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Thread: Upselling without Downselling?

  1. #1
    Featured Member CrescentLuna's Avatar
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    Default Upselling without Downselling?

    For example, when I worked at and will hopefully work again at Gold Club in Baltimore, rooms were a fairly easy sell because rooms were topless, and if they had a small stage nude, and light two-way contact, whereas couch dances were bikini and one-way contact. Plus, the half-hour was a lot cheaper for that amount of time. However, when selling I don't want to downsell the lapdance too much, because I know some of the guys in there just don't want to fork up $125-$250 up front. Or is there just no way around this?
    "I still have my name
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    God/dess GoldCoastGirl's Avatar
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    Default Re: Upselling without Downselling?

    Promote the higher priced item. Make it sound like the really better option (you'd be surprised at how much someone is really prepared to spend). Read their body language. If and only if you feel you need to sell the lesser item after promoting the higher item and reading their body language.. sell the lesser item.

    Then when you are doing that cheaper lap dance... remind them how wonderful the higher price really is... it is even more easier (in a way) to sell someone when you have them already than to start afresh (with a new potential customer).

    Know how to sell whilst also being adaptive.

    Here's how what I said applies to me IRL.

    When selling dances at my club, I sell the "half of an hour" ($130) and 20 minutes ($80). Some nights I can sell both of these easily enough without having to mention the cheaper option. Yet.. I have now learnt.. there are nights when the customers (not necessarily mine.. just those who have had private dances) are only willing to fork out for the cheaper option ($50). Therefore, I will promote it... yet on the way to the private lap dance area or once they are there.. I will tell them that if they tip me an extra $20 ... I will do more (nothing extra.. just provide a more type of dance). Or if I know that I'm the first dancer to approach the patron (therefore he is hearing it from me first how things work)... I will promote the cheaper dance in a way that will make the $80 one sound soooooo much better.

    Last edited by GoldCoastGirl; 01-12-2005 at 01:33 AM. Reason: Because I can... (hehehehe)


    enter: E3167322D9 for your 10% discount

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    Featured Member CrescentLuna's Avatar
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    Default Re: Upselling without Downselling?

    I should've clarified pricing, lapdances are $30/one song, rooms are $125-$250/half hour.

    Usually they'll ask me "so what is the champagne room/lap dance/whatever here?" and I get a chance to explain how nice the rooms are, and a good deal, and hey you get drinks in that price too, etc. But I worry that I make the normal lapdances sound TOO shoddy [and there are already customers that feel they are too expensive, $30, for no contact/bikini, as not too far away is a club with $20 topless high contact dances]. Usually I give quite a nice lapdance, so after a second I'll ask if perhaps they'd like to move to the champagne room instead. Reselling the nudity and contact here. Sometimes works, sometimes not.

    Anyway, thank you!
    "I still have my name
    I still have my face
    I have not run away from home
    Doesn't seem so long
    If I now embrace
    Every single thing I've never known"

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    Default Re: Upselling without Downselling?

    I stopped working at the GGC for the moment..actually all together, because the rooms were getting harder and harder to sell, plus the men are spending less $ there this time of the year. I would wait until closer to summer if I were you, but thats just my opinion.

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    Featured Member CrescentLuna's Avatar
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    Default Re: Upselling without Downselling?

    Really? When I started they kept telling me winter was a better season. I worked there September-October, and only dayshift, so I'd like to try weekday nights or something.
    "I still have my name
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    I have not run away from home
    Doesn't seem so long
    If I now embrace
    Every single thing I've never known"

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    God/dess Emily's Avatar
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    Default Re: Upselling without Downselling?

    I would say something to the effect of "it's for the guy who knows he wants to do more than a few dances in a more intimate setting"

    basically saying the activity is the same (I'm assuming it is), but the environment is different

    Our dances are $20 each and half hour VIP are $300-400 (depending on the night of the week), so it's difficult to sell it like that because it's cheaper to do dances for the 30 minutes. You at least have an advantage that they will save money if they want to have 30 minutes of dances.

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    God/dess Casual Observer's Avatar
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    Default Re: Upselling without Downselling?

    Promote the higher priced item. Make it sound like the really better option (you'd be surprised at how much someone is really prepared to spend). Read their body language. If and only if you feel you need to sell the lesser item after promoting the higher item and reading their body language.. sell the lesser item.
    This is a good idea. It's always good--no matter what you're selling, dishwashers or dances--to start high and move to their level of acceptance. Don't presume their financial capabilities prematurely; it's like leaving money on the table.

