The art of the upsell!

I'm not sure if that's actually a word! I offer other services to compliment my clients birthday event. Unfortunately I get few that book. I'm thinking about adding the different options/upgrades to my contract, so that they can see if in writing and know what else is available. My only issue with that is that I'm getting a majority of bookings for parties that are 2 weeks out. Which usually means that plans are pretty much cemented and they are just booking entertainment now. Any other suggestions for selling additional services?

I guess it would help if you knew what I offer:

Balloon Decor
Favors
Party supplies
Craft activities
Theme parties

Games? Themed FP designs? Hair color/Crazy hair?
I don't think it will hurt to add it to your contract because they might use you next time. Plus, put it on your website so they can see it while they are still surfing around. Honestly, if you put general information about parties (good ideas, list of themes, etc.) you'll get key words in the search engines and it might help drive traffic to your site in general.

I have a friend in the cake business that gives me a deal, so I have a themed packages that include 1 hr of painting, party favors, and a custom cake, and they can add a pinata and other extras on an "a la carte" kinda basis.

hmmmm... perhaps it would help if you didn't look at this as upselling or upgrading but more as " a great package deal".
That's how I sell my balloons and face painting package... which is not easy as I don't do the balloons myself so they are paying for another artist to come along..... the idea of having something to entertain the kids waiting to be painted is appealing.
I have to make sure that it really is a good deal for them.... but I get to have my hubby come along with me so I like to tell people about it.
I tell them either in the middle of the conversation like..
"Oh I'm not sure what your budget is but you may be interested in a special package deal we are offering untill September...... blah blah..."
If it's an email inquiry I put it at the bottom of the email - like a just in case thing. I also put in the email what it would usually cost to have this package so they can see what they are saving.... people love to think they are getting a good deal and often concentrate on how much they are saving and not how much they are spending.
x

Interesting you should mention that, Tash. I was talking with a magician friend of mine about doing packages together. I was actually going to post about this but since it came up I will just ask you here. If you don't mind me asking, how do you work out rates with the performer you hire while still keeping it a good deal for the client? Does s/he give you a special rate, and you pay him (or her) directly? Or do you both work out a package price together and split it? How does it work? Thanks

Unfortunately my answer isn't going to help you much.
My husband does it. I charge for him $60 per hour ( which is really cheap for a balloon artist around these parts) if he is doing airbrush tattoos I charge $80 per hour for him to come along with me.
If I need another painter I hire them at $70 per hour, but charge $80 per hour to the client.
If I am offering craft activities - I make sure the activities can be set up without needing too much monitoring and charge half my rate on top.
At the moment we are offering face painting and balloon twisting for only $140 per hour!........ ( now doesn't that sound like a good deal?)
I only try to book my man with me if the gig is worth his time - as he has a fulltime job...... everytime I get a 4 hour booking I push it like crazy....lol

Gotcha! I will start a thread on it and see what everyone thinks. Sounds like you have a pretty sweet deal going on there with the husband. I practically begged my husband to learn balloon twisting and he just... won't... consider it. He says it's because he hates children. Oddly, we have three.

I rarely do single service parties. With most clients it's always FP & BT at the very least, and then I will look to add on GT's or now offering henna and nail art parties.

My daughter does balloons. I will later on this year be raising her rate because she's learned so many new, more involved designs. I don't charge what a normal twister would get even though her skillset would warrant that, because of her age. She is 11 turning 12 on the 31 of this month. It is more the perception people would have of paying a child not an older teen or adult to perform the service. Every job she's been to people are always a little skeptical when I point her out as being the twister for the event, but ALWAYS end up being amazed with what she can do, and it's only because they are looking at her age and not the skill.

She loves twisting. That is HER spotlight moment HER time to shine. She also handles my line and can do the GT's if necessary. I love having her with me she is learning about what it is to have a stellar work ethic, being professional at all times even when you don't feel like it, learning how to handle money, learning how to deal effecively with people and so on.

Please forgive my going off on such a tangent about my kiddo.....lololol She's just so Awesome lolol

I actually work with two magicians from the Syracuse area, FacePaintLady. I also do combo parties with other performers or services, since I am a performer as well. We all had to come to an agreement to how much we need to make per two hour event and then we set a price based on that.

Lynnie you're in ROCHESTER?!! We have to get together sometime!!!!!

Hi CabbyJ

UPSELLING is a word .... but one with a specific meaning. It refers to selling something ADDITIONAL to the main product at the time of purchase. The classic McDonald's "Would you like fries with that?" is an Upsell offer. It's usually a DeLuxe version of the same product / service OR the addition of something closely related.

Amazon are great exponents of this. Ever been there and seen "People who bought X also bought A,B and C". Butb there's also "You may also like .... " or "This goes well with .... "You may also need .....". All commonly used to Upsell batteries, wrapping, blank media etc etc.

An UPSELL is just one way of increasing profits at the time of purchase. You can (should!) also use DOWNSELLS (great when a prospect looks likle they may not buy / book), CROSS-SELLS and JVs. You should really use all these in your business to maximise opportunities.

Although you may mainly get short notice entertainment bookings now ... you should have links to a selection of other packages, offers etc in all your communication with searchers, prospects, customers and clients. This would include broadcast emails, newsletters, proposals, contracts, invoices, blog posts, social network entries, forum posts etc etc etc.

I believe it IS a good idea to create different 'versions' of what you do and create 'Packages' that you can sell, promote, make offers on etc but this is merely sensible marketing (not strictly UpSelling). By giving different combos names and a price structure, it helps people make decisions. As GinaW said ... details of these (as well as onsite internal links to the various pages they will appear on) will help your search engine ranking for searches on those keywords.

Good luck

John