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Up-selling Your Trivia Services

Up-selling Your Trivia Services

“A guide on the best ways in which to up-sell your trivia services, how to do it effectively and the best methods to use”

 

Welcome back to the blog…..where is 2016 going!!! As we stand on the verge of July those summer months are coming when the Trivia nights will be busy and hectic once again and you will be hopefully inundated with bookings. I thought therefore it would be a timely occasion on which to mention an issue that I have said time and time again that as  trivia host you will have to get used to dealing with…….being a sales person. I know, I know…..don’t shout at me….but you are running your own business, marketing yourself and you essentially have a salesman for yourself so whether you like it or not, you are going to have to sell yourself otherwise the money will stop coming up and you will be loosing business faster than you can deal with.

In this post we are going to look at a guide on up-selling your trivia services.  The key to this is going to be confidence, knowing how to approach the delicate subject with your clients, and how to approach sales in a way whereby the sales are actually coming in.  You don’t want to cause your clients to feel as if you are force feeding them!

Let us then look at a few key areas…..

 

Up-selling Your Trivia Services – Timing is key!

The first thing you really need to consider is when to do Up-selling. There are two ways to look at it….if the gig is going to be a one off, say a wedding or graduation party, or something along those lines then the up-selling will need to be happening at the initial stage. Don’t overcook it but below we will look at some examples of how you can really up-sell in a more discrete way.

If the gig is the start of a long term project then maybe delay it until you have been in the gig for a few weeks first and once you have built a rapport with your booking client then really go for the big up-sell!!!  It comes down to your credibility and your reputation.  If you are credible and respected you will be listened to more.  And if you are listened to more then up-selling is an easier job.   But if your trivia shows are boring, mundane and appear to be thrown together at the last second then you will have a problem with up-selling.

 

upsell services

 

Up-selling Your Trivia Services – Discount for longer bookings

One way I up-sell is to offer a discount for a longer bookings. For example if I charge $100 a quiz usually, I may offer the client a package for 10 weeks for $900 meaning that yes I am only charging $90 a quiz but I have secured the work. In truth, I always go for longer runs…..and say okay, Ill charge $100 a quiz usually but if you want to go for the 26 week booking Ill charge a grand total of $2000 or maybe say Ill do it for $85 a week. If you are clever you can engineer this in a way whereby even when getting the reduction, you achieve the rough sales target you are hoping for!

 

Up-selling Your Trivia Services – Additional Services/Tag Teaming

Up-selling can also involve you boosting your business by bringing in more revenue streams. Of course, and you probably do this anyway, you need to ensure you are offering additional services to current customers if you offer them. For example, if you are in a bar that you know does DJ work on a weekend, try and combine it. Obviously again wait until your quiz has been a success first but then go all out sales with trying to get those additional bookings…..offer discounts for multi bookings etc.

 

Up-selling Your Trivia Services – With technology

One element that you can begin to really upsell yourself on is when it comes to technology. By now, if you have been reading the blog, then you will know the benefits of using technology and you need to be selling this to your venue owners. If they have only booked a standard pen and paper night then showcase them your technology….show it off, have videos of you using it, have facts and figures of how the technology has helped all the other customers you have. Sell the benefits (“that game show feel”) and make sure they understand how the technology can help them to make money. Make sure they know that the technology is not restricted and whatever game show systems then want to use, whether it be the wireless buzzer trivia systems of Trivia Cubes, Trivia Pads or QandAtime cellphone trivia, it will all enhance their night and their business!

 

Up-selling Your Trivia Services – Getting a second night…..themed quiz etc

If all you do in your business, which there is nothing wrong with, is host trivia nights then that is what you should be up-selling. If 10 weeks in your quiz has gone well then try and convince them to book you for another night during the week that you aren’t already booked….suggest themed quizzes etc that you can try and ensure that you impress them with your sales pitch. Several…..and I mean several….times what I have done is ran a quiz for say 10 weeks and then when its proven to be a success suggested to run a music quiz another night. If they can see that you are bringing in money and making profit on one night then you can steer this into your sales patter.

 

Up-selling Your Trivia Services – Online Orders

Finally, we have not really talked about this yet on the blog but I promise we will, its always a good and profitable idea to have some sort of option to buy add-on services, prizes, party props, and consumables (entry tickets, glow products, etc) from your website. This is an easy way to up-sell without you even doing anything as what you can do now with most online shopping tools is add a function for customers to buy extra at discount….So say they have bought a few glow stick bundles for $10 each…..you can then say just before they checkout “Would you like to add our 100 glow bracelet packs for only $5 more”??? Then you are getting money for old rope really, as the saying goes, and you are making sales without even having to be there. As mentioned…I will speak more on getting online orders later in the blog.

 

So, in summary, as you can see the sales function of your trivia hosting business is as important as all the other element…….if you have great quizzes and a great system with superb hosting powers that’s all well and good.  But if there is not an effective sales function in place to support this system then you are going to find yourself with no gigs. Sales is not natural to everyone and does not come easily….its a hard ask, a tough bargain to drive and it takes time and practice to get it right. We will be covering sales again in future posts as I know this is an area that people are often a little unhappy with and can’t seem to nail.

 

Until next time, keep the comments and suggestions coming in and as always I wish you all the best in your trivia hosting, wherever that may take you…..

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