I find it hard to believe that my one little trip to the nail salon would yield two lessons for my business, but here goes the second one.

In almost any strip mall in America, you will find a small nail salon with a catchy name, a row of massage chairs, and a handful of masked workers bent over two handfuls of soon-to-be-beautiful hands. I have to admit I had a bad pedicure habit before I started my own writing business and realized I couldn’t spend $40 every two weeks to have someone change my toe polish.

The lesson we can take from these nail salons is the concept of up-selling.

Up-selling, according to Wikipedia:

Up-selling is a sales technique whereby a salesman attempts to have the consumer purchase more expensive items, upgrades, or other add-ons in an attempt to make a more profitable sale. Up-selling usually involves marketing more profitable services or products, but up-selling can also be simply exposing the customer to other options he or she may not have considered previously.

Examples of up-sales are adding side dishes and/or hors d’Å“uvre to a food order, selling an extended service contract for an appliance, suggesting a customer purchase more RAM or a larger hard drive (whether or not they need it) when servicing his computer, or selling luxury finishing on a vehicle. A common technique for successful up-sellers is becoming aware of a customer’s background and budget, allowing them to better understand what the particular person might need. Many companies teach their employees to up-sell products and services.

When I sign in to get my pedicure, the onslaught begins. The receptionist says, “You don’t want a manicure? Are you sure?” and she glances meaningfully at my hands. I indicate I want a basic pedicure, and she says, “But the European Deluxe Pedicure is really what you need.”

Then during the pedicure, a wandering worker comes over and looks me in the eyes. “I do your eyebrows? You need to fix them.” If I’m in for a leg wax, the attendant will tisk at my arm hair. “You need to take off all hair. It’s no good.”

Now, I’m not a particularly hairy chick with a unibrow and arm hair that casts a shadow. Nor do I have particularly ratty fingernails or horribly stressed-out feet that look in desperate need of a massage. But when those workers look down at me and cluck their tongues at the reprehensible way I’ve been managing my own unwanted hair, I tend to give in.

And that’s the beauty of their up-sell technique: a little guilt, a hint of indulgence, a smidge of “don’t you want to look better? Aren’t you worth it?”

As a freelance writer, I don’t have that much to up-sell. I can say, “Would you like me to take care of that for you?” when I am talking about a project, but for the most part, I’m hired to write. I write. I give something written to them.

The trick here is to recognize the elements of your clients’ businesses that they could up-sell. If I write an article for a newsletter that talks about environmental issues, I work with the client to add a product feature about an electronic (i.e. paperless) solution that their clients might use to “green” up. When I am working with my clients, even if they don’t ask for help with the big picture of advertising, marketing and PR convergence, I try to keep my eyes open for a chance to tie in one of their products or services.

I stole today’s graphic from a site that has a good article on up-selling….