Café Business Masterclass: Upselling & Suggestive Selling Part 1

Over the next two weeks go through two simple up selling techniques and two suggestive selling techniques that you can implement into your café business today. I have literally seen cafés transform their business upwards of 20% by just making these simple changes.

• Cup size:
  Generally speaking most businesses are using 8oz, 12oz or 16oz.
  And believe it or not, business owners will print on their menus 'small', 'large' and 'jumbo' respectively.
  When you walk into a café that you have never been to before and ask for a takeaway flat white, the person behind the counter asks the question “what size would you like?”. More than 80% of the time the customer will simply say “give me the small”. Let’s get smarter about the language – firstly let’s call these 'small', 'regular' and 'tall'. Nobody wants to order a 'jumbo', but they will order a 'tall'.
  If the customer in the above example walks in and asks for a flat white without mention of the size, the person behind the counter should ask “is that a regular size?”.
   
• Assume the sale:
  One thing I see when consulting with cafés time and time again is the ‘yes/no question’.
  These are what are called ‘closed questions’. There is only one way to answer these (you guessed it, either with a yes or a no).
  Give the customer a choice and engage in conversation; for example, ask “would you like to try our chocolate or almond croissants? They are delicious and they’re only $5 with you coffee today!”.
  
  Let’s break this down: Here we have given the customer s choice of two products, chocolate or almond. You have also given the products your gold stamp of approval, so they won’t be disappointed.
  Additionally you have bundled the sale with the purchase of the coffee, and most importantly you have eased the customer’s mind by not giving them the opportunity to ask “how much is it”? Customers may feel embarrassed to ask how much it is, so you have put their mind at ease.

Next lesson: Upselling & Suggestive Selling Part 2

Do you have any upselling strategies that have helped your business succeed? Let me know.

Carlos Zeidan,
Founder | King Carlos Coffee Roasters | (02) 9580 1300
kingcarloscoffee.com.au