Mention the Larger Version Once the Client Is Ready

Imagine a caterer named Margot Fenn who meets Mrs. Delacourt at her house in October. In November, Mrs. Delacourt and her husband are hosting dinner for their daughter’s future in-laws, 12 people in all. Mrs. Delacourt asks for a drop-off dinner. Margot will cook three courses, bring them at five, and leave the serving to her. The price is $2,400.

Margot also does staffed dinners, where she and a server stay to plate, pour, and clear. Halfway through the meeting, Mrs. Delacourt asks, “Could you bring it at five? The Brennans arrive at seven.” Then she adds, “Last time we had people for dinner, I spent the whole night between the oven and the table. I missed half of what anyone said.”

Margot does not want to sound as if she is selling Mrs. Delacourt more than she asked for. “Five is fine,” she says. “Everything on this menu goes straight from the oven to the table.” The night of the dinner, Mrs. Delacourt spends the evening in the kitchen again.

In January, a friend mentions that Margot stayed and served all evening at a dinner the friend gave. “She never told me she did that,” Mrs. Delacourt says. “I told her I’d missed the whole conversation.” For her daughter’s engagement party in the spring, she hires a caterer who asked how she wanted to spend the evening.

Suppose instead that Margot answers both sentences. “Five is fine,” she says. “Since you’d rather be at the table, I also do this dinner with a server and me staying. We plate each course, pour the wine, and clear, and you don’t go into the kitchen once. That’s $3,600 instead of $2,400. The drop-off at five is booked either way.”

Mrs. Delacourt asks, “Would you wash up too?” Margot says that she would. Mrs. Delacourt books the staffed dinner before Margot leaves.

The food and the two prices were the same both times. In the first version, Margot heard what Mrs. Delacourt wanted and kept quiet, because the staffed dinner cost more. In the second, she heard the question about five as a sign that Mrs. Delacourt had decided. Then she mentioned the larger version once, in Mrs. Delacourt’s own words, and said the smaller one still stood.

A client who has decided to hire you often shows it with a question about how the work would run. Mrs. Delacourt’s question about the delivery at five was one. That is the time to mention a larger version, if the client has described something it would give them. Mentioning it is the same test as talking a client out of spending, pointed the other way. Either way, the question is whether the money will get the client what they told you they want. Here is when to mention the larger version, and how to say it so the client can say no.

A travel adviser offers the quiet room to the couple who asked for quiet, and the cheaper room too

Vikas Dudheker is a travel adviser with Cozy Travel. In August 2026, TravelPulse asked a group of advisers how they upsell their clients’ trips. Dudheker began with the client. “Nobody comes to me wanting to spend more; they come wanting the trip to work for them,” he said. “I listen for what a client actually wants, then show them which line items deliver it, and which ones just make the invoice bigger.”

The article gives his example. When a couple tells him they want quiet, “the case for the room away from the pool bar writes itself.” He still shows them the cheaper option, and he told TravelPulse why. “If I’m never the one telling a client to spend less, they have no reason to believe me when I tell them to spend more.”

Dudheker offers the quiet room to the couple who said “quiet.” The reason for the larger option is the couple’s own word, so he does not have to argue for it. His part is to name the room that gives them what they asked for. Showing the cheaper room as well tells the couple that he would say so if the quiet one were not worth it. That habit is the small no said on ordinary days, and it is what makes his larger option believable.

A Montana designer lets the client open the door, and the small job grows

Jeremiah Young owns Kibler & Kirch, an interior design firm in Billings, Montana. In an interview for Business of Home’s 50 States Project, he described a visit to a client the day before the interview. She is probably 85, and his firm worked on her house 22 years ago. Now she needs new fabric for her sofa, because, he said, her husband wore it out.

The job is the sofa. Even so, when the firm arrives, the client says, “Well, if you look around and see anything else that needs to change, you let me know.” Young said that is how it usually goes. “Somebody calls you up and they’re like, ‘I need to paint,’ but it’s never really about the paint. Five years later, you’re still working on something with them.”

He also said why clients start with a small job. “They know something’s wrong and they can’t really put their finger on it, so they find the easiest thing.” What he offers next is a question. “When you’re like, ‘Well, have you thought about … ?’ people are usually very receptive.”

In Young’s account, the client opens the door herself. The larger idea then comes as a question about something she already knows is wrong. That order is the part to take. His sofa client hired the firm 22 years ago. A new client in a first meeting has no such history with you. So with a new client, wait for a sign that they have decided. Then listen for words of their own that the larger version answers.

