We are not good with upselling across the counter in newsagencies. For whatever reason, we don’t offer a couple of chocolate bars as they do in petrol outlets. I think that our reluctance has to do with newsagents themselves feeling uncomfortable in making such a pitch and therefore not being prepared to ask employees to do this.
I was talking with someone last week who worked in a petrol outlet. The requirement was not negotiable. While he did not enjoy it, his view was that it was good for business and that was good for his job. His most interesting perspective was to do with product selection. Petrol outlets focus on guilty pleasures and small personal items – easy decisions to make.
We have excellent traffic in our stores that we are not leveraging to maximum value. In addition to passive impulse offers at the counter, we need to develop a consistent approach to pitching an offer, measuing the success and revising this accordingly. The extra revenue is better off in our business than a petrol outlet.
Customers resent this type of selling tactic immensely. Ask youself how much you hate it when you get petrol or go into MacDonalds. I know what i want to buy so just because they do the “hard sell” elsewhere you newsagents don’t have to. You will only alienate your customers. if you don’t believe me then try it for a month and see how the regulars react !!
I must admit, I hate being asked do I want a chocolate bar or whatever they push in Petrol stations. My instinct is to automatically say NO to whatever they push.
I much prefer to see a deal and decide myself that I want it.
I would suggest Newsagents get better at subliminal upselling. Similar to the “Multi Buys” or “Buy This Get That for $x” that Supermarkets do.
Like Browser and Niall, I also DETEST upsell, therefore cannot get myself to force my staff to perform like a parrot and trot out the “d ya want fries with that” formula.
Much better is what I call the “third party upsell” where a natural conversation with the customer you are serving is overheard by someone else in the store, so that when they come to the counter they ask for the same item. This happens with lotto ALL THE TIME – today, we are talking Ozlotto $15 million = heaps of people have bought a few games just
because we are saying you can’t win without a ticket.
We do this with magazines too, complimenting the customer on their choice, or saying how much we’re looking forward to reading that new issue too, other people overhear and get interested.
This is quite different to saying to a customer buying Delicious, do ya want Gardening Australia with that ! It’s also an art, and some days you don’t feel like doing it, but on the whole all our staff will interact in this way a lot of the time.
Ditto.
Nothing turns me off more than copping the ubiquitous ‘would you like fries with that’ kind of line. Hopefully we’ll never get so mercenary as to adopt that strategy.
On the other hand, if, say, something was getting close to date (sometimes, unfortunately, due to limited (appallingly) buying power of very small businesses such as ours, we also get limited quality of goods – but that’s a whole nother story..), we can clear it out in time by putting it on special, with a “Can I interest you in whatever it is, which is close to date and going cheap?” type of spiel.
Not ideal, given that we pay much higher prices for older stock, but it’s better than having to throw it out past its dates.
Anyway, back on topic, it’s a nicer way of getting rid of stuff than the blatant upsell for the sake of it.
And we also take advantage of conversations going on in the shop to show other customers what we’ve got. Being a corner store, it’s what we do 🙂
As already discussed I deliberately avoid petrol stations and shops that upsell in that way — and take my business elsewhere. In fact, the first time it happened to me my annoyed reaction was; “Did I say I wanted X?”
However, you can do this without turning into a unloved mercenary. The trick would be to put a box of Aero bars (or whatever) on the counter with a neat printed sign (computers can do this well) saying “two for $3” or something similar, so shoppers can’t avoid noticing it. I’d guess this would be 80% as effective as verbally up-selling without the aggro.
try that with my customers, i bet all my staffs will quit the next day. Most of my customers are prof. busy people, they will get upset if you offer them upsell.
This is a very Australian thing. If you do not upsell to an American they will think it strange. Upsell to an Aussie and they will get a little miffed. Watch the Aussies shop in Asia and watch them shoo away the shop staff who decend on them as they enter the store.
I think the local Aussie wants to take their time on their own first, will accept help if needed but never presume to tell them what they want, we must be more subtle.
I’m not a fan of blatant up-selling simply for the sake of it.
I think genuine, personal interaction with customers is the key. Often something as simple as being asked “is there anything else I can help you with” by a friendly and co-operative member of staff can make all the difference.
The use of visual aids (printed signs, etc) can be very effective if used correctly. That said, however, the days of handwritten messages scrawled on scrap pieces of card are long past. Grab a colour printer and have a go at designing some signs/posters, with a little effort and creative flair it is possible to produce spectacular, professional looking media similar to what is used in major retail outlets.
Hi, all.
We alway reminder our staff team the fact that when we do “two for $3”, the 2nd bar is sold near or at cost price to the customer, which provide greater value to them. (Sometimes under cost price to create a destination or compete with Wolly or Coles’ currnet offer).
We also instruct them that upselling only when the customer had already decided buy 1st bar. This is not an ofference when the customer already want the 1st bar.
