The “Rule Of You” In Hotels Your name is the thing you like to hear most, and it is the greatest selling aid a salesman has. We have helped to devise many interesting methods by which employees in Hotels Statler can learn your name very quickly and pass it on to other employees. For instance, the desk clerk reads your name as you sign it on the register. He says, “I have a pleasant room overlooking the Hudson, Mr. Smith. You will enjoy the view!” The bellman standing by hears your name. He takes your bag and says, “This way, Mr. Smith .” He gets to the elevator and announ ces you to the elevator boy by saying, “This is a fine day, isn’t it, Mr. Smith ?” The elevator boy hears your name. If there is a floor clerk, the bellman walks up to her to get the key to your room, and says, “Key 808 please for Mr. Smith .” The floor clerk hears your name. So on and on, from the time you enter a hotel until you leave, the “Rule of You” will be put into practice, for there is nothing more important than the sound of your own name. Selling Glasses Of Bubbles One of the tasks assigned to us by Mr. J.L. Hennessy, the able vice president in charge of catering of this great chain of Statler Hotels, was to study the habits of people eating in restaurants to ascertain how to introduce them to the fine art of drinking wines. We discovered that there are many reasons why wine was not being ordered. The waiter would mechanically hand the wine list to the guest after seating him. The guest was in a flutter, having walked across a busy hotel room. He was busy adjusting himself to his surroundings. The wine list was merely a blur to him. Should he be able to concentrate on the list, he was afraid to pronounce some of the wine names that were new to him. He didn’t know whether to say “Chateau E- kem,” or “Chateau Y - quem.” He didn’t want a waiter to s mile at a wrong pronunciation. If the bewildered guest felt confident he could pronounce the name, he was afraid it might be the wrong wine for the occasion. This again caused him to hesitate in ordering a wine. He usually closed the issue with, “Gimme a glass of ale.” We instructed the waiters not to hand a wine list to the guest, but to say, “Would you care for some Chateau E- kem with your order, sir?” The man heard the right pronunciation, and he knew the waiter had without doubt picked the right wine for the dish. He would order the wine. This idea worked expertly until one man
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