With good grace….

Happy New Year (singular, I am after all, a Brit. and we celebrate the singular not the plural!)

Subway has some great commercials around, and as part of my sensible eating regime (It IS a New Year) I have been walking from my office to the local Subway and back and buying the ‘Sub of the Day’. This is clearly a teaser, $2.99, to which they hope I add – chips, a drink, cookies, etc. to make the total sale significantly higher than the $2.99 starting point.

I understand the logic, there is an average value sale – that is higher than the teaser price – that the store needs to achieve in order to be viable. I emphasize that it’s an average value sale.

I make the point forcibly because there will always be some, for financial reasons perhaps, or for health reasons who do NOT add on items that would increase the sale closer to, or beyond, that magical average figure. I’m one. I decided that the amount of food in the small sandwich of the day was sufficient, I’m avoiding salt – so no chips – and I prefer coffee or tea. Once in a while – guilt perhaps – I’ll have a cookie, but they are not that great.

But here’s the rub. I don’t think I’m imagining the looks and surliness that results, I assume, from being a ‘minimum buyer’. So the risk is that I become a zero buyer; that is, I’ll seek out an alternative where I don’t feel the discomfort.

And the lesson? If you are going to offer a loss leader of any kind, by all means upsell if you can. But if you can’t, offer the item with a smile, with good grace and entice them back for more. I might just order Subway for my meetings rather than pizza. But only if I’m comfortable.