With the rise of sales pressure at my current FI, I find it important to remind myself that most cross-sale products are above all, luck-based. A good teller is able to sway or persuade when the opportunity presents itself, but even the best teller will fall pray to good old RNG. These products are based on what's available at my FI, yours might have different categories.

The list goes from least luck-based to most luck-based:

1. Referrals, including insurance quote referrals. These are hands-down the least luck-based cross-sale products because almost every customer has at least one insurable collateral. If you try really hard and annoy some customers, you can eek out one of these referrals for every other customer you talk to. I've been able to hit 6 in a day when I'm really focusing on referrals. If your FI has back-office departments for mortgage referrals and investment referrals, it's even easier to get these and you can pluck them like candy from almost any customer if you try hard enough. 10% luck 90% skill.
2. Payment protection. I'm of course referring to payment protection on closed loans. It should be trivially easy to convince any customer that opting-in for life, disability and GAP protections is in their best interest. I've even seen tellers go "sign here to close your loan... and sign here to fully protect your payments... and we're done!". There is a small chance that a customer has questions about payment protection, or needs further information, but as long as you closed an eligible loan, any teller worth their salt is getting that 100% payment protection. 15% luck 85% skill.
3. Deposit products. By these, I'm referring to high-interest savings accounts, CDs, and any other products that the FI offers to help customers boost their dividends on a sizable chunk of cash sitting around. These are about 50% luck-based, because of course the customer has to have the cash in the account for a deposit product to make sense. After that initial bout of RNG, though, a good teller should be able to convince any customer to put their savings into a free deposit product that will help get them some passive income
4. Credit Cards. These would normally be much lower down on the list if it weren't for the magic of a secured card. With a small $500 deposit, basically anyone can get approved for a secured card and start boosting their credit. This means that with anyone who's low-income, struggling with debt, or needs to work on credit, a good teller can talk about the secured card and get a bunch of customers to apply. I'd rate this one at around a 60%, only because of the plethora of customers who need to work on credit
5. Instant pre-approval loans (LoC, CC, Personal Loan, Collateralized Loan). Now we make the jump into a severely luck-based area of cross-selling. You have to be lucky that the right customer will walk up to you with a good credit score. Then, you have to be lucky that the customer will be in the mood to talk and not do a quick transaction and rush out the door. Why? Because running the pre-approval takes a little bit of time, and then- if they're LUCKY enough to have an approved product, like a line of credit- you need to bring it up "organically" in the conversation BEFORE you can present the customer with the pre-approval at the end of the transaction. IF the customer has good credit, is OK with taking their time, isn't in a rush, and doesn't brush you off as soon as you say the word "pre-approved"... THEN you also have to roll good RNG on whether or not they'll actually be amenable to whatever you're offering them. After ALL that luck has been passed, a good teller can convince a curious customer as to why a, say, line of credit is good for them based on their conversation. I'd say this one sits at about a 75% luck, 25% skill ratio
6. Direct Deposit. This goes without saying. Anyone who doesn't have direct deposit set up by now will not be swayed by the smoothly talked words of a teller. They either like handling their physical checks or have other reasons they don't or can't set up direct deposit. To clinch one of these out, you need to be very lucky and get the customer who has just switched jobs, or obtain this as part of a package with a new account opening. Definitely 85% luck, 15% skill
7. New relationships, including new accounts. These are hands-down the MOST luck-based entries on our list. Unless you're a branch manager, outside of very specific circumstances, you cannot "cross-sell" a new account. The exception is perhaps to encourage a customer to open a minor account for a young child. The customer is going to be the one to decide to walk in and say "I'd like to open a new account today" almost EVERY single time, making it the most luck-based in my opinion. Note, I am not counting new accounts that must be opened due to ACH fraud on their current account, because the back-office fraud department will always tell you to do so. That, to me, does not count as "cross-selling". Of course, you can convince customers to go tell their friends and family to open accounts, but true cross-selling (i.e using your skills as a teller to convince a customer that is in front of you for unrelated business to open a new account) will almost never happen for these. I'd rate new accounts at a whooping 95% luck, 5% skill - and that 5% skill is only there to take into considerations customers who walk in with small children, who have 30-45 minutes handy to open an account, and wouldn't mind doing so on the spot if you, as a teller, bring it up to them.

Excited to hear your guys' thoughts on my list, and whether you disagree or agree with my luck-based rating system