It is said that “SALES IS THE TRANSFER OF ENTHUSIASM.” Regardless of how great your product is, ONLY YOUR PEOPLE can truly ignite your guests.

I have worked with many businesses that have seen a 10% uplift in sales by focusing on turning their “Order Takers” into “Order Makers.” This is a combination of expectations, training and NATURAL ability.

Anyone who has been served by a person who “LOVES!” the menu, who makes enthusiastic recommendations, knows exactly what I am talking about.

Taking that passion out of the sale COSTS YOU 10% and a ton of repeat business.

Is it reasonable to expect ALL of your servers/bartenders to be ENTHUSIASTIC about your offer?

YES! Of course it is!

It’s OK if a lot of people applying don’t like your food/drinks. But it’s NOT OK to hire these people, make them head of SALES and let them be the face of your business.

Enthusiastically!,

**Sean is speaking at the International Restaurant & Foodservice Show in NYC this weekend! If you are in the area, stop by for his talks at 10:30AM and 1PM.

We didn’t learn to ride a bike from reading a book, and we can’t expect our staff to deliver REMARKABLE guest service because we tell them to.

We learn by watching others, then mimicking. Then we watch some more, and try again. And if we are lucky, we receive course correction and encouragement to accelerate the learning curve.

Guest service is both a skill and an art that only a small percentage of businesses can claim mastery of.

Reaching that level is never an accident. Those businesses PLAN to deliver remarkable service, BUILD SYSTEMS to stack odds in their favor and then LEAD BY EXAMPLE… every shift.

At a recent visit to Zingerman’s (Ann Arbor, Michigan), I studied with their team to better understand how they have reached such heights. Their training program was fantastic, but most revealing was having dinner in one of their restaurants and watching founder/owner Ari Weinzweig touch every table in the room by filling water glasses.

You could feel his presence in the room. With his sleeves rolled up, he set a pace and a tempo. He seemed to see everything much like the conductor of an orchestra. His team learned as they worked - “from the root to the fruit.”

I found myself asking, “Where does this guy find the time?” Ari, like so many other great leaders, prioritizes TEACHING over everything else.

Onward and upward,

So many operators I meet are trying to be ”better,” but what the heck does that really mean? It amazes me how few have their sights set on BEING THE BEST!

Being better is a matter of perspective. Better is marginal. In most cases, better is BORING… forgettable.

The argument for BEST:

i) The BEST staff are looking for managers in pursuit of BEST business

ii) Your customers are tired of your version of BETTER (By the way, they are shopping for BEST right now)

iii) BEST causes your managers to spring out of bed early and stay late!

The pursuit of BEST makes time fly by! BEST pays multiples of better. BEST is more fun than you should ever be allowed to have at work!!

So why not focus on BEST?

BEST starts with just a single person adjusting their expectations… are YOU that person?

In pursuit of BEST,

I got a LOT of feedback last week about making your To-Do List more effective. Many of you said that you are simply overwhelmed; that you just can’t keep up anymore, no matter what you try!

We are often so focused on doing MORE that we forget to STOP doing less-important things.

Twice a year I MAKE A LIST of the things that I should NOT BE DOING. After all, there are only 24 hours in a day.

Here are 5 examples from my list that helped me get TWICE as much out of my days:

1.    DO NOT check emails as soon as I get out of bed OR right before I get into bed

2.    DO NOT check e-mail constantly, instead “batch” and check at set times only (turn off your email notification- DING!)

3.    DO NOT agree to meetings or calls with no clear purpose, agenda or end time

4.    DO NOT book appointments with people who arrive late for meetings

5.    DO NOT do “Home stuff at work” and “Work stuff during time allocated to my kids.”

I can’t tell you that I get this right 100% of the time, but I am happy to report that it has been a game changer for me!

Make YOUR list and share it with your team.

Let me know how you go,