The McDonald's Close

In 300 B.C., a South American Inca Indian named Pedro on a dare from his buddy Jaime (Gringo pronunciation guide “HY-mee”) took a bite out of a lumpy root he had dug out of the ground. This may not seem like a particularly important event in human history, but as far as dares go it paid off pretty big. Jaime cautiously watched Pedro to see if that slimy evil creature he had seen in the movie "Alien" would burst out of his belly. After a few tense minutes, Jaime realized that Pedro's lumpy thing had passed the test. Satisfied that he was now safe, Jaime clubbed Pedro over the head and ate the rest of the lump.

Thus began our romance with the potato (and we've been stealing each other's french fries and potato chips ever since.)

Luckily, the little daredevil recovered and went on to open a chain of fast food restaurants across South America called McPedros. Unfortunately for our friend, he made two disastrous errors in his business judgment.

First, his use of the pyramid motif for his restaurants' theme confused his customers as to the real purpose of his dining establishments. This led to the untimely sacrifice of several of his virgin waitresses. And as you can imagine, it created constant recruiting problems for Pedro.

Second, he never trained his staff to ask, "You want fries with that?".

Loosely translated into English this sounds like, "You wan fries wif dat?"

It wasn't until 1954 when milkshake mixer salesman Ray Kroc convinced Dick and Mac McDonald to banish cows, pigs and chickens from their old farm and offer Happy Meals in the henhouse that the question finally caught on.

It's a simple phrase really.

Just ask your customer to buy one more item.

I did a quick calculation and figured that this question gets asked at McDonald's about 22 million times EVERY DAY.

Contrary to popular belief, Bill Clinton was not the first president to load up on french fries in the White House. That distinction goes to Thomas "Bubba" Jefferson, who offered them at the drive through window in the west wing around 1802. Much to Clinton's dismay, he is not even credited with introducing Big Macs to the White House. The man receiving credit for that introduction is Rutherford B. Hayes who had several successful seasons playing for the Harlem Globetrotters after leaving public office.

Because of The McDonald’s Close, the state of Idaho produces 13.8 billion pounds of potatoes each year. Those pounds are then liberally distributed across the hips of McDonald's customers. Let's face it, if it weren't for its "Potato Economy", Idaho might cease to exist and then Oregon would go crashing into Montana. And nobody wants to see that happen.

I LOVE The McDonald's Close. It is elegant in its simplicity.

Notice that they don't ask you if you want "ANYTHING" with that. By law, that question must be answered with a "No Thanks". They are very specific by asking if your want "FRIES" with that. This focuses the customer's mind from the abstract (anything) to the tangible (fries).

The question asks for a response. It's a closing question. Notice that they don't say, "Our fries are really yummy." They ask you to make a decision. They go for the close. What's it gonna be boy, fries or no fries?

They ALWAYS ask. Comedian Stephen Wright said, "I went into McDonald's and only ordered fries. They asked me if I wanted fries with that."

Sad but true.

This close has been successfully implemented in our business by Steve Boucher, our EVP in New York. When Steve was introducing the new Putnam County directory, he had his sales people in all of the surrounding books use "The McDonald's Close".

Here's how they did it. After his reps completed the sales contracts for their advertisers in the Dutchess and Westchester directories they would ask,

"Would you like Putnam with that?"

Before they even started selling in the local Putnam area, they had achieved over half of their revenue goal by employing The McDonald's Close on other books. Putnam was profitable from inception. Now in its fourth year, the Putnam directory consistently delivers outstanding growth.

Ok, now let's put this plan into action.

Action plan. . .

Right now, PICK ONE ITEM that you can use for your very own McDonald's Close. It could be a White Pages Business Card, a Multibook program or (heaven help us) an Online Ad.

WRITE DOWN your McDonald's Close on a piece of paper and staple it to your hand.

USE THE CLOSE on every presentation for the next week.

TRACK THE RESULTS to see how well you've done.

TELL ME how you've used it, and just maybe I'll send you a limited edition Bottle Popper to toast your success.

Oh, and one last thing…

Would you like fries with that?

Ok, this is really lame. You've been warned.

Q- How can you tell which potato is a hooker?

A- it's the one stamped "Idaho".

This Week's Top 10

Food Ideas Rejected By McDonald’s:

Chicken McBobbitts

Salmon McNella

Shirley McLean Burger

Way Too Happy Meal

McKitty Sandwich

Rocky Mountain McOysters

McSpleen

Filet O' Flesh

McShrooms

McTonya Club Sandwich

In England, they're called "Crisps". Silly blokes.

A Native-American chef named George Crum gets the credit for inventing potato chips. He did it by accident in 1853, thanks to a cranky customer. Railroad magnate Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt came to the Moon Lake House Hotel in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., and ordered fried potatoes. But he was finicky. He wanted them thin, the way the French made them. He kept sending them back to Mr. Crum, complaining that they were too thick. Finally, Crum had had enough. He sliced the potatoes paper-thin, fried them to a crisp in oil, and then doused them with salt. Vanderbilt thought they were great! "Saratoga Crisps" became a popular item on the hotel's menu.

The weekly Internet Sales Report is written entirely by Dick Larkin except for the parts that are plagiarized. All of the facts have been painstakingly researched and verified. You can be assured that any incorrect information herein is not factual.