5 Simple Upsells and Downsells That Drive Higher Profits

Would you like fries with that?

These are the iconic words every teenager who worked at McDonald’s in the late 80s and early 90s said to every customer. This was before value meals and back when everything was ordered à la carte. "Would you like fries with that" was also my first exposure to the power of upsells.

If you take a look around, upsells are everywhere. In grocery stores, they are the rack of candy bars and trashy magazines. In fast food places, they are the $1 sundaes. In high-end stores, they are the pair of socks to go with those shoes.

There is a reason that nearly every business uses upsells. It’s often the difference between profit and loss; the difference between success and failure. And while we are looking at upsells, we are also going to tackle the downsell, which you don’t see as often, but can put a ton of money into your bottom line.

So let’s look at upsells and downsells and how they work in both online and offline businesses. Surprisingly enough, these are often very similar, because no matter what you are selling, the philosophy remains the same -- when your customer is in a buying mood, you want to offer them something else they may be interested in. Because that is when they are most likely to buy. Read more

Brian Edmondson - Entrepreneur - 21 Aug 2017