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Sales Tips-"You Want Fries With That?"

Written by: Greg Beverly

Article Overview: Since being introduced by McDonald's, this phrase has become a part of our language and even our culture. But the most important thing YOU need to know is, "Does it work?"

Sales Tips-"You Want Fries With That?"

"You want fires with that?" has become a part of our language. First used by McDonald's, it has now been adopted by every fast food restaurant in some form or another. Place an order and you'll then be asked if you would like fries, a drink, etc. to go with it or you be asked to upgrade to a larger size or to a value meal. Even though it has been criticized and ridiculed, this one simple question results in over 30% of all customers responding with a yes.

Now, how do you take this success and use it in your business or sales career? One of the simplest and most effective means is through the use of a checklist.

Say the word "checklist" to most anyone, particularly a salesperson and you will hear something similar to "Checklist, checklist, I don't need no stinkin' checklist." But the truth is, if you are not currently using some form of checklist, you could be missing out on thousands of dollars in additional sales.

I recently worked with a client who owned a hardware store who hired me to work with his sales staff. After my initial observation, it became obvious that his staff, while helpful, were essentially order takers. They were more than happy to answer any questions and make suggestions specifically related to the questions, but were reluctant to take the extra step into "helpful selling."

Let's take for example a customer who comes into buy paint. After you find out what the customer is painting (by asking questions) you can make several helpful suggestions. What else might a customer who is painting their bedroom need? Well, the obvious answer is either a brush or roller. But what else? How about a drop cloth? A tray for the roller? Extra roller pads? Maybe a ladder? What about paint thinner for clean up? Perhaps even overalls to wear to prevent getting paint on their clothes? There are numerous items that go together in this situation and after some initial thought, we created a checklist to use for each purchase.

In most cases, your customer will need one or more of them, but may not think about it until they get home. And once they make the realization, the chances are high that they will go to the nearest store that sells the item rather than come back to you. Because my client was skeptical, we created a tracking mechanism to determine the level of sales that we could specifically track to the questions and checklists. The results were that more than 41% of the customers bought at least one additional item!

Of course, this is an easy example. But all you have to do is consider what you are selling. What else will you customer want or need? If you sell many different items, take each one and determine what the obvious accessories or upgrades are for each product or service. You'll be amazed at how much a little initial thought and a few questions will increase your sales.

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