thought Chateau E-kem was a gravy for his roast, and a woman thought it was a new salad dressing! We kept testing until we made another interesting discovery. Americans most often identify wines by the colors red and white. They like that “red wine I get at the Italian spaghetti house,” or that “white wine Aunt Emma serves at Christmas time.” “Red Or White, Sir” So the waiters were instructed to approach guests with, “ Would you care for a red wine with your roast, sir ?” If the dish required a white win, they would say, “ Would you care for a white wine with your fish, sir ?” Then it was found that if an American likes a red wine, he drinks it with any kind or type of food. If the waiter suggested the white wine as being proper, certain guests demanded to know if the hotel was “out of red wine.” How to find out if a guest was a red-wine or a white-wine drinker? We went back to Wheelerpoint 4: Don’t ask IF – ask WHICH. The wai ter would say. “Would you care for a red or a white wine with your dinner, sir?” The guest could make his choice. This approach worked until just recently, when a guest in the Boston Statler Hotel, according to Messrs. Stanbro and Cushing, co-managers, w anted to know, “ Is it on the house ?” We immediately added the word “order” to the sentence, and sales of wines have increased from 2c to 4c per guest. The “Tested Selling Sentence” is now: “Would you care to ORDER a red or a white wine with your dinner, sir?” Such is the power of ONE WORD – provided it is properly chosen. Finding The “First Timers” It is important for a hotel to know if you are a “first timer.” If so, the hotel desires to familiarize you with its many services. The problem of how to find out if a guest was a first timer in Statler Hotels was given to us as part of our assignment by Mr. John C. Burg, personnel director. With the help of Mr. Burg and the Pennsylvania Hotel staff in New York, we set about making this study. As a test we instructed the bellboys to say, when they were carrying a guest’s bags to his room, “Is this the FIRST TIME you’ve been with us, Mr. Brown?” If it was, the bellboy would tell the guest how to get radio music in the room, how to get ice water, and how to use the Servidor and other Statler features. If the guest informed him this was not his first time, the bellboy would not annoy him with this recital of features that were perhaps well known to the regular guest.
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