Going out to eat on Valentine’s Day, for birthdays, and just out with family brings to mind someone spending a boat-load of cash on a food experience. Who sells that food experience? Waiters and waitresses sell food experiences through good customer service, and in a way make a sales commission off of it in form of tipping. But what methods do they use in order to get a positive tip? Waiters and waitresses use relational selling, the aspects of ambiverts, and the power of being helpful to be excellent salesmen in the restaurant workplace.
For relational selling, waiters and waitresses establish a talkative relationship with their tables, positively interacting with the customers. High tipped workers will talk to the people they are serving about their travels, their food choices, and anything that strikes up a happy conversation.
Ambiverts are described by Dan Pink in “To Sell is Human” as a mix of extravert and introvert that happen to be the best salespeople. Ambiverts tend to have the advantages of good listening like introverts, while also being extroverted enough to lead a conversation. Servers focus primarily on selling through gentle persuasion and being attentive to customer needs. Sales are not only found in the price of food, but sales can also accumulate through buying multiple drinks, whether alcoholic or non-alcoholic. Professional servers will always know when a drink is close to needing a refill, thus never missing an opportunity to increase the sale.
Good servers are able to handle unhappy customers through grace and building trust with the customer. By apologizing for a wait or inadequate food, servers can offer compensation, thus decreasing the ultimate sale, but increase their chance for a sufficient tip. Serving requires reading customer emotions, staying alert on table needs, and increasing the chance to maintain a high sale with a high tip. Each customer requires something different and customer service is always center when it comes to serving.
trischlerba23 
Jonnojr
yes i do agree with your statements, waiters do tend to have better outcomes with there customers when they have a more friendly approach. Even when they make certain recommendations food wise they come off as more helpful and it makes them more appreciable.
Hi Ben, this is a great blog and a very intuitive take on ambiverts as servers. Balancing being attentive and engaging without overstepping is key to creating a positive experience for the customer while also doing your job well. I like how we have been talking about ambiverts because I feel as if that if typically, where most people are between extrovert and introvert, it is rarer to get those extremes.
As a former waiter myself, I can completely relate to do this because I would do the same thing, because at the end of the day the only thing I get out of that relationship is a tip!
This is great Ben, very relatable as waiting tables is a very common job. I like how you talked about Ambiverts which relates very well to our class discussions.