Employees who can solve problems and know they have the backing of management will provide great service. Fries are cold? Drink is wrong? Sandwich or pizza made incorrectly? Employees can take care of these situations. If the manager has to get involved, use this acronym: L.E.A.S.T – Listen, Empathize, Apologize, Solve and Thank.

Be careful not to create a standard resolution policy such as: Food took too long equals free dessert. Food not cooked properly equals comp. And so on. It should be clear by now that every guest and every situation is different.

Excerpted from Now That’s Quick Service That Sells!, click to check it out!

Train servers to say: “We’re thinking about adding this new entrée to our menu. Would you have a taste and tell us what you think?” Hand out cards asking for comments on flavor, presentation and value for the dollar.

The gesture serves two purposes: You’ll get valuable feedback and enhance your guests’ perception of the service your restaurant provides.

Customers love getting something for free. Chances are they’ll order the item when it’s officially on the menu, and tell their friends about it. After all, they played a part in its development!

Are you too busy to even think about changing up your menu? You need more time! We can’t really help you with that, but we can help you better manage the time you have as a restaurant manager. Click to check out Get A Life: Running Your Restaurant Without Running Out Of Time.

It stands to reason, then, if you haven’t correctly factored the cost of a glass of water into your entree price, you’re losing serious bucks per day. Think about all those glasses of water on each table. It’s like placing a dollar bill next to each guest’s napkin. Share this information with your staff so they understand free water isn’t free.

Consider making it a policy never to have water on the tables unless a guest asks for it. According to restaurant surveys, only 48 percent of guests at tables with table tents stating “In order to conserve the earth’s natural resources, we serve water by request only” on their tables, went ahead and asked for tap water. You’ll have saved about half the costs of those free glasses of water! In addition, think of the labor efficiencies when servers or service assistants are not having to constantly refill water glasses. If you do provide water to everyone, perhaps put a half-carafe of water on the table to at least save some of the labor required to refill glasses and potential complaints of ‘my water glass wasn’t refilled promptly!’

The Bottom Line

73,000 guests a year x 52 percent not asking for plain water = 37,960 persons not asking for water x $1.08 per “free glass of water” = $40,996.80 saved.

Excerpted from Pump Up Your Profits: 52 Cost-Saving Ideas to Build Your Bottom Line. Get more ideas here!

Yes! Exactly! He was absolutely right! When the company succeeds, the employees succeed. We admit it! The best way to get to know your guests and make them comfortable is to talk to them. The best thing to talk to them about is your food and beverage. After all, that’s why they’re here. And the best way to get your customers to buy what they came in for is to train your servers to sell it to them. Anyone can be an “order-taker.” It requires service to sell.

The art of the “soft” sell

Please understand that the kind of selling we’re talking about here is suggestive selling, soft selling, not “Used-Car-Salesman-Pushy-Loud-Pinkie-Ring-Checkered-Coat-Platform-Shoes-Buy-or-Die!” selling. Suggestive selling means helping guests make decisions that are good for them. It’s recommending what’s good on the menu, asking questions about what guests are in the mood for, and then helping them choose the food or beverage they’d like.

Suggestive selling is nothing more than recommending (not “pushing”) specific extras, appetizers, sides, desserts and beverages. Suggesting specific items shows guests they’re worth your time; it’s perceived as better service. Bottom line: you and your 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 that the the guest says “no thanks!”).

Need help establishing a restaurant training program that helps servers suggestively sell? Check out our Real World Selling package for restaurant training ideas that will help you increase sales of beer, wine, appetizers, desserts and more! See below and click here for more details.

• Add new menu items. This is perfect time to have your chefs explore new items. Be sure that you’re creating dishes that your customers want. In these times of “I can’t believe I gained seven pounds this season,” you may want to introduce a new healthy line and market it accordingly.
• Spruce up the menu. You already know the menu is prime real estate, but consider seasonal menus. Different items appeal at different times of the year and by rotating menus, you’ll be able to feature seasonal, locally grown, and sustainable items and you’ll have the opportunity to position your more profitable—and marketable—items more carefully.
• Promote somebody. If you’ve been meaning to give someone a new opportunity, consider a “partial” promotion. Schedule one or two slower shifts for new positions (managers, servers, etc.) and allow team members to ease their way into new positions.
• Try a new concept. When your private room stays vacant night after weekday night, consider marketing to a new crowd. Try out “8-minute dates” (a way for singles to meet), a Monday night Book Club, a post-basketball game banquet. By searching out local clubs and organizations—or creating your own—you can turn your operation into a weekly favorite.

When you have less traffic, it’s even more important that you maximize sales. Use your slower months to jump-start your training program and re-focus managers on service and sales. We can help you get your entire staff up to speed in the new year with one of these great packages: Save $167 on the Service That Sells! Full Service Package or $108 on the Service That Sells Family Dining Package. Click the links to learn more!

A key element to any restaurant training program is helping your servers understand that selling extra items doesn’t require pushy sales techniques. When suggestions are made in the appropriate way and at the right time, guests perceive them as helpful and sincere, as they should be. Let’s take a look at the three different types of selling:

• Upselling is enhancing an item already ordered (such as “up-sizing” a value meal or a draft beer, or adding cheese and guacamole to a burger).
• Suggestive selling is describing an item guests have not ordered yet.
• Situational selling is assessing the situation and informing guests of items or deals that best enhance that situation (let them make the choice).

Knowing why guests are paying a visit makes it easier to sell. Lose the monotone “Would you like to try our special today?” and insincere “I have to tell you about our soups or we get counted off by our mystery shopper,” or “I’m trying to win a contest — would you like to buy a gift card?”

