$100M Money Models Chapter 9

Menu Upsell

Key Takeaway: The Menu Upsell combines four tactics — unselling what they don't need, prescribing what they do, offering A/B choices instead of yes/no, and using the card on file — to make upselling feel like personalized service.

Chapter 9: Menu Upsell

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Summary

Hormozi shares three pivotal stories spanning years that each taught him a tactic, ultimately combining into his most powerful upsell method.

December 2013 — The A/B Discovery. After nineteen failed supplement consultations in a row, Hormozi forgets his script on appointment twenty. Instead of pitching product benefits, he simply asks "Do you like chocolate or vanilla?" She picks chocolate. "Kiwi or strawberry lemonade pre-workout?" She picks strawberry. Then he asks "You just wanna use the card we have on file?" She says yes. He realizes two things: asking which product they prefer (A/B) instead of whether they want to buy converts dramatically better, and asking to use the card on file removes friction that kills sales. August 2014 — Prescription Selling. A customer keeps asking questions about how to use products. In frustration, Hormozi writes step-by-step personalized instructions on the order form — take one of these at night, two of these after lunch, drink this after your workout. His next customer sees the instructions and asks for the same treatment. Hormozi goes straight to the upsell: "I got all your instructions here, do you want to just use the card on file?" She buys everything without a single "do you want this?" question. The insight: detailed, personalized instructions (#prescriptionselling) outperform vague product pitches because they skip the "if" question entirely and jump to "how." November 2016 — Unselling. Hormozi runs out of a product mid-session. Instead of improvising, he starts telling the next customer what she doesn't need. He crosses out weight-gainer shakes, testosterone supplements, and other irrelevant items, building massive goodwill. Then he prescribes what she does need from what's left. She buys without hesitation. He later keeps products specifically to cross them out — the act of removing options builds enough trust to sell the remaining ones effortlessly.

The combined Menu Upsell has four steps: (1) Unsell what they don't need — this builds trust and positions you as their advocate. (2) Prescribe what they do need — with detailed, personalized instructions as if they've already bought it. (3) A/B Choice — ask which version they prefer, not whether they want it at all. (4) Card on File — make payment frictionless by referencing payment they've already shared. Each step removes a different barrier: unselling removes overwhelm, prescribing removes uncertainty, A/B removes the "no" option, card on file removes payment friction.

The chapter includes The Economist's pricing case study: when they offered Digital ($59) vs. Digital+Print ($125), everyone took digital. By adding a decoy Print-only option at $125, people flocked to Digital+Print because it was obviously the better deal at the same price as Print-only. This demonstrates how adding a "losing" option changes which "winning" option people choose.

Hormozi's implementation notes include making anything A/B-sellable (quantity, flavor, start date, time slot, delivery speed, personnel), adding nudges for inexperienced customers ("This is my favorite"), taking payment and delaying delivery if you're sold out, and encouraging employees to unsell — employees love helping customers "game the system" because it positions them as advocates rather than salespeople.

Key Insights

Removing "If" From The Sales Conversation

The Menu Upsell systematically removes every "if" question (if they want it, if they'll buy it, if they'll pay) and replaces each with an assumption of purchase. Instead of "Do you want protein powder?", you say "Take two scoops after your workout." Instead of "Do you want to buy?", you ask "Which card?" The customer never faces a binary yes/no — they only face preference choices where every path leads to a sale.

Unselling Is The Most Counterintuitive Sales Tactic

Telling customers what they don't need feels like giving up revenue. In practice, it builds so much trust and goodwill that customers buy more freely on the items you do recommend. Hormozi eventually kept products specifically to cross them out — the theater of removal created more sales than direct pitching ever did.

Prescription Sells More Than Persuasion

When you write personalized, detailed instructions for how someone will use your products — treating them as if they've already purchased — you bypass the buying decision entirely. The customer's mental frame shifts from "should I buy this?" to "how do I use this?" This is fundamentally different from selling features and benefits.

Friction Reduction Is Revenue Multiplication

Asking "Do you want to use the card on file?" versus "Can I have your credit card?" produces measurably different conversion rates. Every point of friction — taking out a card, remembering card numbers, being reminded of past spending — is a potential dropout point. Eliminating these friction points is pure profit.

Key Frameworks

The Menu Upsell (4-Tactic System)

(1) Unsell — Tell them what they don't need, crossing out irrelevant options to build trust. (2) Prescribe — Write detailed, personalized instructions as if they've already bought. (3) A/B Choice — Ask which version they prefer (chocolate or vanilla, morning or afternoon). (4) Card on File — Ask to use their existing payment method rather than requesting new payment information.

The Economist Decoy Play

When selling two options and wanting both purchased: present three options where Option C (Both) costs the same as the more expensive single option (B). Customer sees C as obviously superior to B, driving sales of the bundle.

Direct Quotes

[!quote]

"I didn't talk about the benefits or anything. I just asked what she wanted...and she told me!"

[source:: $100M Money Models] [author:: Alex Hormozi] [chapter:: 9] [theme:: salesprocess]

[!quote]

"I went out of my way to cross out what she didn't need. And this built enough goodwill to upsell what she did."

[source:: $100M Money Models] [author:: Alex Hormozi] [chapter:: 9] [theme:: menuupsell]

[!quote]

"If you make it easy for people to buy, more people will."

[source:: $100M Money Models] [author:: Alex Hormozi] [chapter:: 9] [theme:: conversionoptimization]

Action Points

[ ] Identify which of your products/services customers consistently don't need — build an "unsell list" to cross items out during sales conversations
[ ] Create personalized instruction sheets for your products that assume the purchase is made
[ ] Convert every yes/no question in your sales process to an A/B preference question
[ ] Implement "card on file" at every payment point — remove the friction of new payment entry
[ ] Train employees to unsell and "game the system" for customers — this builds loyalty and trust
[ ] Apply The Economist play: if you want customers to buy both, add a decoy priced identically to the more expensive single option

Themes & Connections

Core Tags: #menuupsell — the specific technique; #prescriptionselling — the instruction-based selling approach; #salesprocess — the systematic removal of friction and objections. Concept Candidates:

Prescription Selling — treating the sales conversation as a doctor writing instructions rather than a salesperson making a pitch; bypasses the buying decision entirely
A/B Choice Architecture — structuring every customer decision as a preference between two purchase options rather than a buy/don't-buy binary

Cross-Book Connections:

The Economist case study connects to the Decoy Offer in Chapter 4 — same #pricingpsychology principle applied in a different context
Prescription selling connects to Dib's concept of positioning as a trusted advisor in Lean Marketing
The unselling technique is a practical implementation of building trust before selling — a core principle in Dib's Lean Marketing Chapter 9