The Best Selling Never Feels Like Selling: It Feels Like a FAVOR.

It all started over a couple of nuts. (As good stories do.)

Picture it: The Ivy Chelsea, London. My photographer and I roll up to the bar with our blow outs (BECAUSE HOW ELSE ARE WE GOING TO PRETEND TO BE FANCY?), sit next to a man who actually looked like Javier Bardem, and then proceed to order the most delicious summer cocktail that has ever entered my oral cavity.

(Oh my god, I think I’ve just stolen the award from “moist” for most uncomfortable language ever.)

That’s when it happened.

“Would you like some almonds to go with that?”

“Sure!” we replied, thrilled at the idea of being the kind of upper crust people who actually eat almonds.

And eat almonds we do. Ditto olives, which we ordered afterward, as we looked admiringly upon a woman in a bright yellow dress who seemed to light the entire place up. (Note to self: Get tan. Wear colors.)

When the bill came, however, we were curiously surprised: there, on the receipt was a $5 charge for the almonds.

“Well good for them,” we laughed, realizing what had happened. There we were, assuming they were complimentary, but in fact, we had just been brilliantly upsold using the oldest trick in the book:

Simply asking.

Do you want fries with that?
Do you want almonds with that?
Do you want to buy this other thing while you’re already checking out?

So often, we think we have to be pushy, naggy, launch-happy sales people, but the truth is, the best selling never feels like selling—it feels like a favor.

And sometimes, all you need to do is offer.