Giving a warm welcome

The following article is brought to you by Coors Brewers.

Improving your employees' skills is one of the most effective ways to stay competitive​

Service excellence is increasingly the most important way of creating a real difference between you and your competitors. In these days of declining consumption the conduct, attitude and performance of your staff is your biggest opportunity to create and sustain this difference.

Take Basil Fawlty as an example of the impact of bad service. How many of his customers extended their stay or returned after their first booking?

Getting the basics right​

• Product knowledge (the ability to "pour the perfect pint". If this is lacking then help could be sourced from your suppliers)

Legislation knowledge (licensing hours, drinking age, etc)
Outlet knowledge (the brands available, prices, location of the toilets, smoking policy, etc). Can they correctly use the till, deal with credit cards and correct an inputting error?

Cellar knowledge (can they change a keg or gas?)
While all of the above is crucial to a good employee, it is wasted if they do not interact well with your customers. Above all else, your staff need to be friendly and courteous. Most customers will forgive small mistakes so long as they are dealt with in a friendly manner.

Most of this is common sense and probably forms the basis of their first few shifts, however, if help is needed with this a good start point is the British Institute of Innkeeping. It offers a range of qualifications for barstaff and licensees. For more information call 01276 684449 or email qualifications@bii.org.

Knowledgeable barstaff​

Once your staff have a sound grasp of these skills you can look to make them more productive to your business by training them to really add value.

Did you know that 61 per cent of consumers have not settled on their choice of drink when they enter your pub (IUK Research)? This offers you an enormous opportunity to influence them in a way that gives you more profit and your customers a great experience. Your staff need to know which are the brands to steer consumers towards (the brands make you the most profit). They need the skills to be able to communicate this in a way that sounds natural and not out of the "would you like fries with that" corporate manual.

When deciding upon a drink many people appreciate recommendations from a knowledgeable expert (18 per cent want staff advice and 51 per cent of consumers will consider staff recommendations (IUK Research). Therefore, it is important that your staff should have some brand knowledge, for instance, what does it taste like and does it compliment certain foods? This does not mean they to have to spend hours researching your product range, trawling the internet for flowery language or attending lots of evening classes.

A simpler way of achieving this would be to allow your workforce to sample some of the products on offer and give them the benefit of your knowledge of the background of the products (one tip is to recommend a brand that they like personally). It may be worth contacting your suppliers to see if they could help you with this. They should be able to provide you with some information on the product's background and they may even run in-house training.Making your staff more knowledgeable and recruiting people with the right skills should give you the opportunity to grow your business by getting them to:

• Up-sell - suggesting a mixer when someone orders a spirit or snacks at the end of a drinks order.
• Increasing awareness of your events - "why not come back on Thursday for the quiz?"

Recruitment is the key​

Getting the right staff in the first place can be crucial. At interview stage some things to look for are:

• An out-going personality - they have to be able to ask people what they want to drink, not just wait to be asked.
• Good with people - will they be patient and courteous with a customer who may have a complaint?
• Personal presentation - are they smart? Remember, they are representing your business and they are likely to be the first impression a number customer has of your business
• Team attitude - would they be willing to help train future new starters?

By implementing the above you have the opportunity of increasing profitability though upsizing and increasing customer visits. Finally, good trustworthy staff allow more freedom for the bar manager or licensee.

Essential knowledge​

All barstaff should have:

• Product knowledge​ - The ability to 'pour the perfect pint'. If this is lacking then help could be sourced from suppliers

Legislation knowledge​ - Licensing hours, drinking age, etc

Outlet knowledge​ - The brands available, prices, location of the toilets, smoking policy, etc. Can they correctly use the till, deal with credit cards and correct an inputting error?

Cellar knowledge​ - Can they change a keg or gas?