#793 in the Project is taken from a blogpost by Jeffrey Gitomer @gitomer:
In Jeffrey’s words:
“Walking through Seattle’s Pike Place Market (where the inspiration for the book “Fish!” came from, and also the location of the original Starbucks), I couldn’t resist the Queen Anne cherries. Huge and just picked.
“Give me a half pound,” I said with positive anticipation of eating them as I walked around. The young woman running the fruit stand obliged and weighed them.
Then she showed me the inside of the paper sack, 25 percent full of cherries. “Are you sure that’s enough?” she asked.
Startled by her question, I smiled and said, “Make it a pound!”
She smiled, complied and showed me the now half-full bag. She kept jiggling the bag, looking at it, showing it to me, and looking right at me.
I knew what was coming, and was thinking about my answer when she asked again, “Are you sure that’s enough?”
“Make it a pound and a half,” I said. “How about an even two pounds, and a few extra on the house?” she shot back.
“Deal!” I said.
She put the two pounds in one bag, and my lagniappe in a separate bag so I could see my “extra.”
I loved the exchange. I love being sold. And I loved the way she up-sold me. “Are you sure that’s enough?” Simple, yet powerful. I walked away smiling and eating.
After about 10 minutes, I couldn’t stand it anymore. I HAD to go back to the cherry stand and find out more. I waited for one customer to pay, and then I eagerly said, “I couldn’t help but ask about your line ‘Are you sure that’s enough?’ It’s a very powerful up-line. How often do you ask it to customers?”
“I ask every customer, every time.” WOW!
It was a GREAT line delivered by a shrewd saleswoman at a hole-in-the-wall fruit cart. Low overhead, high profit, fueled by up-sell. Great product. Simple to sell. A second sales process to sell more.
The science of the up-sell is all-important as it relates to volume and profit. Especially in these times. Business is down, but not the cherry business. No one told her the economy is in the crapper, or she just ignored it.
Think about the emotional appeal that this woman gave me to entice me to take more money out of my pocket. Brilliant.”
Marketing Lagniappe Takeaway: An effective use of your ‘little extra’ can be the upsell. I love how the fruit stand operator separated the ‘extras’. Sweeten the deal to make your customer buy more. One of my favorite examples is Stew Leonard’s in Norwalk, CT. The store is constantly upselling, but my favorite is the free little extra if you buy $100 in groceries. Once you hit triple digits . . . a coffee or ice cream on the house.
Today’s Lagniappe (a little something extra thrown in for good measure) – Word of Mouth Thought Leader Andy Sernovitz @sernovitz interviews Jeffrey Gitomer:
Lagniappe defined: A marketing lagniappe, i.e. purple goldfish, is any time a business goes above and beyond to provide a ‘little something extra’. It’s that unexpected surprise that’s thrown in for good measure.
How do you stand out in the sea of sameness? How do you win repeat customers and influence word of mouth? Are you Giving Little Unexpected Extras?
What’s Your GLUE?
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