Let's look at an easy way to keep the mood around your bar positive while remaining confident and in a position of power. The first thing to do is smile most of or all of the time.
If you look genuinely happy it will be contagious and create a positive mood in your bar. Whatever you do, do not be a "fake" happy. It has to be real, otherwise people see right through your generic smile.
You can also create a positive mood to settle impatient or restless customers by choosing your words carefully when speaking to them. Let's say you've kept a customer waiting longer than necessary for a drink.
What most aware/polite bartenders would say when approaching that customer to take their order is.... "Sorry to keep you waiting..." While that is definitely better than not acknowledging their wait time at all, there's still a much better way to go about this.
"Sorry" comes from a place of weakness, thus, it can also further ignite an impatient customer's negative feelings (or rage) towards you. It also implies you are in the "wrong," but you've in fact done nothing wrong.
Mentioning the word "waiting" also focuses on the fact that the customer had to wait! The entire statement comes from a place of weakness and has a negative focus... so much for being polite.
The funny thing is... almost everyone out there says that sort of thing. While the intention of that statement is harmless... it has unfavorable effects subconsciously. Want proof? Say it to an impatient customer and watch their reaction.
Want to hear a much better way of saying that and get a much more positive response out of the customer? A much better statement, which comes from a place of strength, rather than weakness would be to say "Thank you for your patience."
This statement fully acknowledges the customer with a "Thank you" and the word "patience" is focusing on something positive... their patience! When you say this, the customer's subconscious says "I'm patient" and it will immediately ease their tension from being impatient.
Using these psychological tactics will work wonders with your customers, while also increasing your tips. It's minor details like this that make a good bartender great. These are the traits of a truly conscious bartender.
Try it your next shift and watch your tips explode because of the all-pervasive positive feelings around your bar.
The Things You Say
1. ?No speak-a da English?? ? A true classic is to either speak in extremely broken English with a thick accent, another language, or a made-up language. However, if you really want a good laugh and irritate a telemarketer, keep repeating ?No speak-a da English? over and over again.
2. ?Hello?? and silence ? Answer the phone with ?Hello? so that the telemarketer has heard you answer the phone, and then let the telemarketer talk but say nothing else until you become bored enough and hang up the phone, or wait until they hang up. This is the passive way to get the telemarketer off the phone and you don't have to get your blood pressure up doing it.
3. ?We can't come to the phone right now?? ? say ?Hello? and wait until the telemarketer returns your greeting and then cut them off before they start on their selling speech and in a robotic tone say, ?I'm sorry, we are currently unavailable to answer the phone, please leave a message and we'll get back to you as soon as we can. BEEEEEEP!? Then hang up the phone.
4.?Tell me more?? ? Instead of making it your goal to hang up on the telemarketer as quickly as possible, keep them talking for as long as you can by asking them to ?tell me more? about whatever product or service they are selling. Keep asking questions such as:
? ?What else will I receive??
? ?Do you recommend this product/service??
? ?Do you have this produce/service??
? ?Who will I be able to contact if there is a problem or I have questions??
? ?Yes but does it come in blue, I really like the color blue? but it's can't be slate blue or baby blue? it really has to be a bold blue.?
Just remember that the goal is to keep asking incessant questions without every agreeing to purchase whatever is being sold. If you run out of questions before the telemarketer hangs up, thank them for their time and end the call.
5. ?Who is this again?? - After the telemarketer greets you and begins their sales pitch, politely interrupt them and say, ?I'm sorry, you're going to have to be patient with me, I suffer from a short term memory loss problem, who am I speaking to again?? Do this every minute or so until the telemarketing agent becomes so annoyed, he/she hangs up.
The more you annoy a telemarketer, the less interested they will be in attempting to call you back. However, don't forget that you can always stop telemarketers by telling them to put you on their do-not-call-list.
Sometimes hanging up on a telemarketer isn't as annoying as staying on the line with them. If you don't have much to do that afternoon, you might as well just make a game out of it.
Both Jeremy Sherk & Gloria Moore are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Jeremy Sherk has sinced written about articles on various topics from Interview Questions, Promotional Advertising and Cover Letter. Jeremy Sherk, is an expert, world-class bartender, who has helped thousands of bartenders land their dream job, and explode their level of ca. Jeremy Sherk's top article generates over 60500 views. to your Favourites.