Professional Waiter Training Course
Selling and Upselling as Waiters
“Feelings cause 95% of the actions we take. We don’t act on goals, plans, or motivations! We act on emotions.”
Introduction
Watch the lessons
How selling works
Selling Aperitifs
Selling Chef’s Special
Selling Appetizers
Selling Wine
Selling Dessert and coffee
Selling Digestives
Watch the Role-Play
Read the lesson (PDF):
Download the PDF file
Learn all the details:
Will you agree with me that the waiters are the face of the establishment and the only people with direct contact with the guests who can influence their decision-making and choice?
Here is a brief account of how important it is for waiters to be top sellers:
If one waiter sells today to 10 tables 20 dollars more worth of food or drinks, he will increase the revenue by 200 dollars. This is an extra 6000 dollars for the month if the restaurant works seven days a week and 72,000 dollars for the year! Assuming we have five waiters in an average-sized restaurant, this is 360,000 dollars in extra revenue from the ability of the waiters to sell!
Remember, selling and upselling are good for us only if it brings value to our guests – it could be a delicious taste, a great new experience, etc. But, on the other hand, selling for profit will push our guests away, and finding a new guest cost five times more than retaining an existing guest. So, trying to sell too hard will eventually turn into a loss.
What should the waiters try to sell and how:
- The Daily (Chef’s) specials:
- Knowledge – learn everything about the specials of the day in detail. If the guest senses that we don’t know what we are selling, we will lose their trust.
- Talk with confidence – it is better to organize food tasting before the shift, so we sell the chef’s special with confidence, but this is rare. So think like that: you know your chef, and if you have faith in him, sell his special with the same confidence to your guests. “I will just tell you that our pizza Chef is called Gerardo Pizzi, and he is a fifth-generation pizzaiolo from Napoli. Everything this guy is doing comes from the heart!” As you see, I didn’t even mention the special of the day; I told the guests what a great person the chef who prepares their food is. People act on emotions, and if we create a positive emotion in them, we will be able to sell almost anything.
- Bring sparkles to your eyes, be passionate about the specials, and describe them in a personal way. For example: “Oh, it’s totally amazing. We all had a chance to taste it earlier today. Our chef is from Perugia, and he prides himself on doing everything authentic Italian! ”
- Make sure that you can answer any question the guests ask about the food or the preparation!
- Aperitifs
- The easiest way here is to have a cocktail of the day that we can suggest and sell. If not, we should ask the guests if they want a cocktail or a drink using specific cocktail names or the best aperitifs we serve in the restaurant: “Would you like to start your evening with a glass of champagne? We have Moet Chandon, or maybe a nice Bellini or a Martini Cocktail. We have a world-class bartender in the restaurant.”
- The LQA standard requires the waiter to mention at least five aperitifs by name and suggest water. We do so because many guests don’t know what they want to drink until they hear it from us. In an Italian restaurant, a glass of prosecco is the most ordered drink once you say the name!
- Don’t feel bad about selling drinks! The people go out to eat, drink, and have fun! We try to enhance their experience by giving them ideas and options they might not think about at the moment!
Appetizers, salads, or soups
- Here is where we have to be careful not to come as pushy! Not everyone can eat a three-course meal! The best approach is to ask! If the guest orders the main course directly, we ask: “Would you like to share a salad or an appetizer while we prepare your main course? We have excellent spring rolls, light and fresh” – just to ensure we have not missed something. Then when everyone has ordered the food, and only one or two people from the party have ordered appetizers, I apply a simple but effective trick. I tell the guests what is going to happen next!
(Ladies and gentlemen, I will bring the appetizer for the gentleman here first, and then we will serve the main course for all of you together! Is that fine with you?)
50% of the time, a guest will order an appetizer because they just realized they have to wait while someone else is eating, and they don’t want to!
- Only once (in my entire career) the person with the appetizer has given up on it, so the others don’t wait!
Wine is the most important thing we sell as waiters.
- A nice bottle of wine increases your check average and enhances your guests’ experience like nothing else!
- To be able to sell wine, you need knowledge! Learn the wine list in the restaurant very well!
- Bring the wine list to the table but don’t suggest you help the guests choose! Some guests have better knowledge than us; some get offended that we think they cannot select their wine! Here is what I exactly say: (Here is the wine list, sir. We have some excellent local wines in there and, of course, some hidden Italian gems!) This tells the guests that you know the wine list well and are ready to help them. Believe me; they want to find those excellent local wines or those Italian gems for their dinner!
