There are 2 types of people in hotels: those who eat outside and those who eat inside. But how do you sell to those who are already dining in? They have opted to have lunch or dinner in your hotel, so how do you increase the sales off your menu?

The one thing Sales Ninja discourages strongly are the questions:

“Would you like some more?”

“Would you like some desserts?”

Although it is better than not asking at all, this DOES NOT have another appeal or benefit to the customer. So how do you increase your F&B sales within your establishment?

Observant and Adaptive

Customers who are dining tend to have very picky habits about what they eat, their sitting posture, ways of serving, what is preferred on their plate, etc. You need to observe carefully what the customers are doing and how they are doing it.

For some cases, the customer would bring with them physical accessories that indicate their preferred choices such as favorite color, beverage choices, an animal, or brands.

Personalized Service

When approaching people at the dinner table, you need to add a little spice to your service. Spice meaning that you can add additional dialog, offer a more personalized touch to your speech, or pay extra attention to their requests and comments so they would feel more comfortable in their space.

But don’t become too clingy or you would appear as intruding in their dining experience.

Recommend, Not Sell

Once the customer finished their meal, this is where you go in for additional recommendations. As above, “would you like some more” is a definite no-no. Approach with a statement such as:

“You seem to enjoy the cutlet tonight! Many of our customers follow up with a single glass of red wine. May I recommend you our branded wine as a finisher?”

Or for the non-alcoholic consumers:

“I hope you have enjoyed our weekly special. You know, almost all our customers would complete the course with our special dessert that is only available with this menu. I’m sure you would find it most delectable with your meal.”

Cross-sell Every Small Item

Every single item on your menu is sellable BUT ONLY in the right circumstances. In some cases, the customer would be full or not so hungry for a whole course meal, so you can still sell them bite-sized snacks.

If you have a buffet available, it’s easier for you to recommend beverages, desserts, etc.

Serve Like Family

Although you must always serve with professionalism, there are occasions where you can serve with a more friendly and familiar tone. Throwing in a joke or a funny statement can help lighten the mood of the customer which increases their own appetite. You can easily cross-sell and up-sell your menu when your customers are in a brighter mood.

Training To Increase F&B Sales

The issue and obstacles faced by many F&B sales forces aren’t properly handled and mastered to an extent. Why? Because they lack the proper training to do so. They are only trained to serve, take orders, clean up after the customer and keep a minimum interaction. THIS IS WRONG!

So long as you have customers and you have a product to sell, EVERYTHING can be up-sold and cross-sold to increase sales and revenue and this is what Sales Ninja specializes in!

Click HERE to reach out to us and our Senior Solutions Manager will get in touch with you with the speed of a ninja to customize a sales program for you to increase your F&B sales either via Customer Service, Cross-selling & Up-Selling!