Using Positive Selling Skills in Food Service

Overview

Most times, the customer experience can be enhanced if team members recommend dishes and drinks. Carried out badly, selling has quite the opposite effect on the customer experience and the reputation of the business. Businesses, luxury or more informal styles, are keen for their team members to ‘sell’ in order to increase revenues. Therefore, selling is an inherent part of any front of house role.

However, selling skills don’t come naturally to everyone. Just being told to ‘push a particular dish’ doesn’t give everyone the confidence to do so and team members may avoid trying. We aim to make selling easier and effective.

Starting with an understanding of the impact on business revenues if selling is carried out the module moves to defining the difference between ‘pushy’ and ‘soft’ selling with the message that soft selling skills are usually more effective in hospitality.  We look at selling opportunities during the customer experience in a restaurant and what knowledge is needed to sell; menu knowledge, an understanding of different types of and their needs and the weather! The use of the ‘soft’ selling skills 3 key steps are explored which are easy for any team member to remember and use.

This module is fully interactive using questions and activities designed to develop knowledge and understanding. Full colour images illustrate examples and key points.

Objectives

• Identify the 3 steps to positive selling and how to use them

Target Audience

This module is designed for operational team members and Supervisors working in any style of restaurant or food service business.

This module is designed for operational team members working in food service mainly in hotels and restaurants. The module could be used to initially train someone in soft selling techniques or as development training for team members to meet a specific need.

Using Positive Selling Skills in Food Service will contribute to the off job training hours for team members undertaking a Level 2 Hospitality Team member apprenticeship and may contribute towards a Level 3 apprenticeship.