- When the guests ask for your suggestion, you can start with some of the best bottles you have on the list without really suggesting them; then move to lesser, more affordable wines:
(Guest: What would you suggest for us tonight?
Waiter: Well, I would love to suggest the Sassicaia 2006, which is one of the best wines ever made, and we just happen to have a bottle of it here, but if you are not looking for something so special, I would suggest you try some of the local wines. What type of wine would you prefer to drink tonight?) Always inquire about the guests’ preferences before you offer a wine! Maybe they want to drink only white wine, or only red. Perhaps they prefer full-bodied, aged red wine or just a fresh, light, easy-drinking wine.
Once you suggest a bottle of wine to your guests, be prepared to answer any questions they might have:
-What is so special about that wine
–Variety of grapes, body, alcohol, year, region, etc.
-Price – don’t suggest a wine without knowing the price or at least the approximate price.
- Suggest a bottle of wine to two guests who have ordered two glasses of the same wine: “If you are drinking the same wine, maybe it’s better to order a bottle instead of two glasses. It will cost an extra 10 dollars, but you will be able to enjoy your dinner a lot better. We can keep the bottle for tomorrow if you don’t finish it.”
- Suggest a small bottle of wine to a single guest who orders a glass of wine: “If you would like to have a small bottle, I will be able to recommend a much better wine than our wine by the glass?”
Dessert and coffee.
Those are very profitable items, and the management loves to see us sell them to increase the profit! The best time to engage the guests is while you are removing their plates after they have finished their main course. Ask them if they are satisfied and let them know what an exceptional dessert is awaiting them next! Choose one dessert that you think is world-class in your restaurant and concentrate on it. Talk about it with passion and excitement:
-How is your experience so far? Did you enjoy the food? Is everybody happy and satisfied?
-Oh yes! It was wonderful!
-Perfect, thank you. Now it will get even better once you try our excellent tiramisu! You have never eaten anything like that before. We have guests coming to this restaurant only to taste our tiramisu!”
No matter the guests’ decision, you suggest espresso or cappuccino and mention that they could end the dinner with a pleasant digestive. Name a few of them: Limoncello, Grappa, etc.
How do Selling and Up-selling work?
To be able to sell something to anyone, you need their trust! As waiters, we don’t have much time to earn the guest’s trust, so the first impression is crucial!
-Dress to impress – the guests judge by the look first
-Smile and greet the guests with a positive attitude – be confident and passionate when you talk about a product you want to sell
-Be creative in your choice of words and your approach – a station has at least four tables, and they are usually close to each other. If you go to each table and say the same thing over and over again, it will make a terrible impression on your guests, and you will lose them.
Here is what a study conducted in restaurants across the United States shows:
The most important factors in making a successful sale are:
Body language – 55%
The tone of voice – 38%
Content of speech – 7%
THE GUESTS BUY WITH THEIR EYES – OUR POSTURE, FACIAL EXPRESSION, AND GESTURES ARE OUR BEST-SELLING TOOLS!
Selling techniques:
- ask open questions: What, When, Who, Where
(What kind of wine do you prefer?)
- use the magic words: modern, excellent, popular, favorite
(The most popular dessert in this restaurant is our world-class tiramisu)
- sell the difference: tell the guests how much more they will pay for a better product, not the total cost
(This wine cost 25 dollars more, but it is three times better and will complement perfectly your meal)
- use the guest’s name: naming guests by their name increases sales five times
(Mr.Smith, I have an excellent daily special today that I know you will love) Warning: Do not mispronounce the guest’s name! Your chances of making a sale will go down to zero.
- praise the guests for their choice:
(Great choice, sir! This is one of the best wines you could order in this restaurant)
Five principles of selling:
1. Take pride in what you do! See yourself as a provider of joy – all we do is enhance our guests’ experience. We are not salesmen. We provide a great experience.
2. Be familiar with everything you offer – learn your menu, wine list, and the chef’s special in detail. Knowledge reduces stress and gives you confidence.
3. Be confident with what you offer – if you believe that your suggestion is worth buying and brings value to your guests, you will have the confidence to sell it.
4. Encourage your guests to buy – just being passionate and using the correct words is not enough to turn yourself into a best seller. Give the guest encouragement: This is the most popular dessert in our restaurant. You have to taste it, even if you split one portion between all of you. Try it, and you will love it.
5. Use words that sell – excellent, modern, popular, etc.
As the numbers show, the multiplying effect of the consistent effort of the staff to sell will have a significant impact on the restaurant’s bottom line! But also, all five waiters from the example above will increase their earnings by 12,000 dollars a year (in the USA). That’s a big motivator!
It is just a matter of effort!