Details Matter

I am the chair-elect for the Licking County United Way campaign. Thursday and Friday of this past week were the Celebrity/Guest Bartender events at The Natoma and The Grill on 21st Street, where all tips and a portion of sales went to the United Way. I signed up for Friday night at The Grill. My job was to basically take orders at the bar because we weren't allowed to make drinks (which made me happy since I wouldn't have any idea how to make even one) and we weren't allowed to make any financial transactions. About halfway through the evening, I was asked to take a break from the bartending job to sell 50/50 tickets. I wasn't particularly excited about doing that, but I did volunteer to help that evening, so I said I would.

I was selling one ticket for $1 or six tickets for $5. I went around the room and hit every table, making a few sales here and there. Then I socialized a bit, since there were no new customers in the room for quite a while. I finally decided to branch out and go into another part of the bar/restaurant.

My first sale in that room was only one ticket for $1. Why? - Because the person didn't want to go through the hassle of having to write his name and number on six different tickets. This gave me an opportunity to change the way I was selling the tickets. In my next attempt, I told the person that if they bought the six tickets for $5 and wrote their name and number on only one of the tickets, I would be happy to finish writing their information on the other five. You would not believe the difference that small detail made. People were in shock. They couldn't believe I would offer that little piece of good customer service to them. I sold tickets left and right. I finally had to take a break and go sit at a table for about 20 minutes to fill out all those tickets I had sold. It was a great lesson for me.

So my Friday evening turned out to be one of the best ones I have had in a long time, filled with much fun and a lesson on why details do matter.