Matt WamplerCEO & Co-Founder, ClearCOGS · CEO & Co-Founder, ClearCOGS 🔪

Why Upselling Feels Uncomfortable (and How to Fix It)

20 Aug 2025 · 1 min

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In this segment, the speaker discusses why upselling can feel uncomfortable for both staff and guests, and introduces an ethical framing technique to make it feel more natural. The method involves presenting three options in a specific order—lowest price first, highest price second, and a middle-priced option third—leveraging the psychological tendency for people to choose the middle option. The speaker emphasizes that this approach respects guest autonomy by offering genuine choices rather than coercive pressure, and notes the underlying psychology of price anchoring while questioning whether it constitutes manipulation.

Chapters

First principles of hospitality. I mean, there is a point in which asking people to enhance their experience becomes uncomfortable. It's upselling. It's like, but there's a way that you do this in which you offer options. You asked me for a great bottle of red. And by the way, there's a technique to do this. You say the lowest option first, you say the highest option next, and you say the middle option third. And oftentimes people will go with the middle option. Is there manipulation there? I don't know. There's certainly some psychology behind framing the price, right, of a low and a high, but it's not It's unlikely that the lowest-priced bottle of wine on a wine list is going to give you the most valued enjoyment. There's a way to show people options that allows for their choice and giving them the freedom to do what they want rather than trying to force something on people.