Every day we deal with add-on sales. From a clerk at McDonald’s asking if we want fries to the checkout clerk at the supermarket who asks, “Did you find everything you needed?”
While I’d like to take credit for the foundation of today’s post, it’s thanks to my good buddy, Doug Box. I first heard him talk about this concept with his bakery demonstration years ago. While I might have written about it several years ago, most of you need the reminder today.
Paraphrased from Doug’s presentation: Pretend you’re a baker, and somebody calls and asks you, “How much are your cakes?” For most of us, we’d ask a series of qualifiers: How many people do you want it to serve? Sheet cake, layer cake, or ice cream cake? What flavors would you like? Anything to be written on the top? Any allergies we need to know about? When do you need it? Will it need to be delivered? And the list goes on and on.
Why, when none of us own a bakery, do we know what we’d need to ask, but as artists, most of you ask almost nothing? For example, a potential client calls and asks, “How much are your 8x10s?” and most of you would answer with a price. That’s it – nothing more to clarify what the customer needed, and no effort made to upsell with ideas of other products you offer, package pricing, cross-promotions with other vendors, holiday specials etc.
Ever since the crisis of the pandemic there’s been a renewed sense of family. That’s opened the door for an increased demand for portraiture and creating/capturing new memories. But if you just answer a customer’s questions without offering additional suggestions, you’re missing an incredible opportunity for add-on sales.
Take a minute and think about everything you have to offer a client. From holiday cards to prints and albums to capturing memory-making events – when you’re contacted, don’t just answer their question. Instead, take things one step further and give them something to think about that ties back to your skillset and everything you have the potential to offer.
Another good buddy, Tony Corbell, has used Disney as an example over the years. If you ask a Disney staff member, “When is the Electric Light Parade,” they’ll answer you, but then include, “And you know where there’s a great place to watch it?” They’ll then give you a suggestion on where to be in the park to enjoy it the most. They never just answer your question.
The bottom line is simple – we’ve been experiencing it with every fast-food order we’ve ever made…”You want fries with that?”
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