The Four Ps of Product Knowledge: Does Your Waitstaff Know Them?
After you’ve motivated your team to try suggestive selling, boost their confidence by making sure that they can describe your menu accurately and appealingly. You can’t sell what you don’t know. So, when testing your team, remember to hit the Four P’s:
- Portion – How many potato skins do you get? How many ounces is the steak? How big is the salad? How many layers is the chocolate cake? When you quiz your team during pre-shift meetings, you might be stunned to find out how many details they’ve forgotten.
- Preparation – Is it grilled or baked? Squeezed with lemon or lime? Stir-fried or sautéed? Often it’s the smallest detail that makes the sale… and gains the customer’s confidence. When servers know the complete preparation of each menu item, customers are more willing to accept their suggestions and splurge on that dessert or other add-on item.
- Presentation – Is there a garnish? A sizzling plate? A cutting board or a bread bowl? When your servers can accurately add these details, they’ll create interest and intrigue (and sales!).
- Price – You would hope that your servers are well-versed in the prices on your menu, but do they know – and provide – the price of specials? Often customers shy away from ordering your most prized meals of the evening, because the server didn’t include the price in “our specials tonight…” description. Because they don’t know, customers assume that those items are too costly… and select something else on the menu.
To build product knowledge of your restaurant’s items, train your servers with Work Smarter Not Harder, the Service That Sells! Workbook. Click here to learn more.
Restaurant Sales: Selling from the Front Door
Don’t forget to also invest training time and money in the first salesperson your guests meet … your host or hostess.
For example, a hostess seats two of your guests and instead of saying, “Enjoy your dinner!” she says, “We’ve got a great selection of wines by the glass listed here, and an incredible Mud Pie for dessert. Enjoy your dinner!” Hear the difference? By briefly pointing out specific beverages and food (wine and Mud Pie) this hostess has opened the “Window of Opportunity” for the server to follow up with another wine or dessert suggestion and most likely make the sale and higher tip!
Could your buser, host or hostess perform his or her job in the same manner as the one in the above scenario? Do you think that the buser, host or hostess was born with that ability or were they taught that skill? Training all your frontliners to know the menu and the right words results in better service, higher sales, and perhaps most importantly, sets your restaurant apart from your competitors who don’t.
Remember: 90 percent of all restaurants do 90 percent of the same things the same way. It’s the 10 percent we do differently that means success.
Server Training Tip: Increase Regulars with VIP Service
It’s no secret that increasing the frequency of guest visits provides a tremendous boost to profitability. Learning and using guests’ names is the starting point to increasing visit frequency, then you can sweeten the VIP treatment by training your servers to divulge “insider information” — secrets about the menu or services your operation offers that only those “in the know” are aware of. Here are some dialogue examples:
“It’s not on the menu, but…” Servers can use this one to let guests know about special dishes the kitchen can prepare or tasty spins on traditional menu items.
“I’ll let you in on a little secret…” To add to the impact of this opening, servers can lower their voice to a whisper, hunch over, look around the restaurant to make sure nobody else is listening, then inform the guest what’s secretly available.
“I shouldn’t tell you this, but…” This one works wonders when adding value to guests’ meal experiences. It should be made to sound friendly, not devious.
“Here’s something only our regulars know…” Who wouldn’t feel special hearing a recommendation like this?
Help your servers increase their tips (and your profits!) with every customer using the real-world sales and service ideas in Work Smarter Not Harder! The Service That Sells! Workbook. Click here for examples and more information.
Patio Dining: Prep to Please
As soon as the temperature gets above 60, you’ll have customers lined up to enjoy eating and drinking in the fresh air. If you have an outdoor dining area, or if you’re considering one, use this checklist to make sure you’re prepared:
- Are awnings and umbrellas in place to protect guests from direct sunlight?
- Do you have an emergency plan to care for your customers during a sudden rain shower? Be sure it’s in writing and your staff is prepared to react in an instant.
- Are your tables, chairs and utensils wind-proof? Use napkin roll-ups so strong winds won’t blow utensils away and anchor furniture with sandbags or metal weights.
- Are your electrical outlets waterproof? Make sure you have enough waterproof outlets to accommodate your outdoor POS systems, outdoor buffets, chafing dishes and lighting sources.
Looking to put a spring in your new season? Click here to learn about Now That’s Service That Sells! The Art of Managing the Sizzle and how it can help you improve service and maximize sales in your restaurant.
How to Serve Clock-watchers
Research has shown that the business lunch hour has shrunk to under 45 minutes. Many guests, in fact, have even less time if they have significant two-way travel to your restaurant.
Consider these service steps to get the clock-watchers in, out and back to the office:
- If you use a host seating system, train every employee on the table numbers and the proper way to seat guests. Then have everyone near the entrance available to seat guests, as necessary, when the lunch crunch begins. This will also keep the host up front, ready to greet every guest immediately and keep control of the seating system.
- For top efficiency, have every server seat his or her first table. That way they’re immediately on top of their first turn.
- Don’t allow servers to begin their shift standing in the service area or in the kitchen. No one should ever have to track down a server to tell him or her that guests are waiting.
- Have popular lunch specials every day that can be held on the line and are easily assembled. This not only provides fast execution in the kitchen, but also aids in the prep cycle.
- Train servers to be check-ready. Every time something is added, the check should be re-printed and ready for presentation, even if guests aren’t ready to leave. When servers suggest dessert and say, the guests decline, the check is ready to be placed on the table — no extra trip back to the POS area to print the check.
