In the late 80’s in my early 20’s, I was working at the Half Shell Raw Bar in Key West, FL as a line cook. To get an idea about how much of a fine dining restaurant this was, our unofficial motto was “we don’t take plastic—we serve on it.” It was a great high…

Growing up in a lower-middle class family on the wrong side of the tracks, there was no spare money for non-essentials, so at 8 years old I started selling seed packages door-to-door in the spring and Christmas cards packages door to door in the winter. I also had a paper route, I babysat and I…

I often do sales and marketing training and find that the number one challenge for sales teams is engaging a perfect stranger in conversation. I train people to look for non-verbal clues in their potential guest or customer that would give them insight into their potential client’s interests or passions. I have found that people…

From 1990 to 1997, I lived and worked in the British Virgin Islands. I worked for a rum company called Pusser’s Rum. Pusser’s was a rum that was given out aboard the British navy ships for over 300 years. In the days of wooden ships and iron men, the purser would dispense a tot of…

It still amazes me how tuned out people are to each other. What I find even more amazing is that this happens all the time in the service industry. How often have you had an experience like this… You go into a retail store and you’re ignored by the clerk. You stand in line at…

When I train service teams, I always inquire, “What is a first impression and how important is it?” First impressions are critical in the business world. It takes ten seconds for a person to decide if they like you or they don’t when they’ve never met you before. A good first impression, which is made…

“If you want to increase your success rate, double your failure rate.” –Thomas J. Watson I love that quote because I believe that people learn much more from their dismal failures than they do from their screaming successes. Failures typically sting more, which necessitates changing your behavior so you don’t repeat your mistakes. Thomas Watson…

I ask this question often in my hospitality and guest service training sessions. I get a plethora of answers from my audience, including smiling, greeting, making eye contact, saying hello, et cetera. I let my audience know that all of these things make people feel good—but not important. Invariably, I will get someone to give…

I learned this principle a long time ago and it has served me well over the years. There is an old saying that the customer is always right. Ask anyone in the service industry and I’m sure they would give you countless examples of their experience where this was not the case. I opened a…