It's long been said people 'eat with their eyes'. To that end, leverage the eyes and other senses when delivering better service...and making it much easier to sell. Here are a few examples:
Sight - purposely walk by a table early in the meal process with desserts going to another table. Make mention to the guests about dessert by showing off what another table is getting. Ensure your table tents and props are ready to go as well. Showing guests a picture of a dessert, signature item or drink helps guide the guest to 'yes'.
Smell - at the beginning of each shift as the first arriving guests are seated (or just before), walk through your restaurant with a plate of sizzling fajitas or another signature item to give a nice aroma to the restaurant. Stainless steel polish and floor sanitizer (or musty carpets) are not appealing smells to walk into from the fresh air outside.
Hearing - guests 'don't know what they don't know'. Therefore, remind guests about specials, limited-time offers or features for regulars, signature items for first-timers (to ensure they return) or appetizer platters/large dessert samplers/pitchers of beer or margaritas for large groups. Target the sell - it's called 'situational selling'.
Taste - yes, taste. Let the guests taste a sample of a unique side dish. Offer your flavored margaritas or desserts as a sampler in 3-4 oz glasses to not only sell the 'variety pack' for those that can't decide, but also to have a small sample size available to taste.
Engage the senses and watch the guests smile! Your competition is 'extra ordinary'. Do the little differences above and move to 'extraordinary'. Small stuff makes a big impact!
T.J. Schier is service professional, consultant and speaker with over 20 years experience in operations and training. Founder and president of Incentivize Solutions and podTraining, T.J. has helped numerous clients enhance their service and training programs and spoken to tens of thousands of managers, franchisees and operators in various fields. Visit http://IncentivizeSolutions.com/ for more info motivating today's employees, training today's generation and delivering outstanding guest service; or http://podTraining.us/, a unique new system and the foundation of 'i-learning' - using the device of today's generation, the iPod - to train your workforce.
