Max Sales

In the good old days of slower times and way before the global economy, one could actually hear the pleasant ring of the cash register hinting an additional sale.

In today's not so silent world of computers, digital cash registers and piped in music, one may need to pay more attention to visual signals scrawled on several layers of computer printout to ensure the "right tune" is being played by employees.

MAXIMIZING

IN HOUSE SALES

by Dorian P. Landers

First published in 1993

So what is all this hoopla about increasing sales? Well, increasing sales involves many factors such as your client mix, positioning, promotion, marketing and so on but we would like to focus on what many call upselling. I call it maximizing sales.

Go for it !

Increasing sales in the hospitality industry (food and beverage and others) is basically very simple.

Hotels and restaurants spend hundred of thousand of dollars chasing an elusive customer, courted by many other establishments. Once this guest has decided to stay and let himself be pampered by your place, one would surely do his best to help him part with more dollars than basic room rate and breakfast.

How would you do that? And I hear the clamor behind : by upselling.

And how do you ensure you upsell? By establishing reward systems, says the crowd.

Well, so many slogans! So many lessons well remembered! All on the basic behaviorist premise on which incentives are based. reward the behavior you want. Several opponents of this argument now claim that it is fundamentally flawed unless your employees are white rats or pigeons. People, they say, are motivated more by intrinsic (from inside themselves) motivators than by extrinsic motivators (getting a reward or recognition from the outside).

While I tend to agree in part that many humans are indeed more motivated by intrinsic values than by rewards, I would still advocate that an appropriately thought of incentive program should help those more motivated by tangible recognition to perform at a higher level of sales. Let's come back to this in our next message.

When people come to the restaurant, they are not always hungry.

- So what do they want? They want somebody who can come up and say:

The Chef has just told me we have some fresh water prawns that came in about half an hour ago - excellent, very, very fresh!

- That's what they want.

And the staff can deliver this service only if they have confidence in themselves.

John Macedo, The Ritz Hotel Madrid, Spain

But how to get our dear guest to part with his money?

First and foremost: the 5 most basic rules of selling apply:

# 1. Product knowledge. This is barrier number one to maximizing sales. Most hotel staff do not know the specifics of what is for sale. No knowledge or poor knowledge combined with a complete lack of confidence. There is only one way to impart knowledge: communicate, train and drill !

#2. Listen. The second key to maximizing sales is to listen to guests. They tell you and your staff what they need. They tell you where the opportunities are. Not everyone has creative selling ideas, but everyone can listen to guests. Then you may develop an understanding of what benefits a guest may actually want.

#3. Offer and suggest: Develop appropriate techniques: people respond better to specific suggestions rather than general ones:

	Say : The chef told me he has just received some garoupa from the East coast. Super fresh!
	Don't say: Tonight on special we have some very good garoupa. We can prepare it poached or grilled with ...

The big No-No. Do not train your staff to promote only big ticket items. Customers are not stupid! They know the lobster costs more than chicken! Stir guests to higher profit items within a same price range.

#4. Ring the sale NOW. Look for buying signals such as nodding the head, smiling, saying : "Hum, sounds good", "Do you serve rice with it?", closing the menu, pointing at brochure, asking to see, leaning forwards. Then ask : "Shall I make that “specific” booking for you?", "How would you like it cooked?" "The one with the cherries on top?" "Breakfast at 8 am, what would you like to have?”

# 5. Follow up. No point selling if you cannot deliver. Always personally ensure that people are satisfied with your suggestion. After delivery, seek comment and criticism. " I would like your opinion on..... Do you think this is expensive?"

TRAIN TO SELL BY INSTILLING KNOWLEDGE and CONFIDENCE

Look for any opportunity

Business centers are available in many hotels, but are they always selling right or even in the right location? In a hotel with high convention traffic, the business center could be located near the function rooms and be linked physically to your catering sales office. Obvious rewards: copies and fax calls, internet sales made by participants of many seminars and functions. Staff and equipment savings; the clerks can make use of the same computers to deal with guest requirements; rental of equipment can be done on the spot and banquet people usually have a better knowledge of the equipment because they deal with it more often.

Do not overcharge and always provide quality. Many business people regard $ 1.00 for a copy as expensive, and often the quality of the copy in hotels leaves a lot to be desired (smudges, black spots, weak toner). See it from the guest's point of view!

Do you serve ice water automatically before any drink order has been taken?

More opportunities to increase service and maximize sales

	Transportation to and from the hotel
	Garage for the car
	Car maintenance while you stay in the hotel
	Car wash and polish
	Musical tapes of bands playing in your place
	Creative and themed tea and coffee breaks
	Pictures at the beach in resort (parasailing, watersport)
	Airplane reconfirmation and pre check-in
	Breakfast in-room proposed during late check-in with wake-up call and newspaper
	Focus on kids; focus also on teenagers as a separate group
	Telephone and telefax if you do not overcharge and explain your rates (i.e. "We charge only 10 per cent above local Telekom rates")
	Computer rental, cellular phone or pager rental - systematically offer at the desk or upon reservation
	Car rental - "Would you need a car during your stay in Penang? We can arrange it at the same rate as major car rental companies and charge directly to your room" or "the car wiII be waiting for you at the airport."
	Package services in hotels close to shopping centers (many people buy breakable items in Hong Kong or Singapore and need various wrapping to package and protect them for transport
	Suggest florist services -a casual inquiry about people's birthdays through zodiac signs and so on may yield positive results in this area
	Interesting T-shirts. People love them if they are not overpriced. Remember. Better sell 10 at $ 2 profit than one at $ 10 profit.
	Laundry promotion: dry clean your suit inclusive of two shirts
	Make your laundry services available to smaller hotels which do not have laundry or dry cleaning
	Install a credit card operated e-mail or fax terminal or e-mail in your lobby
	Have snacks in your minibar that are visible and appeal to your clientele: small packs of chocolate chip cookies are a favorite with many people! Make your minibar affordable.
	Reservations for dinner offered by staff from departments other than F&B. Example: fitness center staff seldom say good-bye to guests. How about casually asking if the guest has any plans for dinner and suggesting a meal - appropriate to the density of the workout - in a restaurant or another. Know your salads, calories, carbos and proteins! How about the poolside staff asking guests a specific question : "Have you tried our Fettucine Alfredo? It's a favorite in our Pizzeria."

