Advantages and challenges of the profession

Learnings to take from the Profession

As Hostess our commercial responsibility is over the entire place where we work.  Being the ones who receive the clients, we are in charge of telling them how the place works, if we have an additional lounge, terrace, if we have any special event available or any atypical feature in our kitchen, in the way in which the dishes are served or even in the payment methods. Telling the integral proposal and what stands out to us, is our responsibility, as well as receiving our customers well. 

As sellers, we have to be aware of what is best for the location to offer. Sometimes it’s reception drinks, sometimes it’s the main dishes (which we can already subtly recommend), sometimes it’s our desserts. In some places, the convenient thing may even be to have a bar with a selection of cigars. If there was a special visit, such as that of a celebrity bartender or chef, or a special selection of cheeses and wines available or any event to highlight, the first reception is a good time to mention it. Not only do we place people at the tables or verify that they have made a reservation, but our role is also to be hosts and sellers of all the experience we offer. 

On the other hand, we can suggest and coordinate with the owners, ways to attract customers who are outside our premises.

We have to understand the area of influence of our workplace and the schedules in which people move through it. If we have large shops in the area, we can approach and propose that they refer us to customers with a special promotion.

Let’s look at four possible examples to keep in mind:

• Car dealerships in the vicinity, propose to receive the commercial advisor for lunch or dinner with toast, each time a sale is closed. The same could be suggested with related businesses such as a real estate company. This serves us and the other business.

• Clothing and retail stores can recommend us to their clients that lets us know that they are the ones who recommended those customers. If we offer a special voucher to these businesses, we can also identify them and financially recognize the suggestion. We can also bring your employees food or convenient dishes (sandwich shop, cakes or cafeteria) with special discounts, so they have a good snack on their working day.

• Corporate buildings, we can propose special menus for employees with a nutritious or healthy rotation and a special discount. We can even think of monthly subscriptions for these corporations and make a delivery to their offices at times when it is convenient for our kitchen, that is, schedules of little flow of customers such as breakfast or snack in the case of restaurants. In this way we will ensure a demand in spaces that we had given up for lost, and at the same time, it is a great opportunity for these new customers to take us into account during lunch and dinner and weekends.

• Residential areas, if there are residential buildings nearby, it is important to know their managers and administrators, so that they have access to the people who live there and the means to communicate special proposals, since they are our neighbors. 

• Own client portfolio (the true PR of the place). Many times, restaurants do not have an organized database in which the names and visits of customers appear. However, in our position as hostess, we have the opportunity to build it little by little. We have, as hosts, a great access to the data of the clients, we attend their calls, they leave us their names, telephone numbers and contact e-mails and. When receiving them personally, we can relate the data to the person: we “put a face to the name”. It is very important to understand the value that this has, it is a unique opportunity, not only for the gastronomic place in which we work, but for our entire career within gastronomy. That is, while we build a useful database for our workplace, we also do it for ourselves. 
  
  If we have to work elsewhere, we already have potential clients that we can bring to them. And if, at the same time, we meet customers we recognize from other places, we can already greet them with the name and establish a cordial relationship for the new place. In this way we add value, for the place where we work and also for those who are going to work in the future. We make ourselves known to ourselves and if we manage to build our own client portfolio, which trusts our recommendations, it is the starting point to build our career as Public Relations (in case we are interested). Let’s understand that, in the moment of waiting, the client is really paying attention to us and even if it is a few minutes, if we serve them well, they will recognize us favorably in the future. If we recognize them, they will become part of our personal contacts, possibly for a long time. 
  
  Relationships are built over time, little by little and step by step.
  It is important that, if we have recognized a client on any occasion, we do not forget him on the next visit. That is why, among other things, it is important that we document, even if it is for us, who it is and when did they visit us. Always maintaining discretion but offering the right recognition to people. In this way, we will gain real permits, to offer activities, events or even make them participants in promotions of the restaurant itself. For them to be interested in appearing in our social networks or contests, we must first have a relationship of a certain trust gained over time in a harmonious way. Rushing into this is the recipe for failure. Never rush an excessive business relationship.
• Network Management (generation of photos and our own content according to the day, guests, events, celebrities). In these times, it is essential to create your own professional image, since there are many tools to do it and our role as hostess gives us a lot of opportunities for it. We are in permanent contact with people who visit us, many even famous or public people. Always in coordination and with the approval of the place where we work, it is important to have some photos of our participation in events, receiving people, at the entrance of the place where we work and even with our colleagues and owners of the place. Showing ourselves working will also allow us to receive job offers from other places, even to work in other countries and cities. On the other hand, if my bosses agree, we can offer customers of our trust to take a photo at the end of their visit, or to leave us some comment on how they spent it and that it appears both in the network of the place, as in its own (in addition to sharing it with the networks of our clients). In general, the proposal to take a photo of those who visited us is well received and it is a great opportunity to have the personal addresses of everyone involved. If our workplace has not yet developed its digital marketing proposal, this is a valuable contribution that we can provide, which will make us much more attractive as potential employees. Taking care of this management may seem like extra work at first, but over time, it becomes very simple and comforting. And, in addition, useful in the long term for us and our career. 
  

Challenges of the profession

• Develop communication skills.
• Achieve a good group relationship.
• Achieve a good management and organizational capacity.
• Develop our commercial vision.
• Develop the vocation of service, empathy and proactivity.
• To become the representative of the premises and for the place to represent me.