketing vehicles, many of those eyeballs will glazeover because the messages don't speak to their current needs. Inturn, this causes the average cost per lead to skyrocket.