Article

3 tips for boosting the upsell effort

A family has just called and ordered two large, two-topping pizzas for dinner. Here are some tips to increase that order by upselling additional items ranging from extra cheese to dessert.

October 30, 2015 by Travis Wagoner — Editor, Networld Media Group

No matter what kind of pizza specialty is on the menu the quest for every pizzeria is to upsell at every consumer touchpoint. But doing that and boosting the sale requires some specific strategy and best practices as there is real potential of turning off a customer.

So Pizzamarketplace.com reached out to operators with knowledge and insight and which have proven to be adept in the upsell effort.

Here some practical tips and insight from  Hungry Howie’s Pizza, which was founded in 1973 in Taylor, Michigan and is now a national pizza franchise with almost 600 locations in 21 states across the U.S and Toppers Pizza, which is headquartered in Whitewater, Wisconsin and was founded in 1991. Toppers has more than 71 restaurants in 11 states.

Tip 1: It’s all about the staff – even if it’s an online order

Having your staff onboard with upselling is critical to success, especially when a customer places an order online.

"We use suggestive sales at the phone and encourage contests amongst the staff," shared Paul Pfeiffer, vice president of operations for Hungry Howie’s. "We also use our online ordering platform for suggestive sales. The online ordering platform works well. Staff suggesting selling on the phones only work as well as the management enforces it."

Upselling via online ordering is also important for Toppers Pizza.

"One of the ways we drive this point home with team members, and where many of them start to buy-in, is by teaching them that online ordering has roughly a $4 higher ticket average than an order taken by team members," said Matt Martin, director of training for Toppers Pizza. "We explain to team members that what this data suggests is that when customers are in a completely no-pressure situation and able to peruse at their leisure, they actually want to order more."

Tip 2: Training is a must

Training a staff to upsell is obviously crucial given the pivotal role they play in upselling. The challenge is that people are different and all have their own learning style and engagement skills.

"Some people just don't have the ability to upsell on the phones," Pfeiffer said. "You need to be next to the staff that are handling phones to assist them with this. You want to be able to suggest something that would fit with or complement the order."

Martin is a believer in getting his staff to buy into the concept of upselling.

"I think one of the most important things in training anything is getting the team member to believe that what they’re doing brings value to them," he said. "For the most part, if they don’t believe it brings value to them, they simply won’t do it, or won’t do it well."

Pizza restaurant operators also want every customer to have ordered everything they wanted — whether they knew it or not

"It must be our job as order-takers to give our customers what they want through suggesting products that would make their experience more enjoyable," Martin explained. "This mentality comes full circle for the team member when they understand that more enjoyable experiences for our customers result in higher sales and order frequency, which leads to a healthier company for everyone."

More sales and orders means more hours for staff, more tips, and faster growth and development, note the pizza operators, which are rewarding to staffers. However, the upsell needs to feel natural and not be an obvious sales pitch to the customer.

"For the most part, upselling is a mentality thing," Martin said. "There are some functional pieces to it for sure, but if you can get team members to have the mentality of looking for ways to enhance each customer’s order, rather than pushing upsells because it’s more money, they will do it in an organic way that doesn’t feel mechanical to the customer."

Martin added most customers are educated, and they know when they’re getting the stock upsell of trying to tack on sodas at the end of an order.

"They are basically programmed to say no to it," he said. "When the intent of the upsell is to make their experience better, not just raise the ticket average, customers are much more receptive to it."

Tip 3: Identify the popular upsell items

There is no point, and just wasted time and labor, in upselling items that aren't a good fit for the upsell interaction and that will vary from pizza operator to pizza operator due to demographics and consumer habits and expectations.

"Breads, brownies and sodas are some of Hungry Howie’s more successful upsells," Pfeiffer noted.

Yet at Toppers Pizza the big upsellers are extra cheese and extra sauce cups.

"Probably the most successful upsells are the little things that enhance the order, but aren’t necessarily a big commitment," Martin said. 

About Travis Wagoner

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Travis Wagoner spent nearly 18 years in education as an alumni relations and communications director, coordinating numerous annual events and writing, editing and producing a quarterly, 72-plus-page magazine. Travis also was a ghostwriter for an insurance firm, writing about the Affordable Care Act. He holds a BA degree in communications/public relations from Xavier University.