Most of us already know what we should be doing. So why the hell don't we do it.
Latest research suggests that 91 per cent of bar staff do not sell – they simply serve!
In other words, do your staff simply respond to a customer request and not try to influence the outcome by making a more profitable sale, a larger sale, or both?
For as long as I can remember, both working with food and beverage retailers and through social experience, I've witnessed far too many instances of both missed sales opportunities and appalling service.
Service aspects and how to improve them are another blog, but for now let’s focus on how to make some money through powerful merchandising and simple sales techniques, taught to our front line staff and supported by statistical evidence from management.
Allow me to illustrate.
I drink gin. Mothers ruin and all that I know, but this is my tipple and I'm not shy to say, I'm somewhat of a taste expert too. I am fully aware of the wholesale cost of many of the leading gin products and certainly most of the ones your average bar might offer, which makes me also aware, of which of these on offer provide you with the greatest cash margin.
Armed with information, it's easy to test both the sales ability and business acumen of the bar staff by conducting the following experiment. This is how the conversation goes:
Me – “Can I have a Gin and tonic please?”
Staff – “Sure” (Or if you are lucky) "Which one would you like?"
Me – “I don’t mind.”
Now, so far so, well reasonable! If the bar member just serves me then I have my gin and tonic, hopefully it's been served how I like it and the bar has some cash. If the staff member has engaged me in conversation by trying to ascertain which particular brand I prefer, there is chance. However, from here on in is where it all goes pear shaped.
What happens next is fairly typical. The staff member will now do one of the following things:
1. They will offer me the most expensive product (if by some miracle they know what that is) in the belief that that is what management would want them to do that.
2. They will offer me the cheapest in the belief that that is what I would want them to do.
3. They will offer me the product that they personally like because recommendation is a powerful sales tool.
4. They will offer me the product that everyone else in the club drinks because they can’t all be wrong.
or
5. They will offer me the nearest one because they are just plain lazy!
In reality they should have done what?
I believe they should have taken charge of the sale by recommending to me the product that provides the greatest cash margin to the bar. Then looked me in the eye, smiled and asked if that was a large one that I wanted.
Now, in the staff’s defence, I don’t blame them. How are they supposed to know which product this is, when those responsible for generating profit through promoting the most profitable products don’t share this information with them, assuming that they even know themselves!
By itself this example may seem insignificant but if you apply this same line of thought across your entire product range you can increase your profitability with little additional effort.
Also, many Bar staff are part time, merely passing through jobs so not only are they difficult to train but aren't really that motivated to asked for a bigger sale.
It's fair to assume that many gin drinkers do not specify a brand preference when ordering. This gives the bar staff an excellent opportunity to take charge of the sale and recommend the brand you want to sell!
In most outlets Gordon's and Beefeater are likely to be the house pouring brand and are sold at similar or the same retail price – but they don’t cost the same when you buy them! One is therefore more profitable to sell than the other and when the customer has revealed no preference you should recommend your choice – to make greater cash contribution. The same applies to wines, lagers, bitters and every other product on the bar.
So hands up those of you that share the cash margin knowledge with your staff, and then further improved your chances by incentivising them to sell you the most profitable products.
I wager not many hands are in the air and those that are......Are you sure!
I have put together an uplifting and fun seminar entitled "Empowering your staff to sell not serve" which is my personal system of selling designed to communicate the profitability of products to staff at a glance and significantly raise bottom line profit from current customers, raise the level of service and put more cash into your bar staffs pockets without costing you any more.
Critical questions to ask in your search for improved performance:
1. When interviewing new staff do you investigate or test their sales ability?
2. Do you conduct training sessions with staff on the four simple sales techniques?
3. Do you set simple sales targets for staff?
4. Do you pay sales commissions for up and or cross selling
5. Do you make a more profitable sale every time or just a sale?
Let me share the biggest mistakes that I believe employers make with bar staff:
1. They employ the cheapest pair of hands possible!
2. They employ them from the neck down!
3. They do not invest a penny in empowering them!
If this applys to you and by the way, here in the UK it's the norm. then contact me. I am fully aware of wage costs as an issue in the generation of bottom line profits, but surely this merely strengthens the argument that if you need a pair of hands to service the customers needs, then get the best and most proactive pair of hands you can get. If you must pay the minimum wage so be it, but always, always, always set incentives for staff to maximise your profitability and your investment in them.
Remember this: if you always do what you always did, you will always get what you always got.
Our industry needs a new and fresh approach to selling and to making a profit. (If profit is too strong a word then at least a ‘contribution’ to the bottom line).
So how can you empower your staff to help with that contribution? Here are some thoughts:
1. Employ sales people.
2. Train them in the four simple selling skills (for example alternative selling, recommended selling, up selling and added value selling).
3. Provide them with the information tools they need.
4. Re-merchandise your display areas to give greater impact to profitable products.
5. Consider sales incentives (for example, a commission from the extra shot when a customer doubles up).
6. Encourage staff to generate new and innovative ways of sales promotions.
7. Change existing staff members’ methods of working and attitudes to the subject of selling. You can assist your bar staff’s sales activity by a proactive, vibrant and carefully pre-planned programmed approach to product display.
Here are a few tips:
1. Remove the crap from the back of the bar.
2. Replace it with
a) Profitable products that have a sustainable life span
b) New, profitable products you wish to promote, and
c) Old products you want to sell to de-list.
3. Make your displays reflect your sales mix and demographic
Selling or serving – the choice is yours.
Contact me directly for a sales training day at your venue 02035442211.
It may well be the most profitable call you make this year!
