Small Business Strategies: 3 Tips to Up-Selling

Last week I visited the eye doctor – one of the last places I would expect to experience an up-sell.

The staff was remarkably friendly and incredibly efficient, both of which go a long way with me as it’s not something common in the medical profession. When it came to dilate my pupils, the up-sell began.

The technician explained that rather than doing the traditional procedure with eye drops that requires down time before you can see properly again, they used a different technique with a high tech camera. With a few flashes of a green light, images of my eyes were taken.

When the doctor continued my exam, she mentioned the procedure they did instead of dilating my pupils was not covered by insurance.  Insurance considers the way of performing this procedure optional because you could do the traditional dilatation method and get about the same results. She went on to say that they
rent the machinery from the manufacturer and only pay if the files of the images taken are opened.

She explained that for an additional $39 we could open the images and see how my eyes look ‘under the hood’.  For me, the price was right and I wanted to make sure all was well with my eyes. Not until AFTER, I said let’s look at the images, did she go into detail about why this was a good idea. I was glad I made the decision, but am pretty sure she could increase her success rate on the up-sell. Here’s 3 small business strategies that could help you up-sell:

1)  
Explain clearly the benefits to me of investing more BEFORE you give me the price. In this case I was under the impression the only benefit was getting information that we wouldn’t otherwise have about my eyes because they don’t do the traditional dilation. However, it turns out these images serve as a baseline of what my eyes look like behind the scenes. The images go in my file forever. The old way of doing this procedure results in just anecdotal evidence written in my file, but no images. If the doctor passes my file on to another doctor, they won’t know exactly what was seen without an actual image.

2)
Provide your expert opinion – don’t just sell. The doctor went on to share with me how the images the camera takes actually provide a 30% clearer picture of my eye than the old way of doing this procedure. It results in early prevention of conditions that can compromise your vision.  Good to know and it
would have helped me decide the investment was a no-brainer had she told me before she told me the price.

3)
If you feel strongly that I should do this, tell me why. I appreciate knowing my doctor is on the cutting-edge and not letting insurance guidelines dictate my care. I understand that insurance companies are in the business of covering the least amount of care for the dollar. My doctor could have better explained that she went to a recent conference with the top doctors in the nation and that it’s the consensus of professional organizations that this particular test is standard for preventative care.

Whether you are a physician or you  are a wine store owner, photographer or personal trainer, there are additional products and services that can provide
additional peace of mind, happiness and value to your clients initial purchase. Use these guidelines for up-selling to increase your average sale today. Recently, our Cafe Joy members benefited from over an hour of education on up-selling and cross selling your clients. Join Cafe Joy now and we’ll include this bonus education, a $59 value, for free.