As a restaurant owner or manager, your main goal is to increase sales. Customer satisfaction, loyalty programs, package deals, or, in the case of this article, suggestive selling techniques, are just tools meant to increase revenue.
With this in mind, we’ve prepared a guide to introducing an effective suggestive selling restaurant strategy you can use to boost sales today.
In the article, we’re going to:
- Discover what suggestive selling is
- Explore the benefits of suggestive selling
- Show you how to introduce suggesting selling techniques in your restaurant
- Discuss suggestive selling strategies and best practices
What Is Suggestive Selling? Inventory Management
Suggestive selling, also known as upselling or add-on selling, is a sales strategy in which a salesperson proposes additional purchases or alternative products to a customer.
Suggestive selling takes place in virtually every business. When buying a car, you have different car classes and equipment options. You may choose a premium interior, stereo, or a different engine class.
Similarly, when buying a guitar, a camera, a TV, and pretty much every other product, you are presented with seemingly similar equipment that comes in a wide variety of options and prices.
In the context of restaurants, we’re dealing with the exact same nature of marketing. Only instead of premium upholstery or 8k TV image quality, we offer an extra side dish, drink, or combo meal. And you don’t have to look far to see how it’s done. Big names like McDonald’s and Burger King have it all well figured out.
The idea of this sales technique is to encourage customers to consider choices beyond their initial order or usual preferences. The goal of this is, of course, to increase the overall sale value.
This approach can be as straightforward as suggesting a different, perhaps new, soup variety or recommending a special pasta dish of the day to a regular who typically orders pizza. The pasta may carry a slightly higher price, but it’s presented as a unique option that might pique the customer’s interest.
- Cross-selling: While cross-selling focuses on offering complementary items alongside the main purchase, suggestive selling encompasses any recommendation made to enhance the customer’s experience or order, including upgrades (upselling) or additional, related products (cross-selling). Essentially, suggestive selling is the overarching practice of making tailored suggestions, and cross-selling is one of the techniques used within this practice to maximize value for both the customer and the business.
- Up-selling: On the other hand, up-selling focuses on encouraging customers to consider buying a more premium, upgraded, or higher-priced version of the product they initially showed interest in. The key difference lies in upselling generally aiming to increase the value of the single transaction directly, whether through an upgraded item or a higher-priced combo, while suggestive selling can include any recommendation that enhances the customer’s experience, including non-upgrade related additions.
The essence of effective suggestive selling lies in making recommendations that genuinely enhance the customer’s dining experience rather than simply pushing for a higher sale amount. It’s about matching the customer with offerings that they will genuinely enjoy.
For instance, it wouldn’t make sense to recommend a meat-heavy dish to a vegan customer in pursuit of a higher bill; such a strategy is unlikely to be well-received. The goal is to provide thoughtful suggestions that customers will appreciate and that add value to their meals.
Suggestive Selling Benefits for Restaurants
Suggestive selling comes with a lot of not-so-obvious perks. While most restaurants understand the concepts of marketing, like the importance of a positive brand image or organizing their menu items in a way that makes it easier to upsell, there are also a few different ways in which suggestive selling may benefit you.
- Increase average order value: Adding suggestive selling into the mix can really bump up how much folks end up spending. It’s about gently nudging customers to try that extra side or go for the pricier option with a smile. This way, not only do they get to discover new favorites, but the restaurant sees a nice lift in what each table brings in.
- Better customer experience: Getting a suggestion that hits the spot can turn a regular meal into something special. It shows customers you’re paying attention, and you’ve got their back when it comes to making great choices from the menu. It’s all about making folks feel taken care of and eager to come back for more.
- Improve staff engagement: When your team gets good at dropping the perfect suggestions, they feel more connected to their work and confident in their role. It’s a win-win: they’re happier at work, and that positive energy spills over into the customer service they provide, making for a better vibe all around. Also, since your staff gets to do their best instead of being programmed to do things, they can do what they know best and get more tips that way. That way, they’re sure to have more incentive to try harder.
