Order takers vs. server-sellers
By Jeff Hookham

As a business that works directly with restaurants, I have the opportunity to talk with owners and operators from all over North America. They call us for a variety of different reasons. Some want to talk about the details of a new training program.

Some want to learn more about how e-mail marketing can help their establishment. But most call to see if we can help them with their service training needs.

All of these “service issues” fall into one of three categories:

1. The service team is full of order-takers.

2. Their service team is less then remarkable.

3. A new restaurant looking for staff training resources.

Does your establishment fall into any of these categories? For this article let’s talk about service issue No. 1, order-takers.

I was talking on the telephone recently with an owner who was complaining to me about his staff, and I quote, “I have a bunch of vending machines with legs walking around here.” Now that’s a great visual!

Unfortunately, this is a very common problem that we see and hear about. But here is the good news: It’s easy to fix because your team wants to fix it.

That’s right. You have a problem that your staff wants to help you fix. Before you call me crazy let me explain.

Restaurants and their service staff share the same goal—both want to make as much money as possible.

Both sides know the best way to do this is to build customer loyalty. And you build that loyalty by providing guests with the best possible experience. In order to provide that experience, your team has to drop the order-taker attitude and become server-sellers.

Being a successful server-seller is not a skill that one is born with. It’s not something you wake up one day and decide to be or do. No, the only way to get your staff to the promise land is through education and training.

Any service training you provide your staff should include a section on becoming a server-seller.

A Server-Seller:

1. Knows that selling is a part of providing remarkable service.

2. Selling doesn’t have to refer to the kind of hard sales pitch you might hear at a used car lot. Selling, in this context, can be a matter of making the right suggestion at the right time. It can be recognizing that your guest has a need and coming up with the best way to satisfy that need.

This isn’t pushing something unwanted on your guest, it is understanding exactly what he or she wants and guiding them to it.

3. Knows that selling is a triple win. The guest is happy because they had a wonderful experience. The restaurant is successful because the guest will become a regular. When your restaurant is successful, the wait staff has an opportunity to serve more people and thus make more money. And with an increased check average they make more in tips. That’s a triple win.

As a final benefit, when the restaurant is successful, working there is more enjoyable for team members, which cuts down on turnover, which saves money.

4. Makes the guest feel pampered. There’s a difference between someone who merely takes orders and someone who is successful at serving guests. The person who merely takes orders is missing the opportunity to make the guest feel cared for and pampered.

A good server-seller helps your guests to make decisions that will increase his or her satisfaction. Bottom line: The guest leaves happy with the experience they had at your establishment.

And make no mistake; your guests are looking for an experience. Food they can buy at the grocery store for far less money. What they get from you is an experience that the server-seller provides.