I wish he’d had the guts to upsell me
  • sales
  • Blog post

I wish he’d had the guts to upsell me

A couple of weeks ago, I ran over a snow bank and popped loose the splash guard on the bottom of my car. It was an easy fix. Four plastic clips hold it in place. So I stopped by the parts counter at the dealership and got the clips. They were about a dollar each.

“How many do you want?” the parts guy asked.

“Four,” I said.

I bought the clips and popped them in. Problem solved.

This week, I ran over a snow bank again. (It’s been a rough winter around here.)

Now I need four more clips. Which means my splash guard is scraping the pavement until I can make another trip to the parts counter.

I wish the parts guy had upsold me. “Look,” he might have said. “At this price, why don’t you get some extras? You might need them before spring.”

Now, the dealership isn’t going to get rich moving me from a four-dollar purchase to an eight-dollar purchase. But they sure would have done me a favor. And that’s my point.

Upselling has a bit of a bad odor among salespeople. Sometimes they think it will make them look greedy or manipulative. And if your only goal is to get a bigger sale, it will. But when it’s done properly, upselling helps your buyer as much as you. How many times have you bought something and later thought, “Gee, I wish I’d spent a little more and gotten what I really needed.” When you fail to give your buyers the opportunity to consider an upgrade, you do them a disservice.

So show some guts. Go for the upsell.

photo credit: rasdourian

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