Upselling can help to increase your sales and the value of your customers by getting them to buy more products than they initially intended. The key to up-selling is to do it in a way that the customer doesn’t know he or she is being sold something. When you decide to implement up selling in your business the deciding factor has to be customer value.
Here are a few principles every business needs to keep in mind if they want to apply up-selling:
Choose your customer wisely: Customers who look at the menu a long time or seem unsure about what to order are most open to suggestion.
Upsell through upgrades: Your store can also offer upgrades. For example, if a customer orders a quarter pounder, the server might ask, “Would you like cheese or bacon on that?” to encourage the customer to pay for additional add-ons.
Be specific: Customers won’t agree to buy some unknown thing. If a customer orders a hamburger, don’t say “Would you like anything else with that?” Instead, choose the most likely item you think the customer might want and say “Can I get you an ice cold Coke with that?”
Offer an incentive: Make it convenient for customers by packaging the items together and selling them at a price lower than the sum of the individual items. Encourage customers to purchase larger sizes at a greater value by having small price gaps between different size meal (similar to how coffee and popcorn is sold).
Actively recommend: Don’t be shy about recommending relevant items that may be of value to the customer. This tactic is especially important if you have new menu items they may not have tried yet.
Don’t be pushy: Don’t make customers feel pressured by suggesting numerous products to them that they might not want. Focus on pitching only one or two upsells. This will help to avoid overwhelming, confusing and annoying customers with too many choices.
Routinely train servers: Each server should know all menu items as well as their ingredients. Servers should be aware of good food combinations and which items are most profitable for the store.
Don’t rush the transaction: Wait until your customer has decided to purchase, then offer additional products. If you try to upsell an item before you close on the original sale, you may scare off your customer.