How To Upsell Without Annoying Your Customers

Upselling allows businesses in restaurants to improve their revenue and make the experience for customers even better—provided it’s done properly. You should make your suggestions so that they feel useful instead of forcing an upsell. A great deal of restaurateurs fear annoying customers by making too many sales pitches or by acting too forcefully. Still, respectful upselling usually leads to higher spends and pleases guests with a better dining experience.

A good way to upsell is to pay attention to what customers want, to make sure staff can recognize chances to upsell without making the customers feel pressured. If an upsell is done slowly, is appropriate for each guest and follows dinner progression, it becomes part of the entire experience. To grow and keep patrons loyal, knowing this skill is crucial right now in the restaurant industry.

Understanding Customer Preferences

You should first pay attention to and observe your customers to upsell successfully. Knowing each person’s likes, limits and moods allows you to offer appealing and tailored advice. When a server proposes a specific dessert or a nice drink in response to what you’ve ordered, that’s thoughtful, not just trying to make a sale. A side dish that fits with the main entrée or a signature beverage that complements the guest’s taste shows that you cared.

Along with one-on-one interaction, technology can help businesses learn about what appeals to their customers. A restaurant POS system with customer data is now used by many restaurants to see what people have ordered before. Because of this, servers can provide advice that makes it more likely an upsell will occur. By following these tips, you can give better recommendations and your customers won’t be annoyed.

Training Staff for Subtle Upselling

Good upselling can only happen if the staff know how to suggest additional products without being pushy. Servers should be trained to pay attention and only suggest a couple of upgrades that fit a guest’s needs. By practicing role-playing, staff can practice making these suggestions in a way that isn’t overbearing. Helping customers instead of pitching things to them encourages them to trust and connect with the server.

We also need to empower our staff to sense when customers are not interested and to respond accordingly. If a guest wants to order by themselves, the server should honor that. If the staff pay attention to how customers react and act on it, upselling feels like a natural addition to the meal.

Timing and Presentation of Upselling

How you time your upselling efforts is very important for its success. If you start with more items right away such as right after everyone sits, it might feel intrusive to your guests. On the other hand, if you give guests some time and review the menu after their arrival, upselling can happen easily. Serving appetizers after drinks and suggesting desserts as the meal comes to a close helps maintain a natural way of serving the meal.

How a person presents the offer matters in terms of upselling. Giving suggestions as gentle advice, rather than trying to sell them, usually works better. Rather than suggesting the expensive wine, a server might suggest, “You wouldn’t go wrong with our house Chardonnay to match your meal.” In this way, the advertiser feels less like they are trying to get me to buy more and more. Highlighting daily specials on your tablet hooked up to a cloud based POS is a gentle way to encourage customers.

Using Technology to Support Upselling

Technology today provides numerous ways to help sellers upsell while still making things comfortable for the buyers. Such a system doesn’t just improve the ordering process, but it allows servers to check real-time details on inventory and current offers. Thanks to these systems, servers are offered chances to upsell based on the customer’s order, allowing for quick and relevant upsells.

Especially, with digital menus and tabletop tablets, customers can check out options when they feel ready which leaves less room for salespeople to push different offerings. Combining technology and service allows restaurants to help customers decide what to buy and spend, without being pushy.

Upselling is something that works well for restaurants and customers when it is done right. Suggestions should help make the meal special, while still allowing guests to feel comfortable. Offering correct upselling requires you to understand customer tastes, prepare your staff to be polite, make offers at the right time and benefit from using a restaurant POS system and cloud based tools. Places that apply these approaches tend to have higher incomes and their clients are satisfied and loyal.