When a customer walks through your door, even if that door happens to be a virtual one online, it means that your products and services have already captured his interest. It may have been because your marketing efforts or it could be from a little window shopping, but it means that the customer is interested enough to look into what your company has to offer. When you take this interest one step further and generate a sale, you have an opportunity to go even further with a well-planned upsell.

Have you ever noticed that when you go to a fast food restaurant and order one of their meal deals, the clerk behind the counter will immediately ask you if you want to super size, upsize, or “upgrade” your meal for a little more money? You probably went through a similar experience when you grabbed the popcorn and soda combination at your local movie theatre. Both of these are instances of upselling and there is no reason why you cannot implement a similar strategy with your business.

Say that you run a graphic design company, for example, and you have a client approach you for a new company logo. This is a great opportunity to try and sell them supplementary materials featuring the new logo, such as business cards, letterhead, and even a new website design. If you sell any kind of consumer electronics or computer hardware, there is always an opportunity to sell useful accessories to accompany the main purchase.

Upselling is a very delicate process, because while you want to make the additional sale, you don’t want to come off as pushy and high-pressure. Find the balance that you are comfortable with and you will be able to improve your revenue significantly.

For a lot of businesspeople, flying across the country and around the world is a way of life. Because you are traveling for work-related purposes, there’s a good chance that you are taking your mobile office with you along for the ride. You probably have a BlackBerry or some other kind of smartphone, as well as a decently-equipped notebook. Unfortunately, this can cause a bit of a hassle when it comes to airport security.

Targus has come up with a series of solutions that will help to expedite the airport security process. Normally, when you approach the scanners, you need to take your laptop out of the bag and have it go through the conveyor belt on its own. After it goes through the scanner, you then have to shove the thing back into your bag. This takes too much time! With the Targus Zip-Thru Corporate Traveler Laptop Case, you no longer have to do that.

Instead, this Targus bag can unzip and lay flat on the scanner bed, isolating the notebook from the rest of the bag’s contents. The two halves are self-enclosed, so you don’t have to worry about everything falling out either. Before you ask, yes, these laptop cases have been approved by the TSA, so it’s not like Targus was looking for a security loophole on your behalf. The current version will accept laptops as big as 15.4-inches.

Congratulations to this weeks geek Bryn Youngblunt. This weeks questions are…

1.  What is this storage type called?

2.  What is this storage type called?

3.  What is this storage type called?

4.  What is this storage type called?

5.  What is this storage type called?

A cartoon created by artist Krishna M. Sadasivam.

If you have an idea for a future comic or would like to submit your own BlueFur cartoon let us know in a comment.

Let’s have a look at what’s going on in the sphere this week.

Damien Riley, like a lot of bloggers these days, is trying to make a few bucks doing what he loves. If you want to make more money from PayPerPost and similar services, be sure to check out Damien’s 10 tips for better PayPerPost creation. Use your time wisely.

Darren Barefoot found a video that does an excellent job at explaining the American electoral process. We know the battle is between Obama and McCain, but do you know exactly how the presidential election actually works? It’s the same for every state, except Nebraska and Maine. It’s even more complicated there.

Buzz Bishop highlights a major video game tournament tour that is currently taking place in Richmond Centre. The Richmond shopping mall, located a few minutes from Vancouver, is playing host to the Amp Your Game Tour. It started on Thursday and runs until Saturday.

Men with Pens‘ James takes a moment to discuss the value of guest posting and how it’s not throwing it all away when you guest blog on someone else’s site. It could actually be one of the best things you could do for your own business or blog.

Tyler Ingram has discovered the secret to making money online. Is it original content? Diversifying your income streams? Whatever it is, Tyler’s got the big, fat cheque to prove his success. Sort of.