The other day Chris and I went to the movies. We bought our tickets and headed to the concession stand. The place was near empty, so we got to the front of the line before we really knew what we wanted. We told the girl we would be ordering something, but not sure exactly what, and we stepped back to leave room for anybody else who may have walked up. Nobody did.
Since we hadn’t had dinner yet, but planned on eating after the movie, I wanted to get something, but not necessarily a whole lot. I decided on a small popcorn and a soda. Chris, who didn’t plan on having any popcorn, asked, “do you want to just get the junior popcorn?” to which I replied, “no, I think the small will be fine.” We step forward to the counter and tell the girl, “I’ll have a small popcorn and a medium Coke.” to which she replies, “Would you like to make that a medium popcorn for only 50 cents more?” I said no thanks and then I explained that my wife had tried to downsize my order but that I was already certain I wanted the small popcorn.
And then it hit me. I have been going about this all wrong for years!! I told the girl behind the counter the following:
“What I should have said was, ‘I would like a junior popcorn’ to which you would have said, ‘would you like to make that a small popcorn for only 50 cents more’, to which I would have said ‘Why yes I would like a small instead!’. I would have got the size I really wanted, you would have felt great for the successful up-sell, and if your boss happened to walk by right then, he would have patted you on the back for it as well. Everybody wins!’
We all share a bit of a laugh, we finish our transaction and head to our theater and see the movie.
Fast forward to Friday evening. Todd and I are at the movies. We’ve arrived early and are second in line to enter. Once they let us in, we find seats and Todd says he’s going to go grab a drink. I hand him some cash and say, “Grab me a medium Coke. But, when you order it, tell them you want the small Coke. Then, when they ask if you want to make it a medium, you agree.” After initially laughing at me, he agrees to try it.
When Todd arrived back at the seats with my medium Coke in hand, I asked if he had tried it. Sure enough, he ordered the small, they offered him the up-sell and he agreed! Success!
As we waited for our movie to start, we talked about it a bit and we both agreed that we’d definitely try this more often. The question came up, what if they don’t try and up-sell you. We both agreed that it’s pretty rare that they don’t try for the up-sell, but, if they don’t, you simply call out as they reach for the bag and change your mind to the size you wanted to begin with.
So if you are up for a little experimenting, give it a shot next time you are at the movies or any other place that you feel regularly tries to up-sell you. Stop back and leave a comment letting us know how it went.
At first glance it seemed that they landed in the wrong convention. They would have seemed to be better suited for construction workers convention. But, if you stopped to answer the question they had written on the back of their booth in 3 foot lettering that simply read, “WHY?”, you would have understood in a matter of seconds.