PROMOTE YOUR FOOD AND BEVERAGE BY:

	Sampling. Example: guest orders one main course in coffee house. Bring a sampling of an appetizer or two. Tell him you want his/her opinion
	Increase merchandising : show what you have, bring cakes an desserts to each table, use trolleys for salads, merchandise several types of mineral water by the glass or by the bottle on a trolley, show ice cream desserts by passing among other tables before reaching the table who has ordered.
	Teach your staff to level with the guest to recommend directly: "My favorite is the Chicken Curry!" or "It's really yummy!" Talk to guests like normal people, not like old time royalty.
	Start a lunch or dinner club (Steak & Kidney Fellows, Order of the Grand T-bone, Champagne Club)
	If OK for your type of operation maximize use of banners, posters and flyers, promote outside and inside
	Meeting room messages – promote your lounge and other facilities directly to hundreds of people who use your meeting facilities
	Bounce back offer - give coupons to existing customers, inviting them back to a free whatever (dessert, iced tea, appetizer) with their next meal when they come back.
	Lounge calendars (Michael Jackson Karaoke contest, Elvis week), trivial pursuits, pictionary contests.

UNSORTED IDEAS FOR BETTER BREAKFAST PROFITS

When Buffet is served you can still work on maximizing sales. Market breakfast as part of executive seminars; promote and sell power breakfasts and breakfast meetings to the business community.

Market your in-between period (9am - 12pm) for coffee and Danish to women's associations and office people.

Market a small bakery in the lobby stand (take out) with fresh coffee to go and for early morning and mid morning (early airline crews)

If you make your own Danish and baked goods, consider selling them to smaller hotels, restaurants and fast food outlets. If they take customers away from you, you may as well sell them something!

Price your Continental for maximum return per seat. If the gap is too wide with American breakfast, breakfast buffet and Continental, you are actually pushing price conscious customers to order Continental.

Consider low cholesterol alternatives (egg white omelettes can be a great breakfast item)

Market your breakfast to locals

Create seasonal menus

Guarantee on-time delivery (for room service or dining room- within 15 minutes or it's free!)

Breakfast costs are very low, get the most out of it!

Track your sales: if less than 95 per cent of your in-house guests are having breakfast in any of your outlets, you have room to grow. Consider the following:

Breakfast = traditional but should not be boring, have a good, honest and critical look at your buffet menu and setup

Promote breakfast the day before, have your dinner waiters and front desk clerk sell breakfast by suggesting and promoting buffets and specialties: "Have you tried our fresh apple juice?"

DO YOU WANT TO INCREASE BEVERAGE REVENUE?

BARS & LOUNGES

Sell more premium brands (merchandise them)

Add food to bar menus, and sell (shrimp snacks do very well - better than oysters) take lessons from the masters: visit Hard Rock Cafe between 6 - 8 p.m.

Avoid too many greasy, overfried finger foods

Create off the wall promotions to attract new customers - do a towel party

Increase non-alcoholic sales

Push quality wine by the glass and champagne by glass

More expensive the drink, the more stylish the glass should be

Poolside drinks - sell the container with it - kids love it !

ROOM SERVICE

Train staff on pronunciation, if staff cannot enunciate properly, they will not sell it.

Show order takers what you want to sell, have samples or bottles in front of them

Drill order takers continuously on proper technique

Listen to kids and offer specific items

Listen to people not feeling well and offer specific items such as chicken consommé, porridge, congee, fresh fruits, and light items, mineral waters and herb teas.

Always ask for beverage orders appropriate for time of day and guest: " A glass of white wine/beer/ mineral water/watermelon juice/iced tea perhaps?"

Always offer coffee or tea with dessert :"Shall I send you some coffee as well?"

Don't try to upsell complicated dessert through room service. Instead sell those that every guest can visualize: " The pastry just baked us some fresh apple pie, would you like to have some?"

SPECIALTY RESTAURANT

Promote your lounge area as part of the experience for before and after dinner

i.e. Britishfare - Sherries, Ports, Coffees

i.e. Chinese fare - Chinese spirits & wines - teas - Chinese Beer

i.e. French restaurant - Apero (Pernod, Kir) - French wine - Cognac - Evian water

i.e. Italian fare - Vermouth, Campari, Frascati wine, Italian waters, Amaretto cookies & liqueur

Promote your wines, don't just take orders

"a light Chardonnay will go well with your fish."

Don't overcharge for drinks, the higher your cost, the lower the markup, you make money on $ not on %. Work on turnover, not on high prices.