Upselling to your guests

Whether it’s offering to upgrade a guest to a private room or selling a tour, most of us upsell some kind of products or services to our guests. Here’s some advice on how to do it effectively from Caroline Cooper at Zeal Coaching.

Upselling provides profit, guest satisfaction

Although upselling usually involves marketing more profitable services or products, it also can simply expose customers to other options they might not have considered. Upselling implies selling something that is more profitable or otherwise preferable for the seller instead of the original sale. But is it just about increasing the customer spend, or is it also about giving the customer a better experience overall—offering them something they forgot to order or never even thought of?

Here are some excerpts on what Caroline says we need to consider in order to upsell successfully:

Choosing what to promote

Unless what you are promoting has perceived value to the customer, it's unlikely the sale will be achieved and will do little to build your customer’s loyalty or trust.

I really like her emphasis that upselling should be just as advantageous for the guest as it is for the business.

Product knowledge

Allow staff to experience all the products and services first hand. This not only will make the products more memorable, but also there will be more willingness to promote it if staff feels confident enough to talk about the product.

Smart vendors will let your staff try their products or services once for free so that they will know how to describe them to your guests. If they don’t come to you to offer a free trial for familiarization, then go to them and ask!
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Spot the opportunities

Let staff identify the situations that lend themselves to upselling, not just in their own department, but across all areas

A big key to this is listening to your guests when they talk to each other about their trips away from the reception desk. Do they get excited when they talk about a previous caving expedition, skydiving adventure, monster truck rally, SCUBA dive, concert, exhibition, or pub crawl? Maybe there’s something similar that you can offer them around your hostel! If your staff jumps in with, “hey guys, I heard you mention… Did you know that we have something like that here?” They may end up selling the whole group a tour just by passing through the room.

Or maybe they notice a guest wearing a T-shirt from another hostel. Maybe they collect them. A casual comment like, “nice T-shirt! Have you bought ours to wear tomorrow?” might just sell them a shirt

Behaviors

Teach staff the mechanics of upselling, such as:

• the need for open questions to identify what the customer wants;
• how to listen actively to a customer’s requests or preferences;
• how to respond, make suggestions or offer alternatives that best meet the customer’s needs; and
• how would staff describe each of your products and services? Rather than a script, allow them to develop their own dialogue, one that comes naturally to them.

Most sales training will tell you about Features and Benefits. Features are the things that answer the general question, “What do you have?” (ex. Private room with a king-sized bed and an ensuite bathroom) Benefits answer the more personal question, “So what?” (ex. So you and your girlfriend can share a bed for the first time in three weeks, sleep through the night without anyone flipping on your light at 4:00am, and shower whenever you want without waiting for anyone else to finish.) The features may not seem like anything special at first, but the way the benefits are perceived changes their value.

Plan for objections

Whether an objection is perceived or real, the staff needs to know how to deal with it.

• Distinguish between a definitive “no,” and a simple request for more information before buying.
• When it's just a matter of timing: Guests are too full now, but ask them again in 10 minutes.
• They want something more, but you've offered the wrong thing.
• Explain the need to identify the nature of the objection by asking open questions.
• Have staff demonstrate empathy and understanding of the customer's perspective.
• Gain the trust of customers by matching their responses or offering to meet their needs.

Give incentives

Link your upselling activity to some goals. This might be a target to sell a specific number of a certain product or service, or it could be linked to specific financial profit targets. Whatever goals you set, ensure these are clearly measurable and achievable and that any incentive is equitable so everyone is motivated to contribute. Also, give regular updates on progress.

Not everyone is competitive, but letting your staff know how they are progressing verses their teammates might just motivate them to take the lead.

Guide and support

Don’t assume because you've told your staff how to do something that they will be able to deliver it consistently.

The most surefire way to teach or to motivate is to lead by example alongside your staff. If you can consistently upsell, then your staff will follow your lead.