Nebraska Tavern Owners Guide: Commissioned Bartenders
Dear Commissioned Bartenders:
It seems to get overlooked, yet it is crucial to your success as a bartender. You are working on commission. The key to your success is understanding what a commission is and learning how to take best advantage of this pay structure.
Sales commissions are paid to employees that sell merchandise or call on customers. The commission is meant to motivate sales persons to sell more. A commission may be paid in addition to a salary or instead of a salary.
A commission is generally a percentage of the sales price of an item. For example, if a salesperson receives a 10% commission on their sales and sells $1500 worth of merchandise, they would earn $150 in commissions.
Commission compensation is commonplace in corporate sales and many retail settings. For example, at Circuit City the sales representative receives a portion of the profit generated from each sell. If he or she sells you a new stereo system, that salesperson receives a portion as a commission.
Motivated sales representatives in many retail environments prefer the commissioned pay structure because it directly rewards the salesperson for making sales. In most cases a commissioned employee may earn several times more than those working at a fixed hourly rate. Alternatively, less motivated sales persons prefer a flat hourly rate since they know they will get paid even if they spend the afternoon napping in the copy machine room.
► Motivated people earn much more pay when working on commission!
If you think bartending is standing around waiting for people to wander in and order drinks from you, then you are not a good fit for this position. You have to be highly motivated and demonstrate that by bringing in customers, selling product, and promoting your place of work. Bring'em in, and take care them. This way you will develop a following and people will look forward to coming in just to have you bartend for them. You want people to ask for you by name!
► On a slow day spend time keep in contact with your regulars by calling them and asking them how they are doing.
Approaching customers and promoting sales is key to the commissioned employee. There are some fundamental techniques that can be used by the commissioned salesperson.
Selling and Dating are a lot alike, and similar rules apply. If you come off as over eager, customers will either be annoyed by your neediness or string you along and waste your time.
Try to mimic the customer's enthusiasm. If someone is just browsing with a low to moderate level of interest, don't scare them off with an over enthusiastic push to sell them something. Take time to get to know the customer and try to find a product (beverage) that best suits his or her personality.
A finished appearance is a reflection of your credibility in the eyes of the customer. Stay positive. Dress well and maintain person hygiene. You can do it!
► Be clean and dress nice. Caring about your appearance shows motivation and respect for your customers.
Do not alienate your customers by getting involved in their personal lives or participating in gossip. You never know who you might offend and what business you will drive away when you participate in gossip. Always be positive and make all your customers feel they can trust you and develop a friendly relationship with you.
► You don't want people to avoid the business on shifts you are working because they are upset with a comment you made about one of their friends.
You are always a spokesperson and representative of the business you work for. Take every opportunity in your daily life to make contact with people that could be possible customers. The more people you know the more customers you will attract. The more people that like you outside of work, the more likely they will become regular customers.
Make sure you take extra care of your good customers. Build a rapport with good customers and demonstrate you are willing to go the extra mile, and they will come back to you in the future. Also they will trust you, because they know you are going to give them the best deal. You want them to feel that you will take good care of them.
The opposite applies to those customers who are trying to take advantage of you, or the business. We all shop for the best deal possible, but some people aren't willing to pay what something is worth and they think that by haggling they can pressure you into giving them a discount. Don't reward their behavior with a discount, it will keep them coming back and expecting the same sort of treatment. They aren't the sort of customers you want as regulars, you've got to earn a living too.
► Give new customers extra attention so you can get to know the person. If that person feels at home then he or she will return. Don't ignore a new face so you can gab with a regular that is already committed to the business.
To be successful in sales you have to be perceptive in identifying the people you are dealing with. Customers will fall into one of the following basic categories. A few are (1) Pragmatic Spenders, or people who have high spending power, (2) Pragmatic Materialists, or people who are focused on value, and (3) Steadfast Frugalists, or people who look for bargains, and try not to spend money at all. You want to spend more time fostering a relationship someone that is type (1) and not so much time with type (3).
It is easy to get sucked into long conversations with customers that spend very little while ignoring a new potential customer that could spend a lot. You have to watch for new faces and be extremely friendly. Get to know them and identify what type of new customer you have. This way you can best focus your time on taking care of the customer that will earn you the most.
► Learn who is socially popular among your potential customer base. Win that person's heart and you have all of his or her friends too!
A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. If you have one customer that is spending very little but continues to say how he or she will bring friends in the future, you will want to focus more attention on the other customer that is actually spending money, even if that person is promising nothing.
If you build relationships with the right people, avoid getting involved in their personal lives so you do not have to take sides, and are constantly identifying business opportunities no matter where you are and what you are doing, you will be well on your way to maximizing your potential earnings.
