Customer Service

Networking in Pittsburgh–try a bartending job

April 21st, 2009

Okay, the Pittsburgh Bartender School is part of the great big blogosphere and the wide world of web networking. Our school is a part of social media. We network. No kidding.

Do you guys realize how great and easy it is to network while bartending? It is one of the hidden benefits. It works incredibly well. If you are trying to expand contacts, meet new people, find new opportunities…you simply can’t believe how great bartending can be to open doors.

Here is the secret. (shhhh…don’t tell everyone else)–and you have to be a good bartender to pull this off…you have to get customers to like you…(Its not hard at all)

Bartenders can find so many contacts in so many lines of work….its rediculous. We have seen this happen hundreds of times. In fact, I picked up business while bartending part time and holding down a consulting/sales job. Its amazingly easy.

Here goes. Customers really get to like their bartenders. Its astonishing. Do a good job of pouring beer, making gin and tonics, chilling martinis and treating your customers with respect…and they just think you are the greatest. In fact they’ll love you. (I’ve said for a long time–bartending makes you cooler)

Say you are a young professional, trying to find more opportunities. Get work in a sort of upscale bar/restaurant. In the Burgh try and get work in or near downtown where the after work crowd goes for happy hour. Land work in other heavy employment centers. Alterternatively get a bartending gig at a medium to upscale restaurant. During the hours when the bar isn’t packed and your not slammed you will have plenty of time to speak with your customers; that is the critical time when you secure relationships and develop your network. Its the ideal time to make contacts, learn about opportunities, get your resume spread around, get introductions, and find out where to make your next move. Its simply astonishing. The likeability factor increases 100 fold with the ability to consistently make a good drink, make your customers feel comfortable and build a level of trust that isn’t that available anywhere else.

Here is a prime example. Years ago, while I was a professional in sales, one of my prime clients headed the regional offices of an investment firm. He had been a semi-star football player at a local college. He became a bartender after school. He made friends easily. One of those friends got him into the stock brokerage business because he had lots of personality and was reasonably intelligent. Better yet…he already had this huge network of potential clients from bartending. He advanced through the ranks. He had a ready stock of clients, in part through the many friends through tending bar and pouring beers. He rose through the ranks becoming manager of an office than regional manager by the time I met him.

Walk into a bar with him….and everyone knew him and loved him. He easily parlayed bartending into an excellent high paying career. He admitted to scarcely knowing a drink recipe…but he kept his bar customers happy.

We have written about this earlier, specifically for real estate brokers. Gee, I can’t count the times former students mentioned how they sold homes through customers from their bar (talk about a super TIP)…but it works for anyone looking to network into almost any field. Its simply easy…being behind that bar is an invitation to get folks to like and trust you more easily….

Now get out there and land a bartending job….and if you want our help with the job leads we have at the Pittsburgh Bartender School–call us at (412) 921-9227.

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Economists Think Bartenders Stink. That is Great News Pittsburgh Bartenders

October 29th, 2008

About two weeks ago an amazing blog piece from a totally unexpected source entitled Why Are Bartenders so Rude? drew a huge response from its readers.

Why is this so surprising and why is it good news for Pittsburgh bartenders?

The blog is a serious economic commentary written by PHD’s (in this case a Professor of Economics). The post drove dramatically more comments than any other piece in this serious blog for weeks before or after. It seems people who like to read and comment on complex economic issues would rather speak about drinking and bartenders.

The comments were startling. The writer described how he recently spent a fair amount of time bar hopping with friends. Again and again the bartenders were rude and the bar service was lousy. He couldn’t understand it.

37 comments followed. A lot of these economic readers and commentators agreed. They discussed bartending customer service in the language of economics. Some suggested, like good economists, that the writer should “vote with his feet” and leave the places with poor customer service.

A former club owner and bartender added comments. (Who would think that club owners and bartenders are well versed in complex economic concepts?).

So what could be the good news?

Lets face it. Most bartenders forget about good customer service. They go about their business and often ignore customers, especially new customers. So many of the writers above suggested that the only time good customer service occurs is when the customers become regulars.

