Restaurant Selling

This evening I was sent into nostalgia most from a conversation I was having this afternoon. Like many people in business I made my way through University working in the restaurant industry. It was often not only a source of revenue but it was also a staple of my diet for many years. Today got me thinking however and pondering one of the lessons I am always telling people and that is to do what you have done in the past when success was prevalent.

As I was re-living my days in the restaurant I was thinking about how successful some of our add on sales campaigns were and how simple the steps we took to implement them were. I wanted to share some of the lessons I learned and how useful they are.

One of the first things is to always speak to a customer on their level. All to often we find ourselves standing over the customer in an intimidating fashion. The best thing to do is kneel down so you are looking at them eye to eye and they will liken you to a friend rather than someone of authority.

Secondly when aproaching add on items such as deserts, talk about how great it tastes. Create an experience when you are talking about it rather than just talking about what it is. Using words like delicious, scrumptious or delectable will create a mouth watering experience. Always use open ended questions such as which desert can I get you? As apposed to closed questions like "would you like desert". This technique called assuming the sale is one of the most powerful approaches you can use. The power of suggestion is very strong and will have a profound effect on your business.

Finally never under estimate the power of a smile and a kind word. We all know that life is stressful, but telling everyone around you about your bad day will do you no justice. Let your smile be infectious and who knows, maybe you will win that jersey.

Cheers,

CB