If You’re Not Upselling, You’re Leaving Money on the Table
———————————————————

A while back, my hubby and I were on our way back from one of my
speaking engagements, and decided to pick up dinner to go. So we
called one of our favorite teriyaki joints (Seattle’s Best, on 1st
Ave S), to place an order.

Since it’s a little out of the way for us normally, we hadn’t eaten
there in a while. So we were rather excited to have it conveniently
located on our route home.

Then life got even better…

The woman who took my husband’s order asked if we’d like brown rice
instead of white!

Now I don’t each much white rice. But I love brown rice! In fact I’ll
order it every time if given the option. So this was a very pleasant
surprise.

My husband said yes right away even though it cost a bit more. And
boy was it good! This place has the yummiest teriyaki sauce, and it
is divine on rice (white or brown).

I can say for sure we’ll now be going out of our way to eat there
more …And I bet we’re not alone.

My husband and I were very impressed from a sales and marketing
standpoint too. Because they’re clearly paying attention to changes
in people’s eating habits, and changing their menu to suit. And
they’re maki ng sure customers know about this new option…They
actually asked for the upsell!

—–
Upselling doesn’t have to be hard or uncomfortable
—–

With the simple act of asking if we’d like their newest menu item as
a substitute, Seattle’s Best made $1.90 more. And now we’ll be there
more often, and spending more money each time to get that fine brown
rice.

All they had to do was let us know this option is now available, and
boom, they grew their business. Best of all, I’m thrilled to have
spent the extra money.

This was upselling at its finest. And it’s most simple.

What’s interesting is that big companies and chains often train their
employees to ask if you want to make it a combo, add fries with that,
try their new dessert, etc. Yet it’s rare to see this done in small
restaurants (or any small busines s).

Which is silly. Because it’s one of the easiest things to do. And
almost any business can do it (not just restaurants!).

When I worked in my parent’s animal hospital, we boarded pets. And we
always asked if clients wanted their pets bathed before going home.
More than 50% said yes.

Added convenience for them, more revenue for us!

The key here is…We were trained to ask.

All too often small business owners (or their employees) just don’t
ask. Maybe because they aren’t comfortable selling.

Or they feel like they don’t have time to train employees in this
much detail.

Or don’t know how to get the employees to do it.

Or, even worse, they think the employees are asking, when in reality
it’s not happening (When was the last time you had a “secret shopper”
call in to see what employee s really say when they answer the
phone???).

In the last case, the poor business owner is usually left thinking
the promotion isn’t working. Or the new product or service is a dud.

When in reality clients don’t know it exists!

The bottom line is, you have to let people know about other options,
or you probably won’t sell very many. Thankfully, you don’t even have
to be there in person to do an effective upsell.

—–
5 Easy Ways to Upsell Your Products and Services
—–

1) If you sell and ship products, put an ad or coupon for a related
product or an upgrade in the box.

2) Send new clients a thank you card with a promotion for or mention
of one of your other services.

3) Put a sign up in your store or office announcing a new offering or
special deal. Just make sure it doesn’t get lost in the clutter. And
ideal ly train your staff to point it out.

4) Send targeted follow-up emails to clients or customers offering
them a related product or service (you can do this automatically with
a good email autoresponder and shopping cart)

5) On your Website, offer an added discount for buying two products
or services together (Amazon does a great job of this by always
offering a second book on the same subject below your main selection).

Remember, upselling is really just a matter of offering something
else your customer is likely to want, based on what they’re buying
now. Simple as that.

You’re doing your clients a HUGE disservice if you don’t tell them
you have something else they may want or need. And you’re leaving
money on the table in your own business.

**********************************************
ON THE BLOG
***************************************** *****

Get useful tips and interesting marketing info on my blog at

http://www.marketing-junkie.com.

Tawk to me!! I created this blog to be a 2-way street so we can chat
about marketing together. I’d love to know what you think of the
articles and ideas I’m posting.

This week on http://www.marketing-junkie.com:

+ “12 Proven Ways to Power up Your Next Sales Letter”

+ “Make Every Minute Count by Donna Amos”

Visit http://www.marketing-junkie.com, read, and leave a comment.

**********************************************
USEFUL TIPS
**********************************************

Facebook is Now Open for Business (es)

Or at least it’s now set up for businesses to more easily market
their products and services on the site thanks to the new fan pages,
and the ability to get your own custom URL once yo u have 25 fans.

For example, I now have http://www.facebook.com/unchainedentrepreneur
as the fan page for TheUnchainedEntrepreneur.com. Easy, memorable and
a perfect place to communicate all things business separate from my
personal Facebook page.

Just make sure you create the personal page first, then a separate
fan page for your business. Otherwise you’ll run into problems down
the road. Once you’re on there, start a conversation, join other
conversations and offer info of value. Before you know you’ll be
building your own online community of fans.

©2010 Stacy Karacostas. All Rights Reserved. www.success-stream.com

Practical Marketing Expert Stacy Karacostas specializes in taking the
stress, struggle and confusion out of growing your business. Get tons
of marketing tips and ideas, plus grab a copy of her info-packed FREE
REPORT “The 7 Deadliest Small Business Marketing Sins…Are You
Guilty?” at http://www.success-stream.com