Sanitation everywhere…Overnight success…
Sanitation everywhere…Even when it’s unseen
As keepers of the sanitation keys for our customers we have a responsibility to deliver both clean and attractive tableware and linens. But we also occasionally have offer them sanitation news they may not want to hear. If the tableware is spotless and sanitary but some of the kitchen’s food prep surfaces aren’t, we need to point that out and help them address it.
It’s all well and good that customers want the front of the house appearances to be perfect, but we also know an account or two where the sanitation attitude mirrors that really old meme of “Ooey outside but phooey inside”. When that’s the case pointing out what might be a less obvious back of the house issue is at least as important as addressing the stained coffee cups or spotted flatware.
Aside from helping that restauranter avoid getting a chit from a health inspector (or worse yet a customer who trashes them on YELP over a bout of food poisoning), we stand to gain from the added product use that might be necessary to clean up the problem area. It may not be the news that they always want to hear, but in the end most operators will appreciate the honest feedback that we promised them when we gained their business initially.
Next up: Selling those solutions with a demo.
Overnight success…Or five-year plan?
Who ever said it was easy probably never did it. That goes for almost anything from having a successful marriage to raising great kids. And then there’s the little matter of our business. Truth is really mastering pretty much anything that’s difficult is a function of accumulating enough “seat time”.
There’s a well-documented theory that mastery of almost any complex task requires ten thousand hours. And the books are loaded with examples of that “tenure” for mastering almost any complex skill. It’s true sports, medicine and even music. Ask the Beatles. They performed live more than 10,000 hours before they made their first hit.
With all the facets necessary to mastering our job that means it probably takes five years to get it all solidly in hand. Consider everything that goes into the job. We have to be fair to middling electricians, plumbers, chemists, teachers, bean counters, and of course sales professionals – if we hope to have any customers to use those skills on!
So if you’re in year two or three and still occasionally find yourself feeling a little inadequate, take heart. It may take a few more years, but the ten-thousand-hour rule says you’ll get there. And that you’ll increasingly reap the rewards for all that effort when you do.