By Pencom International
Sell more appetizers. Sell more premium drinks. Don’t forget about desserts. Did you charge for that side of sour cream?
The average profit on the dollar for restaurants is less than a nickel, so every successful restaurant manager knows how hard it is to make this business profitable. And while we may preach about the importance of sales, our servers often tend to become confused… and discouraged. Many servers worry that “selling” will turn off their customers. An effective waitstaff training program teaches servers about the fine art of suggestive selling. It’s not about pushing the most expensive items on the menu, it’s about recommending popular and featured items, asking questions about what guests are in the mood for, and guiding guests to an enjoyable dining experience.
How do you get servers to buy into suggestive selling strategies? As part of your restaurant training program, help servers understand that suggesting specific items makes guests feel valued, leading to a perception of better service. Bottom line: managers and servers have everything to gain from suggestive selling (higher sales, bigger tips, better service, more business) and nothing to lose (the worst that can happen is the guest saying “no thanks!”).
To make your restaurant training stick and your sales increase, focus on turning your servers into salespeople. Teach strategies professional salespeople use to be successful, and make them work for your restaurant:
- Start with the numbers. Professionals have an annual sales goal and an average sale figure. If you’re still focusing on “12 appetizers tonight” sales strategies, you’re thinking too small. And so is your team. Instead, provide salespeople with realistic monthly sales goals and track their success weekly.
- Determine success rate. If you train your salespeople to always ask for the sale, you can easily track their success rate at the end of the night. You’ll determine how many people they need to ask to make one sale and you’ll motivate them with the math. Soon, they’ll be thinking like salespeople. “That ‘no’ just means I’m one guest closer to a ‘yes.’”
- Limit sales goals. While it’s tempting to break down goals into categories (desserts sold, extras added on, premium drinks, etc.), many sales professionals limit themselves to no more than three or four goals. Too many goals cause diversions and more places to fail. And, in our business, do we really want to push items on customers… or fulfill needs? When we’re focusing on selling more appetizers, we’re not focusing on finding out what customers want from their dining experience. Instead, “extra” sales can be combined to fit into one category. Consequently, salespeople don’t feel as if they need to force items on people, but rather discover what they want… even if they don’t know they want it yet.
- Reward success. Many of us think the additional tip should be reward enough for additional sales, but if you want your servers to truly become salespeople who work towards goals, you must reward them. Determine what’s fair and motivating and post top successes.
© Pencom International, used with permission. Pencom International is a leader in restaurant management and waitstaff training solutions and publisher of Service That Sells! The Art of Profitable Hospitality, the best-selling book in food-service history! Developed by successful restaurant owners and managers, the Service That Sells! product line of books, DVDs and workbooks has been helping restaurants improve service and increase sales for decades.
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