Waitressing - The Best Real-Life Marketing School
Last month, when I was at Gary Halbert’s Fusion Seminar, Mark Joyner asked who had ever been a waiter or waitress. A number of hands went up, including mine. Then he asked, “Who thinks it was the worst job ever?”
My hand didn’t go up because waitressing was the best job I ever had outside of being an entrepreneur.
It was only job I had where I had a lot of control out of how much money I would actually make in a day….and where I learned some of the most valuable marketing lessons.
Some of the marketing skills I learned were:
· Networking and interacting with people. Grumpy people don't get far in this business.
· Story-telling (an online marketer’s best friend!). You gotta chat it up for extra tips.
· Listening and understanding my market’s needs. The three young guys who came in for beers every Friday evening needed different attention than Mr. X and Mrs. Y who were having a secret affair and used our cocktail lounge as their meeting place (Yes, I know – it’s shocking!).
· Upsells and backend sales galore….for more tips! Bigger drinks, more toppings…more drinks. You know.
· Time management & organization. Yowsers! How I managed all those people and all those orders at the same time, I have no idea.
· Outsourcing. Be real nice to your bussers and cooks and they’ll work hard for you.
· Joint Ventures with other waiters and waitresses. The real secret to working well as a server is to work as a team with your fellow servers. Bring drinks and food out for your team mates and it all comes back to you…and makes everything fun more efficiently. And oh yeah…you end up making more tips!
Although, I loved my waitressing job, I would NEVER go back. I like sore computer butt way better than throbbing feet. Besides I like making more money at home. ;-) Even if you had a crappy serving job…the marketing lessons were still there, even if the rewards weren’t so great.
And if you’re in a crappy job now – how can you turn this into a marketing opportunity and challenge yourself and your skills? Turn the negative (having a J-O-B) into a positive. Then apply what you learn in your day job to your biz when you’re off work.
My hand didn’t go up because waitressing was the best job I ever had outside of being an entrepreneur.
It was only job I had where I had a lot of control out of how much money I would actually make in a day….and where I learned some of the most valuable marketing lessons.
Some of the marketing skills I learned were:
· Networking and interacting with people. Grumpy people don't get far in this business.
· Story-telling (an online marketer’s best friend!). You gotta chat it up for extra tips.
· Listening and understanding my market’s needs. The three young guys who came in for beers every Friday evening needed different attention than Mr. X and Mrs. Y who were having a secret affair and used our cocktail lounge as their meeting place (Yes, I know – it’s shocking!).
· Upsells and backend sales galore….for more tips! Bigger drinks, more toppings…more drinks. You know.
· Time management & organization. Yowsers! How I managed all those people and all those orders at the same time, I have no idea.
· Outsourcing. Be real nice to your bussers and cooks and they’ll work hard for you.
· Joint Ventures with other waiters and waitresses. The real secret to working well as a server is to work as a team with your fellow servers. Bring drinks and food out for your team mates and it all comes back to you…and makes everything fun more efficiently. And oh yeah…you end up making more tips!
Although, I loved my waitressing job, I would NEVER go back. I like sore computer butt way better than throbbing feet. Besides I like making more money at home. ;-) Even if you had a crappy serving job…the marketing lessons were still there, even if the rewards weren’t so great.
And if you’re in a crappy job now – how can you turn this into a marketing opportunity and challenge yourself and your skills? Turn the negative (having a J-O-B) into a positive. Then apply what you learn in your day job to your biz when you’re off work.
14 Comments:
My job totally sucks, but I'll try to find marketing lessons if you say I should, Alice.
Great point Alice! For the most part I really enjoyed my job as a server as well. It was a great group of people I worked with and many of the customers were really fun people. And let me tell you I was in much better shape when I was a server! LOL
Alice, this is a great comparison! I too was a server and can totally relate to this. I did find the money to be good, but do not want to go back....ever! LOL :)
I've often thought that everyone should wait tables at least once in their life, if only to learn whta a hard job it is and to be nice to servers :)
I tried it once but was not good at it at all. I think I'm too shy...that's why e-biz is perfect for me!
Same thing here Carrie, I'm much better at communicating and networking online than in person as a waitress. I didn't last very long either.
I'm not shy...but I'm definitely not an in-person sales person. Waitressing made the selling easy. People were hungry and thirsty when they arrived. ;-)
I was very good at it, but it was just a fun fun place to work too. I was in my teens and everyone was around my age (and early twenties).
It was hard work, but afterwards there was always a party with all my co-workers. LOL.
It really was a great time for me, but my personality has changed so much since then and I don’t want to party so I'm sure I wouldn’t enjoy it as much ;)
Plus you can’t beat only working a few hours a day in your jammies and making more then you would standing on your feet all night long!
Hey Alice, great post.
I just want to add that the reason I said that was not to draw attention to how bad a job it is, but to inspire people to common courtesy to those working in the service industry.
Often I see people treating waiters, parking lot attendants, and other "servers" with mild (and sometimes not so mild) contempt.
If people recognize how difficult those jobs are, then perhaps they will treat them with more respect.
Then again, maybe we shouldn't really need such reminders ... A human is a human.
....
With that said, your insights are right on. I love metaphorical teaching. Maybe you should write a book about "serving your way to dollars." I'll buy your first copy.
MJ
Hi Mark...thanks for your comments. Yeah sorry, I did take your comments out of context. Thanks for clarifying.
I know you like metaphorical teaching and I just finished reading your "Mind Control Marketing" and it was great. I am going to recommend it to my members. It really covers some important core concepts of marketing - but in a way that is super easy to understand.
Thanks for that, Alice. If you like, I'd be happy any time to do a free tele-class for your subscribers about the MCM concepts.
Contact my P.A. (anna@markjoyner.name), give her your postal addie and I'll send you a free "galley" copy of my upcoming book "The Irresistible Offer: How to Sell Your Product or Service in Three Seconds or Less."
Looking foward to meeting you again :-)
MJ
couldn't agree more... I hated everything about waitressing but it forced me to interact with people and I know it helped me to get out of my shell and "be" a people person. Great comments!
Dear Alice,
I need your help, or advise if you have the time. I am a waitress and a college student. I need recommendations of any sort right now. I try so hard all night to sell a specific item and I end up selling only two of it. This other girl sells 10 on demand. She also happens to want to be a marketing major. She runs more food than anyone, sells more than anyone, and therefore gets the best shifts. Is there a book you can recommend?
Hey Nicole...I'm sorry, but I wouldn't consider myself a waitressing expert but what are you trying to sell? Give me a few more details and maybe I'll have ideas.
As far as books go, Amazon sells quite a few about waitressing and making more money. I haven't read them, but you might check them out:
-> The Waiter and Waitress's Guide to a Bigger Income
-> How's Everything? The Ultimate Guide for all Waiters and Waitresses Who Want to Dramatically Increase their Tips
-> Tips, the Server's Guide to Bringing Home the Bacon - The Customer Speaks To Every Waiter, Waitress, and Restaurant Manager In America -- Make More Money!
If you search on Amazon.com, you'll find those titles.
Alice,
Great Post. I am convinced that the new way to make money online is going to be offline. I've started a real life Internet Marketer's Networking Group and website to give others a chance to start groups too. Being part of the team... Together Everyone Achieves More.
I was working with a client who I was going to do some PLR stuff for, we were searching for a topic. I mentioned the real life meetings, and she told me that she would be really interested in that because she's the type of person that needs to be part of team to kick her into gear.
Social interaction can teach many things, including market research.
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