My new friend Amazonia and I are the best at upselling. Or, well, at getting donations for the Ronald McDonald House Charity. How are we the best? By being the only ones who do it! But don’t worry, I’ve got some other tips and tricks to help you on your way to being the Upsell Champ!
The biggest trick behind upselling is showing your customer that you want to help them get the most and best out of their experience at your restaurant. Here’s a few tips on how to do that (Clue: it’s everything but the words you actually say).
- Eye contact
Don’t speak into your register or to the ground or to the restaurant in general. Speak directly to your customer. Nothing says “I genuinely want you to listen” more than honest eye contact
2. Smile
The tone of any spoken word largely depends on whether or not you’re smiling. Even if you sound exactly the same either way, if a customer sees you smiling while you talk, they will automatically read it in a cheerful tone. Your cheerful tone tells the customer that you support them buying the item. Science doesn’t have to prove that people are more likely to buy stuff off a happy person than someone who’s not.
3. Body language
Your whole body should face the customer. This shows them that your entire attention is on them. Don’t multitask. Don’t fiddle with your hands or anything else. If you want, lean forward a little (but not too much – not over the register because that’s creepy). Open hands, your feet and hips facing the customer, that is body language that shows all your attention is on the customer. It might be a little intense, but how can you say no to that?
All this shows the customer that you like them and are genuinely interested in them, which then means they’re more likely to believe that you have their best interests at heart. If you’re a business – any business – then a customer’s best interests should always be the reason for everything you do anyway.
Another trick is to always suggest the upsell to every single customer, even if you know they’ve already heard it twice. In fact, if they’ve already heard you ask once or twice, they’re more likely to say yes (especially if the people before them said yes).
Perhaps the most important tip is know your stuff. For example, if I’m upselling donations to the Ronald McDonald House Charity, I should know enough to tell customers what exactly the charity is for and their purpose as well as what McDonald’s as a business does to help.
Otherwise, can you answer questions like, is the meat in the new burger halal? Are the chicken bites made from free range chicken? How much does the sundae cost normally?
If you know the item well enough, people respect you. You are the McDonald’s expert. It’s a little embarrassing when a customer knows more about your products than the person who’s selling them.
Okay, last tip. I should point out that you should never shame a customer for not getting the suggested sell (or donating). So my reaction to every answer, no matter the answer, is the same “Cool!” And if someone is taking quite a bit of time to decide whether they should get the suggested sell, make sure they know that they really don’t have to.
Bigger people with PhDs might say not to do that, but remember that the customer is number one. The point of the upsell is to help them get the most out of their experience. At the end of the day, the customer is prioritised over profit. Because if you lose the customer, you lose profit. They go hand in hand.
Well, there you go, my friend! We’ll make an upsell champ out of you, yet! I suggest using all the tips and tricks together for maximum effect and customer happiness!
Good luck, soldier.
A Year in the Life of a McDonald's Employee 