The Road to Seasonality - Part VI: Add-on Sales

by Skip Cohen

I created this series to help you start thinking about things you need to consider to make this one of your best holiday seasons to date. This is the sixth in the series, and all it requires you to do is genuinely listen to your clients and change the way you respond!

While I'd like to take credit for the foundation of today's post, it's thanks to my good buddy, Doug Box. I first heard him talk about this concept with his bakery demonstration years ago. So while I've written about it before, most of you need the reminder with the holiday season coming up!

Paraphrased from Doug's presentation: Pretend you're a baker, and somebody calls and asks you, "How much are your cakes?" For most of us, we'd ask a series of qualifiers: How many people do you want it to serve? Sheet cake, layer cake, or ice cream cake? What flavors would you like? Anything to be written on the top? Any allergies we need to know about? When do you need it? Will it need to be delivered? And the list goes on and on.

Why, when none of us own a bakery, do we know what we'd need to ask, but as artists, most of you ask almost nothing? For example, a potential client calls and asks, "How much are your 8x10s?" and most of you would answer with a price. That's it - nothing more to clarify what the customer needed, and no effort made to upsell with ideas of other products you offer, package pricing, cross-promotions with other vendors, holiday specials etc.

Holiday seasonality is right around the corner. While the pandemic has created so many complex challenges in business today, it's also brought with it a renewed sense of family. With that new focus on family there's an increased demand for portraiture and creating/capturing new memories. Just ask yourself, what's Grandma missed the most over the last year? Her family!

Take a minute and think about everything you have to offer a client. From holiday cards to prints to capturing memory-making events - when you're contacted, don't just answer their question. Instead, take things one step further and give them something to think about that ties back to your skillset and everything you have the potential to offer.

Another good buddy, Tony Corbell, has used Disney as an example over the years. If you ask a Disney staff member when is the Electric Light Parade, they'll answer you, but then include, "And you know where there's a great place to watch it?" They'll then give you a suggestion on where to be in the park to enjoy it the most. They never just answer your question.

The bottom line is simple - we've been experiencing it with every fast food order we've ever made..."You want fries with that?"