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Your Servers-
Salespeople or Order Takers?
PART TWO
By Shawn Kiley
If youll remember, last month we began talking about the difference between an order taker and a salesperson. By this time, hopefully you will have honestly evaluated your operation and youve discovered that at least a small percentage of your service staff are the What can I get ya? variety. More realistically, if we all took an honest evaluation of our operations, statistics show that in most restaurants, only 1 out of every ten people you have working on the floor is a true salesperson. WOW! Only ten percent, on average are helping you to make a profit. The rest are just sort of, well, lets say for now theyre only guilty of what they think is doing their job.
As we continue our discussion, you will come to find out that not only are the order takers not doing their job, theyre costing you money. LOTS of money. This goes for you too, retailers, but for now well stay focused on the restaurant and bar industry.
Basically, at this point, our objective should be to identify the salespeople, reward them openly for their efforts (even though they are most certainly being handsomely rewarded with a pocket full of cash at the end of every shift) and learn what specific things they are doing in your organization that makes them sales people. Are they recommending their favorite appetizer at every table, no matter what, in a non-robotic, genuine way? Are they suggesting dessert in such a scrumptious way that even the most ardent of dieters couldnt say no? Are they delivering your daily specials with influence, inflection in their voice and the proper tone? Whatever it is that is setting apart this one in ten, you need to find it, teach it, and model it.
We start by modeling behavior. Make certain that your salespeople are in positions of authority in your organization. Make sure they are floor supervisors or trainers. Every new employee should be connected at the hip to your salespeople. We dont want our newest, hungriest employees picking up bad habits from the order takers. And believe me, they will. If theres an easier softer way, especially when were going through the overwhelming new learning stage, most people will take it.
But its also at this precise stage that your new person needs to be modeled good sales technique. After all, the thing were most afraid of is rejection, and that will keep a lot of potential salespeople from moving away from order taking.
So lets summarize what we have so far:
In most establishments, the ratio of order takers to salespeople is pitifully out of whack and its costing you money.
You need to identify your salespeople immediately. As in yesterday.
You need to objectively asses what it is that sets them apart from the crowd and get this down on paper.
Begin to differentiate salespeople from order takers in your organization.
You need to start openly rewarding your salespeople, whether at shift meetings, in the middle of the shift, or when theyve won a sales contest of any sort. REWARD IN THE OPEN, CORRECT IN PRIVATE.
If you have any order takers in positions of power in your establishment, its time for some housecleaning. Give the most influential positions to your salespeople.
Make certain that your training crew is made up of salespeople only!
This will get us pointed in the correct direction. In the upcoming months we will be talking about how to convert your order takers, and how to get your salespeople to make even more money, for themselves and the company. Also, well start spreading the love by including any and all in the service and hospitality industry. Can the person working concessions at the movie theater really be a salesperson? You bet! Want to have the best seasonal sales ever? Meet me here next month and Ill show you how.
Make sure by then that you have devoured what this man has to say about selling on his website and that youve checked out this book.
Until next time... Shawn
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