Unless you’re running a charity or volunteering, most business owners are in the game to make a profit, and most of your employees work to earn a salary. Enhancing your business’s sales are crucial to making both goals a reality, so let’s take a look at how you can encourage your employees to make the transition from mere “order-takers” to salespeople.
Look at What You Offer
First, think about the goods and services your business provides. For example, if you operate a restaurant, look at your menu. How many items have optional upsells or addons?
Most restauranteurs would point to the appetizers and desserts as their chief addon options, and that’s a great place to start of course. Your waitstaff ought to offer these, because doing so will increase profits for you and tips for them—since almost everyone tips based on a fixed percentage of the final bill.
But addons needn’t stop there. Servers can offer popular additions like grilled onions, sautéed mushrooms, jalapenos, and the like for burgers and steak. They can also upsell by reminding patrons that choicer cuts of beef are available. Side-salads should have the option to add skewers of grilled shrimp or something similar. The opportunities are endless.
Drinks, like wine, beer, and cocktails, are also fantastic addons, as these are non-refillable. But don’t forget after-meal coffees, especially cappuccinos and other crafted coffees. Your menu should also feature upgrades for these drinks, too, like Kahlua, Irish Cream, and so on. Given that many people order sodas when dining out, unique versions of those can be a great boon as well, like Italian cream sodas.
This idea applies to every business, restaurants or otherwise. We all know that car salespeople have a myriad of options for their products. —As do the people in your local cell phone store. Think about your business: whatever it is, from appliance retailers to fast food, don’t hesitate to empower your employees to offer more options.
Motivate Your People
Once you ensure your products and services feature as many upgrade options as possible, you still need to motivate your employees to sell them. Even though extra money from tips or commissions should be enough to incent most, you’ll find that not everyone really “gets it” at first.
Consider sales contests. These are a better option than sales quotas, which many will regard negatively since they feel imply a threat of discipline. Contests aren’t as daunting. And while pitting employees against each other to see who can get the most sales can be fun, don’t overuse this idea and inadvertently sow resentment among them, however. Give everyone a chance to win something. Make your contests challenging but attainable.
Take It to the Next Level
But what if your salespeople do everything right but just happen to run into patrons who are on a strict budget? It’s hard to measure whether they’re doing their jobs well because you’re not seeing any movement on the scoreboard, as it were. This is where mystery shopping can be such a great tool, as it allows you to check on your staff to make sure they always make the offers and that they never get discouraged, even in the face of more noes than yeses.
We at The Brandt Group believe that mystery shopping should be used as an employee incentive program in addition to being a crucial training tool. Mystery shops will help you identify what aspects of your business are working well or needing improvement, and they’ll guide your managers on how to coach your staff. But perhaps most effectively, you can use it to motivate your employees to always make offers because of the positive reinforcement these can offer even during dry spells.
Let us help you get started. Reach out to The Brandt Group, and we’ll help you evaluate your company and employees in a way that will help you grow your business and enhance your profits. Upgrade today and take your business to the next level!
