Sullivan’s Laws Part 2

I love the perfect business quote. It can speak volumes about our crazy industry without taking up much space. A good quote says the most by saying the least. It can reveal the little truths about hospitality and management that training manuals and videos too often obscure.......

Copyright 2007 Sullivision Inc.

By Jim Sullivan

I love the perfect business quote. It can speak volumes about our crazy industry without taking up much space. A good quote says the most by saying the least. It can reveal the little truths about hospitality and management that training manuals and videos too often obscure. And since I get a lot of e-mails from readers asking if I have assembled a collection of my favorite quotes, I thought I’d do just that. So read ‘em and reap!

“Since I’ve been in this business I’ve learned that…”

• “All work is teamwork.”
• “If you want to be bigger than everyone else, you’d better be better than everyone else, too.”
• “Our business is run for the enjoyment and pleasure of our customers, not for the convenience of the staff or the owners.”
• “There is something called the Law of Probability Dispersal in the restaurant business: “Whatever it is that hits the fan will not be evenly distributed.””
• “The customer is NOT always right, but IS always the customer and it’s all right for the customer to be wrong.”
• “A pat on the back is just a few vertebrae up from a kick in the butt.”
• “Challenge the process daily: Are we doing the right things and are we doing the right things right?”
• “Never practice on the customer. Training is your secret weapon.”
• “The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.”
• “Overteach. Managers and employees both underlearn and overforget.”
• “Employees are our first market. Never treat a customer better than you treat an employee.”
• “You can have the best product in the world, but if you can’t sell it, you’ve still got it.”
• “All behavior is the result of consequences: you get what you reward.”
• “Don’t be a corporate weenie.”
• “If you’re not out selling, you’re being outsold.”
• “Use the Sullivan Nod: if servers smile and slowly nod their heads when suggesting a large Coke, fries, an appetizer or dessert the customer almost always says yes.”
• “Some turnover is inevitable: of all the people who will never leave you, you’re the only one.”
• “If a customer tells you right off the bat to take good care of them because they’re “Big Tippers”? They’re not.”
• “The seafood is always fresh. Even in Wyoming.”
• “Sullivan’s Law: Customers have more fun eating in a bar than drinking in a restaurant.”
• “In this business, you can always tell when it’s a full moon without ever looking outside.”
• “One definition of insanity is to keep doing the same things over and over again and expect different results.”
• “Life is short: Don’t sweat the petty things… or pet the sweaty things.”
• “The restaurant business is a free circus. All you have to do is pay attention.”

To get a poster of these sayings for your office visit www.sullivison.com

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