What’s Up About Up-selling
by Dick Dyer, APR

Maybe it’s because I have become more sensitive to the impact of telemarketing on American philanthropy, or that my blood pressure is out of control, but I don’t see any up in the phrase up-selling.

What’s up-selling?

It is that current push from every sector of marketing where the salesperson has to try to sell you something else after they have made the initial sale. And, it doesn’t have to be a sale. You could be calling for service or to simply ask a question.

For the holidays I decided to do some shopping by phone to various companies. Every single call I made for an item with a published amount had up-selling options. “Now, Mr. Dyer, you have purchased model xyz and for more money you could have this model which actually has and on-off switch.” What was I getting to begin with—a hand crank model? When I said I probably spend a little more money to get those basic efficiencies, I was then presented with other options. “Do you want the one that is black or white?” “Do you want the one that has this tray or that bell or whistle?” On and on they would go. By the end of the call, I was so angry I wanted to cancel the whole order.

It is technically not the old bait and switch practice, but it’s not far from it perceptively. I get you to call me to buy my product at a very low rate. Once I get you to call, I present all the other options that I probably knew you would want anyway.

I guess I’m old fashioned, but present me all the options and let me decide what I can afford. It reminds me of a story my grandfather told me. He heard it during his cab driving days in Newport, Rhode Island in early part of the last century. In those days, Newport was probably one of the few places on the East Coast that could support a Cadillac dealership. Anyway, this older gentleman in farmer overhauls walked in to the dealership to ask the brand new sales clerk about the cost of the Cadillac on the show room floor. The young agent looked the guy up and down and said, “Sir, why don’t you let me show you something more in your price range.” The older gentleman patiently asked again for the price of that specific car. All during this brief conversation the owner of the dealership was on the phone and trying to end the call so that he could meet with the older fellow. When the salesperson responded again that he would like to show something more in his price range, the older fellow calmly turned on his heel and walked out the door. When the owner finally got off the phone and asked what the older gentleman had wanted, the young sales rep explained what he tried to do. Flabbergasted, the owner said that was just old so-and-so who happens to be worth millions. He just dresses that way to irritate the rich folk around here. He could buy and sell my dealership anytime he wanted let alone buy that car—the most expensive car on our lot.

Valuable lesson. Give the customer what they want, just like G. Draper Dayton of the Dayton Hudson Company admonished his sales people to do years ago (that quote was later simplified to “The customer is always right” for the history buffs).

The final straw came the other day when my administrative assistant asked for permission to call a credit card company for a copy of a bill that had disappeared. She called the company and rightfully the company noted that she was not on the approved list of people they could divulge my credit information to. Fine, she called me to the phone where I simply answered a few of the clearance questions and quickly gave my permission for my administrative assistant to get information and now and in the future. At this point, I then had to answer a bunch of questions about the levels of information they could give her and did I want her to have a card as well? On and on and I finally in frustration said, “Listen, I just want you to let her ask for copies of my bills and allow her to pay, I don’t want anything else.” To that, they then tried to sell me on some of their other services. I hung up.

More and more, I am finding I have to hang up the phone to end the call because people don’t seem to understand aspects of the word “NO”.

Enough grumbling. But, I am concerned about all this insensitivity to our fellow human beings.

Have a happy and prosperous New Year! Oh, can I sell you a steamer tray for that new Ronco rotisserie you bought at Christmas?

Dick Dyer operates his own public relations firm in Winthrop, Maine. He enjoys hearing from readers on column ideas and/or questions they would like pursued within this column. You can reach him by email dyerapr@fairpoint.net or by phone at (207) 512-2217.