When a larger version helps the client, and how to mention it

A larger version helps the client only when it gives them something they asked for. Dudheker’s couple asked for quiet. Young’s client asked him to say what else needed to change. Mrs. Delacourt said she wanted to be at the table. A larger version offered for your own reasons, such as what most clients take or a slow month, is a pitch.

Wait until the client has decided on the work you discussed. Look for a few signs together, such as a question about how the work would run. That is the course’s suggestion, and here is the reason. A client who is still deciding has to weigh the larger version against the smaller one, and against hiring you at all. A client who has decided is only choosing whether to add something. So they can say no to it without undoing the decision they made.

Your first recommendation is different. When you advise, you recommend what fits what the client told you. That may include options they did not know to ask for. The larger version is the step up from what the client has chosen, so it waits until they have chosen.

When you mention it, start from the client’s words. Say what the larger version adds and what it costs, in a sentence or two. Then say that what they chose stands either way. That last sentence is the course’s suggestion as well, because it tells the client that a no costs them nothing. Mention one larger version, since a client who has just decided does not need a list of options to choose from.

Say it once. If the client says no, or does not take it up, go on to the next step for the version they chose. The client heard you the first time, and a second mention is pressure.

When a client’s words point to a smaller job instead, say that, in the same way.

Why mentioning the larger version too early goes wrong

Imagine a dog walker named Tobias Rourke who meets Mrs. Lindahl and her young spaniel, Pepper. Mrs. Lindahl wants a walk at midday on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, at $40 a walk. Tobias also offers a walk every weekday, which most of his clients take.

Tobias is between two walks. Before Mrs. Lindahl has said much about Pepper, he brings up the five days. “Most people go for five. It’s better for the dog, and it works out cheaper per walk.” Mrs. Lindahl says, “I’m home on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Three is what I need.” She says she will think about it. That week, she books the walker her neighbor uses, who asked about Pepper’s week before suggesting anything.

Tobias may be right that many dogs do well with a walk every weekday. His mistake was mentioning the larger version before Mrs. Lindahl had decided. He also gave his own reasons for it, which were what most people take and the price per walk. She had to defend her three days before she agreed to any.

The version that works waits. Tobias asks about Pepper’s week, and Mrs. Lindahl tells him. Then she asks, “Would you need a key, or is there a code for the door?” Tobias says he would take a key. “On Fridays I’m not back until seven,” she adds. “Is that too long for her?”

“Since Fridays are long for her, I could add a walk at four that day, for $40 more a week,” Tobias says. “The three middays are booked either way.” Mrs. Lindahl books four walks a week.

Mentioning a larger version is not pressuring the client

Mentioning more work to a client who has just decided can feel like taking advantage of their yes. It can also feel like the opposite of telling a client when not to spend.

Pressure is a reason that belongs to you, a second mention, or a choice that puts the first decision at risk. One mention, built from the client’s words, with their first choice kept, is information the client can use. Young’s client asked to hear about anything else that needed to change. Dudheker offers the cheaper room alongside the quiet one. In the first version of Margot’s dinner, keeping quiet did not protect Mrs. Delacourt. She spent the evening in the kitchen, the one place she had said she did not want to be.

How to mention a larger version without pressure

1. Before your next first meeting, write your larger version in a sentence or two. Say what it adds and what it costs. For example, a music teacher might write, “An hour-long lesson each week instead of half an hour, at $160 instead of $90.”
2. In the meeting, keep the larger version to yourself until the client has decided on the work you discussed. Look for a few of the signs together, such as a question about how the work would run.
3. Listen for words in which the client describes something the larger version would give them. Write those words down. For example, a tutor might hear a father say that his daughter freezes in timed tests.
4. Mention one larger version, once, starting from the client’s words. Say what it adds and its price. Then say that what they chose stands either way. For example, the tutor can say, “Since timed tests are where she freezes, I also run a practice exam on Saturday mornings. It’s $150 more a week. The two evenings we talked about are booked either way.”
5. If the client says no, or does not take it up, go on to the next step for the version they chose. Do not mention the larger version again. For example, a specialist realtor can say, “Then I’ll set up the three showings for Saturday and send you the times tonight.”
6. When a client’s words point to a smaller job instead, say that in the same way. For example, a personal stylist can say, “For one dinner, you don’t need a new suit. The navy one you have, with a new shirt, will do.”

Next: You will see how to help a client feel that the work is already theirs, early in the conversation.