As a former food service employee I thought that “non-sales selling” couldn’t apply to me. There was no way when I was in the back of the house prepping sauces and cutting produce that I was doing some type of selling. I wasn’t trying to get people to part with their resources. I was just getting food ready for the line. After doing some thinking I realized I was wrong. I realized that while I wasn’t doing face-to-face selling with anyone or being a sleazy food sales worker, my effort was going towards selling. Doing a good job prepping foods makes line chefs’ jobs that much better by having better-prepared dishes with better ingredients. Having better-prepared dishes doesn’t directly encourage customers to part with their resources, but it can encourage it in the future by leaving them with a good impression of the dish. A well-prepared dish with well-prepared ingredients that a customer enjoys will be memorable, and more likely to come back and buy from us again. Even though I wasn’t in the front of the house offering our specials and best dishes, I was apart of the sales process from the bottom up, which at its finest be seen as “non-sales selling” Good sales don’t have to be face to face. Sometimes good sales can be producing a good product that a customer will be more inclined to buy at the end of the transaction.
BoweryJE22
I like the perspective that you created with this. I would have also never thought that someone cutting produce was selling something. But when you look at it from a broader point of view, your job is crucial to the way the restaurant presents itself and gains customers trust.
even through actions that have no correlation to selling or have anything to do with speaking can be a form of selling. I think it’s important that every action we take can be inferred as a selling point or a red flag for any customer you serve, whatever it may be.
It is cool how everyone is in sales. You looking back on your experience in the food service industry and realizing how you impacted sales without even knowing at first is cool. It is important for businesses to communicate that fact with the entirety of its staff in order to ensure the most effective and productive sales experience for their customers.