    Given the normal CPD ratio, I'm not a VIP guy myself, but I've never turned down dances from a woman in whom I was interested that started with the VIP offer, so long as she wasn't obnoxious and predatory about it.
    Idealism is fine, but as it approaches reality, the costs become prohibitive.

    William F. Buckley, Jr.

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    Featured Member evan_essence's Avatar
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    Default Re: Upselling without Downselling?

    I'm not sure you're doing anything terribly wrong. Are you dissatisfied with your results or simply self-concious about your method? Are most of the guys who decline VIP also declining the LD? Are the ones who get away a small enough percentage not to worry about?

    You obviously recognize it's all about the customer's perceived value of what you're offering. Both offers are supposed to satisfy, but the upsell is supposed to seem like a better deal. It's the difference between regular and premium. Regular isn't supposed to seem substandard. If you have it in your mind that it's substandard or low value, or are feeling a letdown when the upsell doesn't work, then you may be non-verbally communicating that to the customer without intending to. (OK, maybe the club's rate structure sucks in reality, right? But we're talking perception so just don't project that it does.)

    Is the customer really comparison shopping another club's prices in his mind when mulling the $30 dance? I'm thinking how can a guy have the Stunning and Eeeevil Crescent Luna enticing him and be thinking about bargain hunting somewhere else? Hey, your service is superior and this customer is special! So your demeanor and communication should let him know, for three minutes or 30, you are the primary value of any deal.

    Of course, if all that self-confidence boosting advice really sounds good and looks good in a message forum, but doesn't make a s#*t's bit of difference in the results, move on to the next customer.

    -Ev

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    Featured Member CrescentLuna's Avatar
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    Default Re: Upselling without Downselling?

    Emily, thanks! The club I'm at now the CR is pretty much just different environment for a slightly cheaper price tag [like, instead of 200 for 30 minutes, it's $175] and I don't doubt I'll be working at a place with again with similar workings.

    evan_essence, I think it's just the few times that I'm done promoting the higher priced item, and they've turned that down, so I move to the lower-priced [briefly, because usually I've compared the two in trying to sell the room] and they just kind of seem like "hmm, I /might've/ considered it, but know that doesn't seem that cool." They don't say anything to that effect, but I just get that feeling.

    Maybe it is partly that even I understand that we charge the most in the area for the lowest contact for LDs and rather project my misgivings about that onto the customer.
    Hee, thanks altogether though, everyone. - love your signature icon too!
    "I still have my name
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    I have not run away from home
    Doesn't seem so long
    If I now embrace
    Every single thing I've never known"

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    Featured Member evan_essence's Avatar
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    Default Re: Upselling without Downselling?

    Quote Originally Posted by CrescentLuna
    Maybe it is partly that even I understand that we charge the most in the area for the lowest contact for LDs and rather project my misgivings about that onto the customer.
    It does seem that management should re-evaluate that structure with some marketing savvy in mind, doesn't it?

    How about pitching it as the option for customers on a low fantasy diet? The "heart smart" dance for guys at cardiovascular risk?

    -Ev

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    Featured Member Starfire's Avatar
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    Default Re: Upselling without Downselling?

    Luna...I worked at the ggc for a bit (am taking a break at the moment), I think you and I worked together a few sundays. I almost think that for the dancer, it makes more sense to just sell lap dances. If you can get a guy to buy three dances at 30 a piece, you just made 90 dollars and you can move on. You only get 75 or 85 for the rooms, unless they tip, and I've found that some do and some don't, you can never tell.

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    Featured Member CrescentLuna's Avatar
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    Default Re: Upselling without Downselling?

    I've never been able to sell a lot of laps at GGC, I think at most I've sold 8 in a shift - and only ONCE gotten a customer to buy 3 at a time - personally, though you don't make as much from the rooms, I'd rather spend less time hustling and a bit more time relaxed. I know several of the dancers at GGC don't like rooms, and one who refuses to do them. Personally, I'd rather have the same number of laps with a couple of chunks of money from rooms. But, I don't want to alienate on laps too much - recently, I haven't been emphasizing one more than the other, and if the customer seems unsure, just saying "well, would you like to get a sample with a lapdance?" which some go for, some don't.
    "I still have my name
    I still have my face
    I have not run away from home
    Doesn't seem so long
    If I now embrace
    Every single thing I've never known"

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