The Importance of a Piece of Pie

Yesterday I had lunch at a restaurant which is famous for its pies. As I was looking over the menu and while I was eating my lunch, I heard the wait staff over and over again ask customers who had finished their meals, "Would you like a piece of pie?"

Many customers declined, and several asked what flavors were available. As those in the restaurant business know, most customers don't order dessert. They focus on their meal and don't think of having dessert.

They don't think of it unless they are asked.

This asking is suggestive selling, which is a powerful marketing tool. When you suggest an additional purchase which is of benefit to the customer, you enhance that customer's experience. Suggesting a piece of pie caps off a meal in a delicious fashion. Yes, I know that it can also add to a waistline, but the customer always has the power to say no. However, by suggesting the piece of pie, you give your customer that choice. If you don't offer the piece of pie, your customer must think of the choice, and, as mentioned earlier, that is unlikely.

Some businesses view this as "pushy." If the wait person's question, tone of voice, and attitude when making the suggestion is aggressive, then, yes, this could be pushy. I have never seen that, nor have I ever felt "pushed" into having a piece of pie. Although I usually decline the offer, I have never been offended to have been asked.

What this small suggestion does for the business is enormous. One of the two most profitable ways to grow your business is to increase the amount that a customer spends with your business in each transaction. Adding a piece of pie to a customer's ticket does just that. Over a period of a week, a month, or a year, these extra pieces of pie add greatly not just to the restaurant's revenue but also to its profit.

While you may not be operating a restaurant, you have opportunities to sell suggestively in your business. Are you doing that? Can you do more of it? Take a look at the way you and your staff interact with your customers and see if more suggestive selling is feasible. You can do this verbally or nonverbally. Rather than verbally asking a question, you can suggestively sell a customer on paper or on your Web site. How you communicate the suggestive sale is open to your imagination.

As you consider this, do not be hindered by thinking you will offend your customer. Today more than ever, customers love to be informed. Suggestively selling them by giving them information about an additional product or service is appreciated by your customers. What offends them is not knowing about a product or service that you offer which they would like to have. When you share this information, you give them the opportunity to make a choice. Customers like opportunities. They also like choices. Most of all, they like the attention that they receive while a suggestive sale is being delivered. That attention will bring them back.

Suggestive selling not only increases the customer's transaction today, but it also develops your customer for future business.

Therein lies the importance of a piece of pie.