Improve Service with the Fine Art of Table Talk
Guests are — first and foremost — people. They want to be treated like individuals, not just nameless customers. The best way to initiate table talk is to ask polite, but not too personal, questions. Here are some safe topics:
Appearance: “That’s a beautiful tie.” “Love those earrings.” “What a great T-shirt.”
Sports: “How about them [your area’s local team]?” “Did you see the game last night?”
Weather: “Can you believe this rain?” “Wow, we’re having some great golfing weather.”
Hometown: “Where are you from?” “Are you visiting from out of town?”
Quality check: “Are your steaks prepared the way you like them?” “Do you have everything you need to enjoy your entrées?”
Whatever your servers decide to say, make sure they remember to smile, look at the customer, listen, and thank each and every patron for his or her business.
Improve Service by Managing the Wait
The “Please Wait to be Seated” sign creates anxiety when the host staff isn’t present. Teach your servers to look for and then acknowledge every waiting guest with a smile and “Hi! The hostess will be right with you!” if he or she is off seating other guests. Make every customer feel wanted and appreciated the minute they set foot in your front door.
If you have a waiting list, teach your host staff to “sell” the wait rather than “challenge” the guest. A waiting guest experiences high anxiety. For instance, if there’s a 20-minute wait, the host or hostess has two options of how he or she could inform the guest:
Wrong: “Four for dinner? There is a 20-minute wait.” Translation: “Your move!”
Right: “Four for dinner? Great! Name, please? Where would you like to sit, Mr. Johnson? No problem, I can take care of that for you. There is a short 20-minute wait, but if you’d like to have a seat at the bar I’ll let you know the minute your table is ready. The bartender can set you up with one of our great appetizers or specialty drinks!” Translation: “I know you hate to wait, but I’ll do everything I can to make that wait as short as possible. I’m happy you’re here!”
Excerpted from Service That Sells!, the best selling book in foodservice history. Click here to read more.
Improve Service with Mystery Shopping in Your Restaurant
Mystery shoppers can help provide a meaningful evaluation of your customer service, but only if they’re prepared when they go in. Provide your mystery shoppers with specific direction a day or two before they’re scheduled to visit your restaurant. If they set out to “look for everything,” you’re likely to get a generalist’s point of view. Letting them know ahead of time what you’re specifically looking for will ensure you receive the feedback you need.
Remember that shoppers are observers, not critics. Instruct your shoppers accordingly, making sure the forms they use ask for specific observations rather than subjective ratings. Posing the question “Did your server make helpful suggestions? What were they?” is a better approach than having the shopper grade the server’s overall suggestive selling performance.
When designing your mystery shopping form, incorporate the points of evaluation that are most important to you and your operation. It should be designed to be filled out by the shopper but scored by a member of your management team. That way, the measurements of service quality will be more accurate and consistent from one form to the next.
Increase Guest Loyalty in Your Restaurant — “Make Me Feel Important”
Serving customers as if they’re royalty is a technique dubbed “MMFI” which stands for Make Me Feel Important. That’s how customers want to be treated. Here are the secrets to executing “The Star Treatment.”
- To turn newcomers into regulars, enlist the help of your front-line employees. Employees will execute their own ideas better and quicker than ideas forced upon them.
- It’s true: People want to go where everyone knows their name. The easiest way to remember a customer’s name is to ask him or her for it.
- If appropriate, purchase a point-and-shoot camera to record the fun times customers have in your operation. Hang the photographs in a public place, honoring your regulars and attracting the attention of newcomers.
- To become something special in the minds of your customers, heed this valuable lesson in generating repeat business: It’s not necessarily any one big thing you do, it’s a combination of the little things that add up to Slam Dunk Marketing success.
Excerpted from Slam Dunk Marketing.
Family Ties: Build Guest Loyalty with Family-friendly Service
There has been explosive growth in families dining out or ordering carry-out because of two incomes and all the activities kids are involved in. Kids, in fact, continue to drive more and more decisions on where to eat. Here are some ideas to put your restaurant at the top of their list:
Pay attention. Extra napkins, kids’ meals out early if parents agree, help with the kids, providing something to keep the kids busy. Be unique! Make them feel extra special.
Control the pace. Do parents want to eat quickly or enjoy a little relaxation?
Provide fun. What can occupy the kids? The more fun the experience is, the more often the family will return.
Train “kid focus.” Many servers, hosts and other employees don’t have children. Their frame of reference may be their pesky little sibling. Teach your staff how to talk to younger guests, including eye contact down at their level and compliments on coloring, eating or ordering. Here are some simple things younger employees or those without children might need to be taught: Don’t put high chairs in high-traffic areas, don’t place hot plates in front of small children and always put lids on drinks (or regret it later).
Make the restaurant kid-friendly. Try something different. Offer toys to play with at the table (an Etch-A-Sketch, for instance, or other small games). Let kids pick a toy on the way out (a la the dentist’s office) or provide cool, interesting desserts or beverages (included in the price or for a slight up-charge). Consider: Push Pops, slushes, smoothies, etc. Create a wow for the kids to drive parents’ loyalty.
Hit the “tweeners.” As kids get to be seven or so, they outgrow kid’s meals, but in many cases, Mom and Dad don’t want to spring for the adult portion yet. Provide selections for the older child — more grown-up food, but smaller portions. Grilled chicken or fajitas, double-burgers, small steaks and rib baskets create a huge value statement for the restaurant.
Excerpted from the restaurant management book Now That’s Service That Sells!. Click here to read more.