Walking through Seattle’s Pike Place Market (where the inspiration for the book “Fish!” came from, and also the location of the original Starbucks), I couldn’t resist the Queen Anne cherries. Huge and just picked.

“Give me a half pound,” I said with positive anticipation of eating them as I walked around. The young woman running the fruit stand obliged and weighed them.

Then she showed me the inside of the paper sack, 25 percent full of cherries. “Are you sure that’s enough?” she asked.

Startled by her question, I smiled and said, “Make it a pound!”

She smiled, complied and showed me the now half-full bag. She kept jiggling the bag, looking at it, showing it to me, and looking right at me.

I knew what was coming, and was thinking about my answer when she asked again, “Are you sure that’s enough?”

“Make it a pound and a half,” I said. “How about an even two pounds, and a few extra on the house?” she shot back.

“Deal!” I said.

She put the two pounds in one bag, and my lagniappe in a separate bag so I could see my “extra.”

I loved the exchange. I love being sold. And I loved the way she up-sold me. “Are you sure that’s enough?” Simple, yet powerful. I walked away smiling and eating.

After about 10 minutes, I couldn’t stand it anymore. I HAD to go back to the cherry stand and find out more. I waited for one customer to pay, and then I eagerly said, “I couldn’t help but ask about your line ‘Are you sure that’s enough?’ It’s a very powerful up-line. How often do you ask it to customers?”

“I ask every customer, every time.” WOW!

It was a GREAT line delivered by a shrewd saleswoman at a hole-in-the-wall fruit cart. Low overhead, high profit, fueled by up-sell. Great product. Simple to sell. A second sales process to sell more.

The science of the up-sell is all-important as it relates to volume and profit. Especially in these times. Business is down, but not the cherry business. No one told her the economy is in the crapper, or she just ignored it.

Think about the emotional appeal that this woman gave me to entice me to take more money out of my pocket. Brilliant.

Nice story, huh?

Now it gets ugly.

Your sales are down. You still have customers buying from you, but not as many and not as much. In these times especially, after you have completed a sale, you have to ask yourself these two words: “What else?” Then you have to figure out the emotional appeal that will add on to your sale.

Here are the hard questions:

• What percentage of customers buy 100 percent of your existing product line?

• What are you asking of your customers AFTER you have completed the sale?

• What are your strategies to maximize the size (dollar amount) of your sales?

• What is your emotional appeal for more or greater sales?

• How consistent are you in asking for more business?

• What are your opportunities? Or should I say LOST or MISSED opportunities?

• What could you change about your presentation that will begin to show what other great items your customers might consider?

Answer those, and you’re on your way to up-sell opportunities.

I’m lucky. In 1974, my dad, the late, great Max Gitomer, taught me the secret of up-selling. He said, “Son, when their wallet’s open – empty it.” Simple wisdom is often the most powerful.

“Are you sure that’s enough?” has created a whole new thought process for me, and I hope it spurs a few ideas for you.

Jeffrey Gitomer can be reached by phone at (704) 333-1112 or by e-mail at salesman@gitomer.com. © 2010 Jeffrey H. Gitomer