- Build customer loyalty: Nailing suggestive selling can turn a one-time visitor into a regular. It’s the personal touches that make customers feel at home and keep them coming back. Plus, happy regulars are your best ambassadors, always ready to spread the word about how great your place is. Make sure to have a restaurant loyalty system that they can join.
- Maximize revenue opportunities: Suggestive selling isn’t just about upselling; it’s a smart way to highlight seasonal specials or dishes that deserve more love, helping to keep your inventory in check and your margins healthy. It’s about making sure every suggestion counts, not just for the customer’s experience but for the restaurant’s bottom line too.
How to Introduce Suggestive Selling at My Restaurant?
Introducing suggestive selling can take some time, but it’s not a difficult process. As long as you remember the main tenets of suggestive selling and don’t try to be overly greedy, you should be good to go with just a little bit of preparation.
Gather sales data
Gathering sales data is absolutely essential and is the first step to understanding the returning and the new customers. Your first touch point could be your veteran staff as well as your own experience.
The next step should be analyzing the sales data. Which suggested items were most likely to be sold with the original order? Which were least likely? If you’re running a brick-and-mortar store only, then your job is a little easier—you simply have to document all of your sales, preferably using restaurant analytics software, and make adjustments.
At the same time, make sure not to suffocate your staff with robotic orders. Instead, try to incentivize them to do their best with monetary rewards. In the long run, you’re going to make more money doing this than you could ever save on withholding these rewards. You’ll also be more likely to reduce the staff turnover rate, which truly is a win-win situation (especially considering how long it takes to train a solid sales associate).
Train your staff
Your restaurant staff are not merely servers; they’re sales associates who understand your products and understand how to add on sales to the original purchase.
If you have staff members who have been on your team for a while, they should already have a solid understanding of how your customers tend to order. In a sense, your staff is a sales team that knows how to create a sense of need for complementary products.
To be frank, there isn’t one selling technique that would work better than others; in a sense, you and your team need to understand when to suggest items to make your customers’ experience as rich as possible.
Perk up your online ordering sales
If you sell food online, you consider hiring someone well-versed in optimizing your online ordering system for upselling, cross-selling, and suggestive selling.
Not only can you increase your sales by selling additional items, but you can also gather lots of invaluable data about your customers that will then translate into more sales at your location.
Companies like McDonald’s will give you extra deals and ask if you’d like to add a certain item to your cart each time you’re about to complete an order. They use the data from previous orders to offer items that were most likely to be added and sold. You can do the same by tweaking your digital restaurant menu.
Suggestive Selling: Best Practices
A successful suggestive selling campaign can significantly bump your sales. However, to make suggestive selling work, you first need to understand your existing customer profile and train your staff on how to properly perform sales techniques. To do that, however, you first need to understand what makes for good suggestive selling.
Suggestive selling techniques and best practices
Good suggestive selling focuses primarily on knowing your customers and doing your best to enhance the guest experience rather than profits. In other words, your staff should only suggest a given offer if they know that this offer would go well with whatever the customer ordered.
If your customers often order onion rings with a burger, and you know that it’s a good combination, then you might want to offer onion rings to customers who buy burgers. However, offering an ice cream or dessert with one would not make much sense (unless, for some reason, you know it is a desired combination).
What your servers can do in terms of desserts is ask your customers if they would like to know about today’s dessert card. It is a simple, less intrusive way to open extra space for selling some more.
Key Takeaways
- Educate your staff: Train your staff on the menu and the art of observation to tailor their suggestions to each customer’s preferences and dietary needs.
- Use technology: Consider using restaurant marketing tools to track customer preferences and order history for more personalized suggestions.
- Guest experience first: Aim to genuinely enhance the dining experience with your suggestions rather than merely trying to increase the bill.
- Create a loyalty program: Encourage repeat business by rewarding customers for trying new suggestions by creating a restaurant loyalty program.
- Practice subtlety: Ensure suggestions are made in a natural and unobtrusive manner.
- Gather data: Make sure to gather customer feedback and data, preferably using the restaurant analytics software of your choice.
