Servers and delivery personnel find their ‘game face’
Paul Paz, Founder of Waiter’s World.
In a past article I wrote for Pizza Today, I referred to service as the “deal breaker” in today’s restaurant economy. It’s actually an observation I learned from my mentor in this business, Bob Farrell of Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlors. What that means is that if your service isn’t on par, customers will not want to frequent your pizzeria. It seems simple enough, yet so many get it wrong.
If your goal is to aid your staff members in achieving a more polished and professional level of service that wows your customers and creates a culture that encourages repeat visits, then this column is for you. Each month I’ll share insights and tips designed to help you help your servers when it comes to helping customers.
Servers and delivery personnel are the front lines of communication with customers. Their interaction with your guests wields great influence. It takes coaching to build a winning team. If you properly coach your staff on your service standards, they will respond. By employing soft skills and positive service-sales execution, you’ll get the results you want.
What does all this mean?
I’ll help you decipher it during the coming months in “At Your Service.” We’ll cover critical moments of service, server-guest interaction, professionalism, sales skills, on-the-job training, effective listening and much, much more.
For now I’ll leave you with one simple tip: show off your smile!
The smile is the international sign of friendliness. It is also an invitation to service. Studies have shown that the one facial expression that can be recognized at the farthest difference is the smile. This makes it exceptionally critical as a “soft skill.” Going further, engaged eye contact in conjunction with a smile sets the tone for a positive start in the business-customer transaction.
In other words, engaged eye contact and a smile comprise the ideal employee “game face.” So make sure you and your staff put your game faces on when it’s “game time!”
