1. Develop a positive mental attitude. Not everyone will accept the suggestions, but all guests will appreciate the desire to serve and attend to their needs.
2. Do not try to manipulate the guest; simply make positive and upbeat suggestions.
3. Suggest favorite items or aspects of the product-service mix with which the employee is most familiar. This makes the suggestion more personal and sincere, increasing the chances of success.
4. Use props to support suggestive selling. For example, it is relatively easy to turn down an offer for dessert, but if a dessert tray is brought to the table and the server offers the right suggestion, sales of desserts will increase. Offering samples of wine will increase the sale of wine by the glass. Some restaurants offer "flights of wine" in which several small samples are provided at about the same cost as a glass of wine. Some guests will merely try the samples, but others will purchase additional wine after trying the samples.
5. Always make positive suggestions; always focus on the positive aspects of the product-service mix. If a guest makes a negative comment, acknowledge the comment, but try to turn the negative into a positive.
6. Always be attentive to guests' needs. Some will be very receptive to suggestive selling, but others will want speedy treatment with a minimum of extra conversation and suggestive selling. Do not use a "canned presentation" to suggestive-sell. Stay tuned to the guests' needs and vary the suggestive-selling presentations.
7. Never make excuses for why suggestive selling will not work or has not worked in the past.
instance, cruise lines could encourage passengers to book higher-priced cabins, purchase trip insurance, or buy excursion packages for ports of call. Similarly, car rental agencies could offer promotions that encourage customers to upgrade their vehicles, extend their rental periods, or purchase additional rental services such as GPS navigation systems.
Training Guest-Contact Personnel
Management has the responsibility to recruit, orient, train, supervise, coach, counsel, and motivate service personnel. This is no small task, and it does not happen by accident. When recruiting, it is imperative that management view potential guest-contact employees as the lifeblood of the organization, for they can make or break the hotel or restaurant. Managers should seek to hire indi¬viduals who "come alive in front of the guest." Recruiters and interviewers should look for enthusiasm, a high level of empathy, good organizational skills, obvious ambition, high persuasiveness, experience, verbal and commu¬nication skills, and a "can do and will do" attitude. An example of a hospi¬tality service firm that does an excellent job of recruiting frontline service staff is Southwest Airlines. In an industry plagued by blandness and sameness, Southwest Airlines has managed to create a unique product-service mix that has made it one of the most profitable airlines. This focus on customer ser¬vice stems from their mission statement: "The mission of Southwest Airlines is dedication to the highest quality of Customer Service delivered with a sense of warmth, friendliness, individual pride, and Company Spirit."2
A wide variety of training methods can be used with guest-contact and service personnel, but the overall focus should be on the following four basics: product-service knowledge (cognitive aspect), physical skills (psychomotor aspect), attitude (affective aspect), and reassurance (affective aspect). Each of these is discussed in the following paragraphs.
PRODUCT-SERVICE KNOWLEDGE (COGNITIVE ASPECT). This refers to learned or memorized job knowledge, such as how specific menu items are prepared or presented, specific attributes related to guest rooms, or other ingredients of the product-service mix.
PHYSICAL SKILLS (PSYCHOMOTOR ASPECT). These are learned physical skills, such as how to prepare a salad tableside or how to present, open, and pour a bottle of wine.
ATTITUDE (AFFECTIVE ASPECT). This is more difficult to teach because it is related to an individual's perceptions and beliefs, which are not easily changed. Attitudes affect the individual's behavior and motivation to provide service to the guest. Even if training in the first two areas results in exceptional employee per-formance, poor attitudes can and do result in unsatisfied guests. All employees must be trained, coached, counseled, and led by example in displaying the spirit of hospitality in serving guests. Bear in mind that in today's service economy, poor employee attitude is the number-one complaint of consumers. Consumers will tolerate minor problems, but they will not and should not be expected to deal with poor employee attitudes. The focus of training employees should be that the firm is able to tolerate any employee mistake except rudeness to a guest.
REASSURANCE (AFFECTIVE ASPECT). The service person should be trained in how to reassure guests. This can take many forms. For example, if a guest
in a dining room orders an item, the server might respond, "That's our most popular item, you'll enjoy it," or, "All of our desserts are freshly baked, but that one is my favorite." Service personnel also need to be trained in how to effectively handle guest complaints. Some guests will complain no matter what you do to please them, but this group represents a very small minority. The vast majority of guests who complain have good reason, and every effort should be made to correct the error and make sure they are satisfied. It is wise to think of a guest's complaint as the tip of the iceberg, because for every complaint you hear, there are likely to be others that you do not hear. It is imperative that employees receive specific training on how to handle guest complaints. Part of the training should also provide guidance on how an employee can get the manager involved in resolving the complaint so that the guest is satisfied.
Training service personnel is of critical importance if internal promotion is to be successful. An employee must be aided in developing product-service knowledge, physical skills, a positive attitude, and the ability to reassure and effectively handle all guest situations.
Entertainment
Entertainment can generate increased sales and more satisfied guests. Enter¬tainment in recent years has taken on new forms, including in-room movies and video games, large-screen television and multiscreen sports bars, various forms of disk jockey and music video entertainment, comedy clubs, Podcasts and Youtube. and other types of media entertainment. Many forms of enter¬tainment are suitable, but live entertainment has long been regarded as the most powerful form.
Live entertainment is not the right choice for all hospitality and tourism operations, but it can be considered for some, based on the following factors:
• What impact will the entertainment have on volume, both in sales and in the number of guests?
• Is the physical layout of the facility suitable for live entertainment?
• How will the costs associated with live entertainment, such as payment to performers and increased advertising, be covered?
First, the impact that entertainment will have on sales volume should be analyzed closely. The break-even point should be calculated. Different