Special guest blog post by: Simon Heap, CEO of Fastline Group UK

Running a karting track can be hard. High overheads, low profit margins and multiple staff wages can all add together to make turning a decent profit tricky. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Most karting track owners I meet are missing out on profit-boosting sales and leaving good money on the table by neglecting the magic of upselling.

Sure, most tracks have a range of upsells and additional products to offer their customers but
they are terrible at actually implementing the offer. They’ll take the booking or make the sale without even uttering a word about the tiered karting packages or ultimate party add on.

It’s a big mistake. You see, the upsell is where you’ll find most of your profit. Your overhead and staff costs are already covered by the initial sale, so your upsell is almost all clean profit.

Don't Wait or You'll Be Too Late

Timing is one of the most important aspects of upselling. Do it too early and you’ll put them off, but leave it too late and you’ll have missed the opportunity altogether. One karting track I visited recently was
making this very mistake. They had the idea of offering party bags to their birthday party bookings.
Great plan. Busy moms and dads love anything that makes their lives easier. But they were waiting until they arrived on the day of the event to offer it! This is far too late because they already brought their own with them. They needed to offer their bags at the time of taking the booking. The best time to upsell will vary depending on your products, services and customers. But as a general rule, a good time to make the
offer is after they’ve agreed to the initial sale, but before the payment has been taken.

Training, Training, Training!

As the business owner, the responsibility falls to you to train your team effectively. Does your staff know what upsells to offer and when? Are they confident in how to close a deal? Are they comfortable selling? Help them to understand that selling isn’t a bad thing or taking advantage of someone. It’s quite the opposite in fact! It’s their duty to understand the needs of their customer and ensure that they purchase the right services and products that will give them the best experience. Hold regular training sessions with your team, supporting them, teaching them and assisting them in developing their sales skills. Every single member of your team should be in this training; it’s not just the person answering the phone who needs to sell.

Upsell Offers

So what upsells do you offer? Get this right and you can increase your bottom line overnight.

It’s really simply to get started. When you get a kids party booking send a simple email out offering some additional bonuses;

1. Upgrade your race package to include trophies
2. Offer them party bags for their guests
3. Offer to upgrade their food and beverage package

Stick to three upsells - anymore will overload your customers. Remind your customer of your bonus add on options by sending an automated email at least 3 times before the event (different subject lines of course). Leave at least a week in between as to not overwhelm them. A venue management solution like Clubspeed can automate all this so all you have to do is sit back and watch the sales roll in.