It was Jim’s birthday party the other week – I can’t quite believe I’m dad to a seven-year-old.

We made the highly unwise decision to hold the party in our house, cue 24 six- and seven-year-olds, high on sugar, rampaging around the place and trashing everything in sight.

Might go for a village hall next time.

We did enjoy a bit of respite every time they went into the garden – we’d enlisted the services of a “bouncy castle man”, who dutifully turned up a few hours before to put it up.

That resulted in plenty of entertainment, thankfully external to the wreckage of the house, and the children whiled the evening away bouncing, screaming and shoving.

The bouncy castle man turned up to collect it the next morning, disconnecting it, rolling it all up, and wheeling it back to his car.

I thanked him for his service, and just before he got in the car, he turned to me and said:

“I also do candy floss machines, chocolate fountains and pretty much anything you need for a party”

I was somewhat grateful for the information, but the truth is, I now had no immediate use for it: the party had happened, the kids had – thankfully – dispersed, and all I was thinking about was getting the house back in some semblance of order (the balloons are still up, but that’s another story).

Thinking through what other complementary products you can offer and upselling them to your customers is smart.

Introducing them when it’s literally too late to buy?  Less so.

Upselling can drastically increase the value of the customers you bring into the business, but in this case, it’s not what you do, but when you do it.

Seb