Suggesting enhancements to the meal is a key step in the cycle of service, but the practice needs to be subject to interpretation. While guests may not like to deal with pushy salespeople, there is no doubt they like to spend money and buy things they like or want. Make it easy for the guests to say yes.

Need to train your waitstaff on situational selling? Check out the clip below and click for more details about the Now That’s Service That Sells restaurant training program.

Here’s how:

• Build excitement. Host special events, happy hour specials and community meetings at your operation. It will get new customers in the door and help existing customers see how involved you are in the community.
• Internal marketing. Your treatment of your employees and your suppliers says a lot about the practice behind the scenes. Be sure you’re not only treating your team members with the utmost respect, but also arm them with the knowledge they need to sell your operation even when they’re not on the clock.
• The tentacles of WOM. Don’t overlook just how far reaching word-of-mouth advertising can be. Once the ball is rolling, it can easily translate into newspaper stories, advertising, targeted direct mail, reviews, etc.

Keep in mind, this type of grassroots marketing takes patience, consistency and persistence, but the rewards will literally speak for themselves.

Don’t forget the saying, “Great marketing can kill a bad business.” Make sure your staff is well trained in exemplary service and profitable sales techniques to capitalize on increased traffic from word-of-mouth marketing. Click to learn how to develop a training program that gets results.

Try this exercise at your next trainer’s meeting. Ask for a volunteer, then set the scene: “A barefoot alien has landed in the yard and desperately needs a pair of shoes. I’ll pretend to be the alien and, not knowing a thing about putting on and lacing up shoes, I’m going to follow your instructions exactly.”

The volunteer may have no idea of where to start or where to go. Others in the group may pitch in an idea or two. Whatever the instruction, it’s bound to be clumsy. You’ve tied your shoes thousands of times, but teaching another person to do it is difficult.

What matters? Getting the shoes tied. Yet folks involved in this exercise will often disagree about the “right way” to proceed. The point is that there are many right ways to tie shoes. Don’t argue about how to get there — just focus on the end result.

Trainers need to be certified to train in the same fashion as new employees are trained to work. Candidates should shadow a seasoned trainer in action, watching how he or she trains each topic. The trainer should ask questions to reinforce information, and “lengthen the leash” to let the trainee gradually take on more responsibility, even in the face of a mistake or two. That’s how people learn.

Excerpted from Now That’s Service That Sells!, the sequel to the best-selling book in foodservice history. Click to learn more!

That’s why holiday parties after the holidays seem to work best for everyone in this business. Here are some ideas to make your holiday party even more successful:

• Poker party – Whenever you provide some type of game that forces people to move around and interact, you’ll build relationships between people who rarely communicate. Poker, bunko and even charades are all easy ways you can add excitement to your party.
• Comedy club – Sure, you could all go to the comedy club, but consider bringing entertainment in-house since you already have the space, food and drinks. Music is great, but often too loud to let guests really interact. A comedian with a couple of short acts can add a lot of fun to your party.
• Who me? – Ask team members to write down two things about themselves that may be a surprise (like “once hitch-hiked to Mexico” or “class president in high school”). Then mix them up and read each one to the group. Team members guess who it is and after all the statements are made, the answers are revealed and everyone learns more about their co-workers.
• Award ceremony – The holiday party is the perfect time to publicly award your team. On top of achievement awards, create enough contests that everyone can win something. Door prizes, baby photo contests (match your team member with the photo) as well as all-in-fun prizes (best smile, loudest laugh, etc.) ensures that everyone wins something.

Team-building isn’t something that just needs to happen during the holidays. Keep your team running smoothly all year long with All For One: 52 Ways to Build a Winning Team. From your assistant managers to your servers to your part-time kitchen staff, you’ll find ideas to improve team morale which translates to less stress, happier employees, better service, and higher sales. Check it out!

Christmas:

• Book office parties for small to medium offices with staff between 10-20. Most large companies book their holiday parties six months out, but smaller offices often wait till the last minute. Start your marketing efforts by talking to your regulars and V.I.P’s.
• Give companies an incentive to come in on a light traffic night. You may be booked up Thursday through Sunday, and still have openings the rest of the week. Run a promotion for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday offering 10% off a meal or perhaps complimentary wine with dinner.
• Market to you local area — lofts, condominiums and apartments present great opportunities. Contact the activity coordinator and offer your restaurant’s services to host the building holiday party. Consider offering free appetizers to sweeten the deal.
• Never overlook telephone marketing. Train hosts and hostesses to mention your party services when answering the phone.
• Make sure you call and confirm reservations. A no-show can throw a kink in your schedule. It’s better to find out about it early — and fill that spot with another reservation.

New Years:

• Offer a complimentary split of champagne to those who make reservations before 6:00 or after 9:30 New Year’s Eve evening. If you’re feeling generous, offer all your guests that complimentary split of champagne.
• Train hosts and hostesses to mention New Year’s Reservations when answering the phone and talking with guests who are dining throughout December.
• Provide party favors for your guests so that they stay at the bar after dinner to bring in the New Year with you.
• Make sure you call and confirm reservations. If you’ve overbooked, start a wait list to fill any cancellations.

Have a happy, safe and profitable holiday season. One last word, don’t let anyone drink and drive. It’s money well spent to offer free cab fare to any guests who shouldn’t be driving or would just like to take you up on your offer.

Your marketing efforts can’t stop when the holidays are over. To kick-start your marketing strategy for the new year, check out Slam Dunk Marketing: From Rim Shots to Results. Click to learn how to implement effective personal marketing to build your client base and maximize profits with your existing customers.