Hey guys, make it your business to make all new customers feel welcome. You couldn’t do anything smarter. So many customers feel the exact same thing as the unhappy commentators in the blog piece above. They want ONE nice place in which to hang out. Make sure your bar is it.

Become the one nice place. Build your customer base. Increase your regulars. Make customers feel comfortable.

I know so many bartenders at so many unassuming bars around the country that make so much money!!!! These are not the “coolest” “hottest” clubs by any stretch of the imagination. They don’t gain press, and they aren’t the slickest places in any city. Meanwhile the good/smart bartenders in all those places with big loyal followings make more money than the cool club bartenders.

Why? They have tons of happy comfortable regulars that tip them like crazy. The bartenders were just a little bit friendlier, a little bit nicer and converted a lot of customers into regulars.

Its actually easy, as the economists explained to us earlier. Most bartenders are rude. Make sure you turn your bartending shifts into the ones that make new customers feel comfortable.

4/18/09. Update. had to turn off comments due to a spammer. sorry :D

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Tiffany the experienced Bartender knows more than French scientists!!

October 17th, 2008

This one is for all the bartenders and bar managers and owners that want to increase sales.

Back in July, a published study by French Scientists found that increasing the volume and speed of music in a bar increased the rate of alcohol consumption. Customers were drinking more and faster.

Hundreds of news articles and blogs around the world reported on this

We have known this for years. Its industry lore. But we were curious. When did bar owners and managers first learn this and when did they first start putting it in practice?

We talked to experienced bartenders and owner/managers all over. Most of them knew about this. Nobody could tell us when he or she learned it. Then we ran into Tiffany.

Tiffany works at an Irish sports bar in Arlington, Va. She has twenty years of experience. She told us exactly when she first learned and experienced how loud music makes customers drink faster.

In 1993 as a beginning bartender at TGIF’s in Philadelphia, Tiffany saw Friday’s suddenly make huge changes to the bar and bar lounge. They removed some stools from the bar forcing more customers to stand. They removed tables with seating and replaced them with stand-up small bar tables just big enough to hold a couple of drinks and appetizers. Starting around 4 PM they began to dim the lights and continued it through the night.

Then they started to work on the music. Again at 4 in the late afternoon they changed the music from mellower easy listening to louder faster top 40 songs. Over the night the music would get progressively louder and faster.

What happened? Tiffany and the rest of the bartenders started ringing up more sales and much better tips. She laughed when she told me this story. She said none of her co-workers changed a thing with regard to customer service. They simply benefited from the changes instituted by experienced restaurateurs.

Now, if it comes to increasing sales whom are you going to listen to; famous French academic social scientists or Tiffany the experienced bartender. I’d go with Tiffany any day of the week.

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Get a career in two weeks of training

October 10th, 2008

There was a great article this week about a grad from one of our sister schools. The article is called Pour Me Another and it describes how it takes two weeks to acquire a skill you can use forever.

That is exactly what Brett, the Spring 2008 grad from our sister bartending school in Northern Virginia said.

We follow a very similar program in Pittsburgh. You’ll see how the April 2008 grad tried a number of initial jobs before he found one that worked for him. Not unusual. In fact he is already a bar manager. Fast work. You’ll also note he received a lot of job leads directly from the school.

That is how we work. Both schools constantly contact a couple of thousand regional bars, clubs, hotels, restaurants, etc. in their market regions. We make more effort to turn up more leads than most other sources combined.

To get back to what Brett said….”If you’re outgoing, friendly and have a genuine smile, conversational skills and openness to a variety of people, take a look at bar school.”

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Nude Bartender Gets Arrested–She didn’t learn that here!!

September 26th, 2008

Earlier this week, Janet Brannon was arrested at the Cabin Tavern in Delhi, Illinois. She was serving stiff drinks in the buff in this small bar in Southern Illinois. Police walked in for a standard check…..and bingo….they were pretty surprised to say the least. Check out the story here.

She got out of jail on $8,000 bail. A few days later the bar was shut down for 30 days, fined $500, and lost its liquor license. Duhhh!!!!!!

We definitely don’t teach that in our customer service classes.