We need to brainwash our staff and ourselve, at the same time, display what Bill Bennett suggested clearly to our customers.
We also need to train our staff the techniques for the different groups. Never upselling a full fat chocolate bar to a lady with a skim milk purchase, while why not introduce an orgainc /lite/ museli bar.
and the timing, if there is long queue or in peak rush hours, then we know it is not the right time to upsell, as the people in queue will be upset.
and remember the habits of our loyal customers, if he/she refused once, we don’t try the samething.
We always feel great when the customer take the offers they needed, also take pride that we support our suppliers, and in turn they support us with free stocks sometimes. Then the 2nd bar has 20 cents profit in our pockets.
Dear colleagues, please don’t be shy to re-gain the market share we entitled.
Being not blessed with much upstairs I did not realise that is called sublimal upselling. I am taking onboard Nial’s suggestion “Similar to the “Multi Buys” or “Buy This Get That for $x” that Supermarkets do”
Customers do see the Quality Printed Aids, they are on the lookout for a bargain and is not so intrusive if at all.
I cannot get it at the moment but the 2 pack V’s for $4.50 was working very well for me. So you are right Mark we should be upselling but maybe subtlely.
Sunny, Thank you for sharing what you do in your business.
Well, I’m extremely surprised to the response to this subject, so much so, that this is my first post. I can’t believe you are letting such an opportunity pass you by. Upselling doesn’t, and shouldn’t, have to be “would you like fries with that?” You are missing a golden opportunity. Upselling is successful when made during an ordinary conversation. Here’s two examples:“Would you like to buy a syndicate today?” –No thank you. No sale!
“Have you ever tried a syndicate? This one actually guarantees the powerball. It’s equivalent to playing 450 games. You get to play a really big ticket without the expense. Let me show you how it works…… SALE!
The absolute secret to successful upselling is DON’T STOP TALKING. If you ask them a simple question, they have the opportunity to simply say no. By the time you have finished your speel, the customer has an understanding of what an actual syndicate is, and is quite excited. More often than not, they go on to become regular syndicate players. I could go on and on about upselling, but I just wanted to say “give it a go!” The same goes for anything. When a customer picks up a cookbook from your ‘work of art’ display, start a conversation about what a great book it is. You can sell absolutely anything in your store just by talking to your customers about it, without having to ram it down their throats. As for staff, start setting small goals for them, set them challenges, and increase them as time goes by. You talk about upselling 2 for 1 chocolate bars. Why not sell them at a special price for 10! If it’s their favourite, they’ll buy it! Add a slogan, “Stock up on those cold winter night snacks.” I had customers come in for a $6 quick pick, and they walked out with a $600 syndicate. Think big to be big! Good Luck.
Susan, brilliant advice. Both you and Sunny are really adding to this conversation!
In our store we actively upsell every single day. As the store owner I expect every single person to upsell and educate all my staff on the difference between active and passive retailing. I agree that it is an art form and takes in everything from presentation, body language and delivery, however the results are far too extreme to ignore. Currently we average in excess of $400/day of sales directly attributed to upselling. This is $145,200/year, how anyone can say they won’t do it is beyond me. We are only a mid size newsagency with 7000 people through our front door each week to give you a benchmark to work from. All our upsells are recorded on a score sheet which is held under the counter.
I once worked on a tourist boat cruising the Northern rivers. Part of my duties was to do a speel on the passing sights, I’d also announce what was for sale at the bar on board, this resulted in very few sales. However I’d often give a child a free ice cream and ask them to stand at the front of the boat looking back towards the customers eating it … result, lots of sales.
There’s more than one way to skin a banana
Mark
Just because people do not see your point of view you want to cut them down, to say the other posts do not add to the conversation is wrong, it is their point of view, whether they be right or wrong. To force people to agree with you is wrong.
Derek
Derek, I’ve not cut anyone down. Nor have I tried to force anyone to agree with me.
Mark
You just edited point 13, however I will leave it at that and people can make up their own minds.
Derek
Derek, I corrected the spelling of one word – conversation. I had misspelled it. Seriously, where have I cut anyone down in this thread?
Derek, I’m sure there’s method to his madness, I see your point though.
Nevermind back to the topic.
I was just out and bought a hotdog from Wendy’s/Doughnut King/A pink shop I don’t know exactly. Asked for a plain hotdog and a small bottle of coke and the guy said it’s cheaper if I buy the bigger bottle. So I did and thought;
What the..? Is that negative upselling?
Passive upselling can involve staff interaction with the customer. Working the fact the store has a fantastic new range of giftware into a conversation without actually asing the customer do they wan’t to purchase it is an example of passive upselling. It’s a great tool for those who can pull it off – which, even with training, isn’t everyone.
But active upselling – ugh. There is too great a potential for creating a bad customer experience. To the customer this kind of upselling reeks of a disconnected, corporate store with a lack of a real customer service offer. I activelly avoid stores that activelly upsell.
derek what are tou talking about?