Sales Department

Once again, I must mention Daniel Pink's To Sell is Human as a wonderful book for hospitality owners to read, everyone in every department is in Sales. Seth Godin refers to this idea as Marketing is every department including Reception, Research and Development, Sales, Security, Finance, etc. Anyone your customer comes into contact with during the process of selling your service, even before and after the transaction, is affecting the customer's decision whether to return or not.

The third party reservation system that treats your customer like a number is undoing your handwork in delivery uplifting service especially when they email your customer after their initial visit with a feedback/comment questionnaire. Instead, have your hostess call directly to thank your customer for dining at your restaurant and welcome them back for another visit. And after your customer celebrates their birthday, follow-up next year with a birthday card and welcome them back to your restaurant! How many times has that happen to you?

One idea from Pink's book is the new ABC rule, not "Always Be Closing" but "Attunement, Buoyancy & Clarity." This is how sales people should approach each customer or prospect. The days when the seller had all the power is now gone, as technology has shifted the pendulum to the buyer's side.

Attunement is understanding your prospect/customer; asking the right questions like how do they think, what do they want, why would they buy from you. Attuning yourself to their hopes and dreams is just the starting point.

Buoyancy is staying afloat in an ocean of rejection, the ability to turn challenges into opportunity and persevere through failure. Individuals who can be self-aware of their past failures and learn from them is a soft skill you are seeking in the interview process.

Clarity is the ability to curate information in a useful manner for your customer and add value to the relationship. Remember, information is readily available and plentiful for anyone to access. Use your expertise to extract insightful information and deliver to your customer as industry knowledge. Secondly, identifying problems before they happen can be more useful than providing solutions, as the latter is accessible information.

If you embrace this philosophy, nobody is exempt from proper sales training not even the accountant.