Multichannel Distribution Upselling: Cheese Wheels

Cool at nights, warm during the days. The house's heater is still on, technically, but I set it at 62, which was our indoor overnight temp throughout the winter. At that temp, I don't hear it come on most nights. The house is able to retain some of the heat it absorbed during the day, and so we wake up to 64 or 66 or even higher, and I don't bother to move the thermostat up to 68, as I would in the winter, or even early April, since the house will heat up again during the day. This is good. I think of it as God heating and cooling the house, who doesn't bill me like Nicor Gas.

The convention I attended earlier this week was about operations and fulfillment, that is, how to take care of a customer once you've sold her something by catalog, phone or Internet ("multichannel distribution," that is), and it included a fair amount of information about call centers. As I was walking among the booths, I was asked, "Do you have a call center?" three or four times. Never been asked that before.

I'd never covered the fulfillment industry before, so I picked up a handful of new terms. My favorite was "upselling." Which is what a customer service rep does when he or she says, "By the way, we have a special 40-lb. Danish cheese wheels, would you like to include one with your order?" Like anything else, some people are really good at this kind of sales, so watch out.