Do you want fries with that?

The practice of upselling, such as McDonald's famous "Do you want fries with that?" when selling a burger, is a well-documented strategy in retail and food service industries.

When McDonalds opened their first franchise in the 50s, I suspect there was some discussion around whether they should offer a "coke with that" or a "shake with that". For those of you old enough to remember, the menu was pretty limited in those days.

The answer is actually quite simple. A coke or a shake is an either/or, not an AND. If you choose one or the other, you might choose the wrong one. But in the days before low-fat diets, you couldn't go wrong with offering fries.

This tactic is designed to increase the average transaction value by encouraging customers to add complementary items to their primary purchase.         

But as a CRM, a calendaring software company, a contact management system company or an event ticketing/registration company, did you ever consider what it could do for you?

Here are some insights and statistics related to the economic benefits of this approach, which I call "Adjacency". This upselling of a logical selection can multiply your revenues per client beyond just recurring SAAS subscriptions, to include transactional revenues.

Economic Benefits of Upselling

1. Increased Revenue per Customer
2. Higher Profit Margins for the Company
3. Enhanced Customer Experience for the End User
4. Operational Efficiency for your Clients

Imagine your own version of "Do you want fries with that?"

If you are a CRM company and the user of the system (who works for your client) has just planned a meeting with a prospect.

Just like McDonald's imagined a burger with fries, a CRM company would be wise to realize that the thing that takes the most time for sales person each week is figuring out where they will stay, as they go to visit each of their prospects or their customers.

Likewise, when you add a meeting or a trip to your calendar, today there is nothing that reminds you that you may need (or want) a hotel room for this particular event. What if your calendar allowed you to find the hotel nearby your meeting or visit with a single click.

If you are a contact management system, you know that people use your system to look up phone numbers and email addresses, which fortunately they can act on right away. But if they are going for a face to face meeting or visit, it isn't quite that easy to find a hotel room nearby. That is about to change.

The event industry has long believed that the best thing for attendees is to all stay in one place. What they have forgotten is that loyalty programs, preferences for private homes, apartments and condos and budgets are not going away. Even if your event is at the JW Marriott, which is VERY nice, you will still have attendees that are Diamond at Hilton or that are entrepreneurs that simply can't afford the price of your preferred hotel. Or you have a group of colleagues that prefer to rent a house so they can spend the evenings all together cooking rather than spending extra money eating out.

Conclusion

The economic benefit of McDonald's upselling "Do you want fries with that?" is substantial. By increasing the average transaction value, enhancing profit margins, and improving operational efficiency, this upselling tactic significantly contributes to McDonald's overall revenue and profitability.

While exact figures are proprietary, industry studies and general data indicate that such strategies are highly effective in driving sales growth.

Solutionz and our TravelingToGive Smart Trip Tools are the "do you want fries with that" solution for all of the scenarios painted for you as use cases.

Imagine plugging in a single extension on your Google browser and being able to find a hotel nearby anything that you search for, any address in any contact record, any meeting on your calendar or any location on a map, with a single click.

Give us a call to learn more about the Smart Trip Pin and our Smart Calendar products.

Oh and did we mention that we can add transactional, recurring revenue to your existing revenue stream, plus give to your charity of choice?

Set up a meeting to talk about how we can transform your enterprise system.