Episode 2: A Marketing Trick or An Authentic Suggestion?

Recently I went to my favorite café near my office here in Khartoum. I’ve been fighting a low mood along with a creative block for some time now and these solo dates do me wonders. I was pleasantly surprised when I saw a new update on the café’s menu. They finally added the simple savory item that I’ve been long missing. A simple cheesy grill! Everybody’s guilty pleasure. Sure I can’t be the only one!

I scrolled through the menu as usual just to end up getting my regular. Except this time I’ll have the newly added goodness. No grill though! Sad. I know.

To give you a bit of context, I was served by two waiters. One who took my order and another who actually served it to me. This theme is common in Sudan, you’ll know if you live here or come to visit. Here’s how my conversation with the waiters went:

Me: Hi, I’ll have a Café Latte and a Cheddar Cheese Sandwich please.

First Waiter: Do you mean the small one over-there or the bigger one?

Me (visibly confused by his question): Which one is the cheddar cheese one? I just want that one please.

So he leaves and comes back with a shmol (small) cheese bun on a plate half filled with a piece of tissue paper. The correct term would be an appetizer. A single one at that! Well, at least it explains the price!

I happily wait for my coffee to be served to enjoy it with my microwaved cheesy bite when the other waiter came over asking if I’d like to switch my order. He suggestively explained the BIGGER and better option that includes a bite of luncheon with lettuce along with my beloved and chosen cheese.

Now, I’m not a meat fan really. Surely not with milk in my coffee! So I decline his offer saying “No, but I’d love to have another one of these”. To my wonder, he takes my plate with my order still untouched and leaves. Honestly I was set with one piece of that appetizer. I love my coffee hot till the end and having two mini “sandwiches ”meant that I’ll have to settle with cold final sips. But I gave in anyway.

Now you’ll ask how me falling prey to my guilty pleasure has anything to do with being upsold the menu item. Hear me out please:

While it is true that I never gave in to the offer to get the suggested menu, but I did get more than I had originally intended. It got me thinking if they intended to have me do that or was it a spontaneous act on the waiter’s behalf. In a sense, it felt like he was just suggesting the obvious better choice, as a Sudanese guy would. What made me feel that way was the fact that he actually got it for me!

After I confirm my choice, I go to wash my hands and come back to see him serve me the other option. The one that I declined! He was apparently puzzled and disappointed as he quickly turned his face away before he went to get me my correct order.

Another way to view this is that maybe they got some disappointed remarks from their customers and made sure to clarify the options for them as they order. In this country, we LOVE big hearty things. We don’t settle for little things. How I wish our aspirations are as big in other aspects of life, but anyway. Back to my point.

The thought behind Upselling is that you -as the seller- make the potential buyer believe that they are getting the better value by putting two items (or more) up for comparison. An item with a relatively lower price tag is usually paired with an often slightly higher priced item that has more features. Generally speaking, as this takes many forms. The goal here is to get the buyer to pay more which is exactly what happened to me. I got two because I was persuaded that mu choice was the “smaller one” and that I was missing out on the bigger and better option. I ended up paying double the price which ended up being closer to the original price of the suggested menu item.

We see this happen everywhere all the time and we keep falling for it. Buying smart phones with various options, cars, subscription services and even coffee.

I don’t see this happen very often in Sudan (thankfully lol) so I didn’t know if I should be happy to see more “textbook” marketing techniques applied here or sad that more people will empty my already emptied wallet.

I went back to the café again today. Now that I’m equipped with my past experience, I’m not scared of getting “tricked” again, I only have to worry about taming my own temptations (lol).

While I’m there, I over-heard the same waiter explain to other customers other menu items with the same enthusiasm. He also greeted me with a big smile and happily took my order. So I guess after all it wasn’t upselling that was used on me but the good old “Customer is King” :)