Strawberry sweet success

There were eight waiters standing by the service station looking spunk and gallant in their starched uniform. They were busy comparing notes because when I raised my hand, no one saw it.  I snapped my fingers; no one heard it. I hollered, “waiter!” — no response either.  Finally, I stood up and walked towards the station. One waiter looked up and ran to meet me halfway across the dining room. Too late, a dark cloud was already hovering over my head. Dining was supposed to be a pleasant experience but not this time in this five-star hotel.

This aggravation could happen in any hotel, restaurant, retail store or establishment where service is considered a mark of excellence.  

I thought of my first job in an international chain hotel. People involved in the hospitality industry had a way of finding out what the competitor was up to.  It spiced things up and, admittedly, there were lessons and techniques that we could pick up from one another.  We would “cross the street” and check into the rival hotel, incognito, thus the term “mystery shopper.”  We believed that even if we represented the best of what was on the other side of the fence, it was always good to be aware of what the others were up to so that we could constantly improve our service. We did not also forget that there was a common desire that bound us all:  to give excellent service to our guests and clients.

As a mystery shopper, I found out that no matter how lavish, glitzy or high-tech the building was, everything amounts to zero without impeccable service. Do not assume either that all service staff joins the hospitality industry equipped with the right attitude.  My latest experience confirmed this.  It has become rare nowadays to find employees burning with enthusiasm in their jobs, lit by a fire in their bellies, so to speak.

The present crop of service staff in this supposedly five-star hotel has never heard of “Think Strawberries,” a sales program conceived in 1973 by James Levenson, president of the famous Plaza Hotel in New York.  What he said became the benchmark of true salesmanship and, if I may add, true service.  

Levenson worked from the assumption that every employee, no matter what his position, must be active in sales, too.  Even if he was hired solely to clean rooms or other specifically assigned task, each can be tapped to be a walking, talking salesman and ambassador of the hotel.    

His method was simple: Each employee went through a week of orientation including spending a night at the Plaza (with wife in tow) as a typical guest. They dined in the restaurants, slept in the luxurious suites, tried all the amenities in the bathroom, and even looked out from the window of the suites to see and feel the difference between an $85 suite and a $1,000 per night suite.  This allowed the employee to acquire a firsthand experience in the hotel and a clear understanding of the product he was selling.  He could now truthfully say, “Trust me. You’re in for something fabulous.”  

It didn’t stop there.   Levenson discovered that desserts were selling poorly in their restaurants.  “‘Nobody eats dessert any more,” the waiters argued.  “Everybody is on a diet. If we served the famous Plaza chocolate cheesecake to our clients, we’d be out of business because they’d all be dead in a week.”

Levenson retorted, “So sell them strawberries.”  To do this, physical changes had to be done in all the restaurants; the aisles between the tables were widened so that waiters could wheel the dessert cart right up to each table at dessert time. What happened next was described by Levenson: “The waiter went into raptures about the bowl of fresh strawberries on the top of the cart. There was even a bowl of whipped cream for the slightly wicked. By the time the waiter finishes extolling the virtues of luscious strawberries, flown in that morning from California — or wherever he thinks strawberries come from — the guest not only has had an abdominal orgasm, but one out of two orders them.”

Strawberry sales doubled during the first month of this blitz, the same with martinis after the waiters were trained to push for the second martinis.  “Believe me, when you have a customer for a second martini, you have a sitting duck for a strawberry sale with whipped cream,” quipped Levenson.

The “Think Strawberries” program was such a big hit, unparalleled, in fact, that it was adapted throughout the hospitality and service industry.  Just think, a New York bellman can earn as much as $60,000 in tips alone because he did more than just carry the baggage up to the room; he became the first point of sale and consequently, the face of service of the hotel.  This slogan gave rise to a rah-rah spirit that increased sales emphasizing the need to treat customers better.     

Simply put, when a desk clerk “thinks strawberries,” he goes several steps ahead.  He’d suggest a suite overlooking the lake rather than the drab alley (he maintains a spirit of enthusiasm without being intrusive).  The room attendant “thinks strawberries” when she not only turns down the bed, she also tells the guest of weekend discount packages at the hotel. The telephone operator “thinks strawberries” when you leave a wakeup call and she suggests an “early bird breakfast” sent up to your room with the morning paper.  Employees put on their sales hat, automatically improving the treatment of and their behavior towards clients and guests.  

The result? They give the valued guests and clients a “lifetime of perfect moments.”

Thirty-seven years hence, little has changed.  “If you want employees who’d be passionate about their job, train them to do so not only by teaching them the message, but also by making sure they know and believe — from their own experience — what the difference is.”

A classic example comes to mind.  The room clerk was busy inputting data in the computer when a client approached the front desk.  “Sorry to bother you,” said the client. The desk clerk smiled, “Oh no, it’s never a bother, sir. It’s because of you that I am here.”  

 “Think Strawberries” has stamped a smile where it mattered:  On the client’s face, in the pockets of employees and on the upward climb of the sales chart and the company’s financial report.

This is success... as sweet indeed as strawberries. Now, why couldn’t those waiters think strawberries?